FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2005 A production company co-owned by Morgan Freeman, the actor, with backing from Intel, is forming a new venture to sell movie downloads on the Internet.
So far, attempts to sell movies online have had limited appeal, but the growing pace of movie piracy, using software like BitTorrent, is causing Hollywood to look for new approaches to online distribution.
Freeman's new company, called ClickStar, hopes to offer movies on the Internet on the same day they begin showing in theaters. Until now, movies have been marketed through a carefully orchestrated progression of distribution windows: first theaters, then home video, then various forms of television broadcast.
Intel has long invested in ventures that seek to expand the use of computers in entertainment, a field that not coincidentally tends to need the most advanced microprocessors.
For more than six years, Intel has worked with Revelations Entertainment, Freeman's film and TV production company, initially on technology for creating special effects. Intel declined to say how much it was investing in ClickStar.
Freeman said ClickStar would meet the needs of viewers.
"I live in Mississippi, in a very small town," Freeman said by telephone. "In order for me to see a first-run movie, I have to drive a couple of hours at a high rate of speed. For me and many consumers like me, this will be a godsend. I will be able to get premium content safely and cheaply."
He added that the distribution windows are no longer meaningful because of online piracy and bootleg DVDs.
"DVDs are already available in China and in Russia, even before they are released for sale here," Freeman noted.
The company is expected to begin operations next year, said Lori McCreary, chief executive of Revelations, which she owns with Freeman. She declined to give the prices and terms for the movies it will offer or to say what movies, other than those produced by Revelations, will be available through the service.
Hollywood is increasingly debating whether movies should be released on DVD on the same day as they begin theatrical release.
The sports and movies mogul Mark Cuban's 2929 Entertainment, which includes an independent production company, has plans to start releasing its films that way.
In addition to first-run movies, ClickStar hopes to create offerings on its Web site that would be developed with various actors and celebrities, presenting a mix of their available movies and a performer's original programming for the service.
McCreary declined to say if any artists, other than Freeman, had agreed to work with the service.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/07/business/download.php