What Movies are People Downloading? (And, Will Other Studios Join Disney on iTunes?)

- The NY Times has a chart today listing the top five movies people are downloading from CinemaNow and Movielink. The original `Pirates of the Caribbean' is #1 on CinemaNow; `Brokeback Mountain' is #1 on Movielink. `Underworld: Evolution' and `V for Vendetta' are the only two movies that show up on both lists. The Times also notes that CinemaNow's DVD-burning service only offers 103 titles.

- The implicit question of this LA Times piece is: when will other studios join Disney in offering movies for download on Apple's iTunes service? Joseph Menn writes:

Jobs would have liked a crowd of moguls to show up [at the iTunes movie launch earlier this month] as a vote of confidence in technology he hopes will do for movies what iTunes did for music. But with only Iger on board, Jobs has just 75 films — all from Disney's library — to offer consumers.



Jobs' problem is that the rest of Hollywood still fears alienating retailers, especially Wal-Mart Stores Inc., that sell and rent DVDs, producing half of Hollywood's revenue. Studios are reluctant for now to publicly endorse something that could speed the killing of the goose that lays the golden eggs.



"The other studios want to wait and see how it goes," said Harold Vogel, an independent media industry analyst.