Apple's iTunes sells movies in U.S. on DVD release date
Apple Inc. announced Thursday that it is allowing U.S. customers to purchase films from its iTunes website on the same day they are released on DVD.
The introduction of the new service represents a shift for the major film studios, which previously had waited as much as 30 to 40 days after DVD distribution before offering new releases to the majority of video download services.
But Apple said it has partnered with most of the studios for its new offering, including 20th Century Fox, Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal and Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well as Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios.
Apple shares rose 2.5 per cent on the news, up $4.21 to $178.16 US as of midday in Nasdaq trading.
The service will allow US visitors to buy new release films for $14.99 US and older library titles for $9.99 US.
The announcement comes just three months after Apple announced users would be able to rent new release films through the iTunes store for $3.99.
New releases, however, are not yet available to customers in Canada through iTunes.
The decision by studios to allow users to either rent or own new release films could put added pressure on bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Blockbuster Inc.
Apple's announcement confirms that the other major studios are in step with Time Warner, whose chief executive, Jeff Bawkes, said during a conference call on Wednesday that the company's Warner Bros. studio would begin releasing movies for video-on-demand systems the same day they are released as DVDs.
That decision could open the door not only for online retailers like Apple and Amazon.com, but also spur use of cable pay-per-view systems or rental download systems like Apple TV.
Atlantic Canada's biggest music distributor to wind down
The biggest music distributor in Atlantic Canada is winding down its traditional business because of declining sales.
Landwash Distribution of St. John's is recalling thousands of CDs, tapes, books, DVDs and videos from hundreds of stores across Canada and returning them to artists.
Landwash, started 13 years ago, represents more than 100 Newfoundland, Labrador and Maritime artists, including The Fables and Kevin Collins.
Landwash owner Charlotte Story said company revenues were down 35 per cent last year, and 2008 looks even worse.
"I can't get the sales up. They just keep going down and down and down, and the sales are dying. And the writing is on the wall," she told CBC News.
Story blames free digital downloads and the industry trend toward having artists distribute directly to the public.
"It was just not viable now.… We're just not getting enough artists looking for distribution on the other side of things because they can now go to digital," she said.
Story, who began the company by releasing a single CD, a volume of Newfoundland and Labrador songs called Folk of the Sea, said Landwash is not insolvent.
She expects it will take until August before all the company's physical product is returned and she figures out how much she owes to artists, she said. In the meantime, she said she plans to explore the idea of only selling music online through Landwash.
Billy Sutton of The Fables said he doesn't know where he'll find another distributor to get his CDs to other parts of the country.
"Landwash, from what I know, was the only game in town that was getting out to other places in the country," he said. "And now that doesn't exist, so I have to find other distribution."
Kevin Collins was just weeks away from distributing his CD Just Call My Name when Landwash told him the project was off.
Collins said previous distributors Tidemark and Duckworth Distribution also bailed on their artists and ceased to exist.
"Here we go again. I mean, before, the money didn't flow back, or the product in a lot of cases," he said.
Fortunately, he was able to get St. John's company Avalon Music to take on his new CD.
Landwash was distributing two of his DVDs and more than half a dozen of his albums.
"And a lot of artists in Newfoundland and Labrador I'm sure are going to feel a greater impact. It just makes things tougher and tougher all the time," Collins said.
"The independent artists in Atlantic Canada, … it's all on their shoulders, and when something like this happens, it's a major blow to them."
In February, Landwash picked up its third East Coast Music Industry Award for best music distributor in Atlantic Canada.
New Kids On The Block Welcome 'Summertime'
The reunited New Kids On The Block will release its first new music since 1994 on May 13, when the single "Summertime" will be made available via all digital music services, according to a blog post today (May 1) on the group's official Web site. The track is the precursor to a new album the group hopes to release in the fall.
The reformed '90s boy band also announced it will stage its first performance in 14 years on NBC's "Today Show" on May 16, a preview to a tour for which dates have begun trickling out.
As previously reported, the first of those shows will take place May 17 at New York radio station Z100's annual Zootopia concert. The event, being held at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., will also feature Miley Cyrus, Jordin Sparks, the Jonas Brothers, OneRepublic, Simple Plan, Sara Bareilles, Gavin DeGraw and Ferras.
