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Tag: movie

  • Motorola to Feature Blockbuster Movie Download Service in Next Generation Handsets

    Blockbuster, a provider of in-home movie and game entertainment, announced plans to feature the BLOCKBUSTER OnDemand movie download service in select Motorola phones. Through the agreement next generation Motorola phones will feature the OnDemand application, providing on-the-go download access to Blockbuster’s digital library of current movies.

    Earlier this year, Motorola announced it is to unveil Android powered handsets in the fourth quarter.

    Blockbuster launched a movie rental service via set-top boxes last year. It offered a STB made by 2Wire that plays downloaded movies. Renting a movie for online playback at Blockbuster generally costs between $1.99 and $3.99.

    In March this year, Blockbuster and TiVo announced that they are working to make Blockbuster’s service available on all TiVo Series2 and Series3 DVRs (including the HD and HD XL models) in the second half of 2009.

    The agreement with Motorola it’s a part of the company’s new digital strategy to provide its library of digital entertainment to mobile devices.

    "Motorola is a recognized global communications leader and extending the BLOCKBUSTER brand and our OnDemand service into their portfolio of innovative new phones is a natural extension of our digital strategy," said Kevin Lewis, Senior Vice President of Digital Entertainment for Blockbuster.

    "Mobile video entertainment is exploding, as consumers are demanding the widest selection of content: the movies they love in their living room and on their PC, now also available on their mobile phone, while on the go," added Christy Wyatt, Vice President of Software Platforms, Applications and Ecosystem of Motorola Mobile Devices.

    According to Blockbuster the agreement will also further the company’s multi-channel vision of eventually Blockbuster enabling customers to use OnDemand application with multiple consumer electronics and portable devices, such as PCs, PMPs, Blu-ray Disc players, PVRs, set-top boxes, mobile phones and Web-connected TVs, to search Blockbuster’s entire catalog of entertainment content and download available titles for rent or purchase, schedule movies for mail delivery through, or reserve titles for in-store pick-up.

  • Vista Users Gain As Microsoft Extends Netflix Partnership


    Microsoft Vista users can now stream films from Netflix through the Windows Media Center.

    The development comes after Microsoft announced that it has expanded its partnership with the movie service.

    Vista users can also stream Netflix movies on PCs by going to the Netflix site.

    The arrangement is part of Microsoft’s plans to develop its Media Center as an online video hub.

    Microsoft offers Media Center with the Vista operating system.

    By selecting the new Netflix tab in "TV+Movies" Vista users can start streaming films immediately.

    They will also be able to search and watch programs from Netflix’s online library of 12,000 movies and TV shows.

    Microsoft’s partnership with Netflix began last year when it began offering the movie service’s streaming movies through the Xbox 360 game console.

  • Bright Day For Dark Knight Blu-ray Sales


    Warner Brothers’ The Dark Knight has eclisped Iron Man to become the fastest selling Blu-ray Disc movie of all time.

    Approximately 600,000 Blu-ray copies of the movie sold on the first day in the US, Canada and UK.

    This represent 20 per cent of the total three million copies sold during the first 24 hours.

    An estimated one-sixth of the high-def discs were bought in the UK, with most of the remainder presumably being snapped up in the US.

    Warner Brothers is now predicting that it will sell one million BDs by the weekend.

    Iron Man’s day one record had stood at 250,000 BDs.

    Not surprisingly the studio has been quick to talk up what the figures mean for Blu-ray.

    Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment, said: "Numbers like these in this economic environment firmly establish Blu-ray as where consumers are headed."

  • DVD still dominates the movie market but Blu-ray set to overtake by 2012


    The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) expects sales of Blu-ray disks in the US to exceed those of standard DVDs by 2012.
    In its latest Annual Report on the Home Entertainment Industry, the EMA reports that home video continues to dominate the movie market.
    This segment of the market had sales of approximately US$24 billion, making it the largest segment of consumer movie spending by far, accounting for 49% of total consumer movie spending in 2007.
    In the video game market, game software sales increased 34% in 2007, to a total of US$8.6 billion.
    EMA is the not-for-profit international trade association that represent s the interests of the home entertainment industry.
    The report said that nearly 9 million high-definition discs were sold in 2007, for which consumers spent more than US$260 million.
    But it projected that in 2012, sales of Blu-ray Discs will have outstripped those of standard DVDs and will generate sales of US$9.5 billion.
    Bo Andersen, president and CEO of EMA, said the report provided comprehensive data on and analysis of sales and rentals of DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, video on demand, computer and console video games, and competing technologies.
    He said DVD still dominated the movie market but consumers were swiftly adopting new technologies.
    “Consumers remain enamored with DVD and video games even as they incorporate new forms of entertainment media into their consumption patterns,” he said.
    “New generations of hardware and software, and alternative delivery channels, will ensure that home video and video games remain phenomenally popular entertainment options for the American public for years to come.”
    Other statistics in the report included:
     Home video generated US US$15.9 billion in sales and US$8.2 billion in rentals in 2007.
     There were 12,177 DVDs released in 2007, down from a peak of 13,950 in 2005.
     Home video spending is projected to increase to US$25.6 billion in 2012.
     Traditional rental stores, dominated by Blockbuster, accounted for 73% of the rental business in 2007.
     Online subscription rental (such as Netflix and Blockbuster’s Total Access) were 25% of the market. Kiosk rental doubled its market share to 2%.