Warner Bros. enters the future

Hollywood is starting to wake up to the future of film distribution. This can be seen in Warner Bros.' recent move to digitize it's classic film archive and make over 150 films available for downloading and print-on-demand DVD at warnerarchive.com. Warner claims it is the first of the major studios to attempt such an initiative. This is just another sign that media downloading is going to become a major distribution avenue for filmmakers.

Warner Bros. brings film vault into digital age

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Warner Bros. is reaching into its film vaults so it can sell old movies on made-to-order DVDs, in a move it hopes will goose sales of a vital product in a downturn.

Starting Monday, the studio will sell copies of 150 films from the silent era to the 1980s Brat Pack that have never been released on DVD. Internet downloads of the movies will cost $14.95, while DVDs sent in the mail are $19.95. Both can be ordered at http://www.warnerarchive.com.

The initiative, which Warner claims is the first of its kind for a major studio, is an effort by the Time Warner Inc. subsidiary to combat what could be a fundamental decline in demand for DVD purchases — a falloff that can be blamed on market saturation as much as the recession.

Read the rest of the article here.