The New Kids On The Block -- Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood and Jordan and Jonathan Knight -- split in 1994. The group announced its reunion on the "Today Show" earlier this year.
Here are the New Kids On The Block tour dates:
5/17/08 East Rutherford, N.J. Izod Center (Z100 Zootopia)
5/18/08 Mansfield, MA Tweeter Center
9/20/08 Montreal, ON Bell Centre
9/21/08 Toronto, ON Air Canada Center
9/23/08 East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
9/24/08 Uniondale, NY Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
9/26/08 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden
9/27/08 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata Hotel and Casino
10/4/08 Chicago, IL Allstate Arena
"Iron Man" poised to blast box office into summer
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood studios are counting on actor Robert Downey Jr. and his big-screen incarnation as "Iron Man" to blast them out of a box office slump as the lucrative summer movie season opens this weekend.
The latest Marvel comics adventure is expected to gross $60 million to $80 million or more during its initial Friday-through-Sunday run in North American theaters, experts said, buoyed by heavy promotion and largely favorable reviews.
That would fall far short of the $151 million all-time record opening that "Spider-Man 3" notched during the same weekend last year, thanks to the frenzy surrounding a highly anticipated sequel to an established blockbuster franchise.
The first "Spider-Man" film still holds the record for biggest domestic opening by a non-sequel movie -- $114.8 million in the first weekend of May 2002.
"Iron Man" will probably rank more on par with yet another Marvel superhero drama, "X2: X-Men United," which opened the first weekend of May 2003 with about $85 million in receipts.
It cost a reported $150 million to make, sports plenty of nifty special effects, and stars Downey as a wealthy weapons executive and playboy wrestling with a mid-life crisis as he invents a powerful high-tech suit of armor to fight bad guys.
The PG-13 film, the first production fully financed by Marvel Studios, is likely to enjoy an added boost from a super-sized "preview" roll-out in more than 2,000 theaters on Thursday night, before its formal weekend opening on Friday, where it will play in just over 4,100 theaters.
HOPING FOR HEAVY PREVIEW BUMP
Marvel and its distribution partner, Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures, are banking on buzz and positive word-of-mouth to help usher in large weekend audiences.
"I think that reflects how important a film this is, and how confident Paramount is that there's a huge audience out there for the movie," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking service Media By Numbers.
"Iron Man" also will benefit from relatively mild competition. The only other new wide-release movie in U.S. and Canadian theaters is romantic comedy "Made of Honor," starring Patrick Dempsey, which Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp, is offering in a "counter-programming" move.
Marvel and Paramount are not alone in wishing for a robust "Iron Man" launch. Hollywood as a whole is rooting for the film to jump-start the summer movie season, an 18-week period that can account for as much as 40 percent of annual ticket sales.
So far this year, North American ticket sales are down about 3.5 percent from 2007 and attendance is off 6.5 percent.
A crowd-pleaser in May is seen as crucial to reinvigorating the box office and generating audience excitement. "That's how you build audience goodwill, repeat business and momentum," Dergarabedian said.
He said living up to last summer's record $4.1 billion box office will be tough, however, given 2007's glut of blockbuster sequels and "threequels" led by "Spider-Man 3," "Shrek the Third" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."
But this summer has its own succession of big-event titles besides "Iron Man." They include "Speed Racer," "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "Sex and the City."
The summer of 2008 has one other ironic factor in its favor -- a gloomy economy, which in years past has often proven to be a box office boon as downtrodden Americans flock to the cinema to seek solace in big-screen adventures and comedy.
Nickelback frontman given minimum sentence, $600 fine for drunk driving
SURREY, B.C. - The lawyer for Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger says he will appeal the rock star's conviction for clocking a blood alcohol reading at almost twice the legal limit.
Kroeger was handed a $600 fine and a year-long driving suspension today at a sentencing hearing in Surrey, B.C. and said afterwards that he made a mistake that he hopes his fans don't repeat themselves.
Kroeger had been pulled over for speeding in June 2006 and a police officer suspected him of drinking.
Kroeger was acquitted of an impaired driving charge, but convicted on the charge of driving with a blood-alcohol level over .08.
His lawyer, Marvin Stern, says the case involved important legal issues that should be considered on appeal.
Stern says Kroeger was convicted on what he called a `technical convention' and acquitted on the charge of whether the singer was drunk or not.