Burns Movie to Debut on iTunes

Director Edward Burns faced a well-known problem after premiering his latest film, Purple Violets, at the Tribeca Film Festival back in April — “lukewarm distribution offers,” according to a new article in The New York Times.

Instead of going the usual route and watching his film sink into oblivion due to a lack of public awareness, he decided to do something completely different. As a result, Purple Violets will be the first full-length film to debut exclusively on iTunes; it won’t play in a single theater.

James L. McQuivey, a media analyst at Forrester Research, said in the article that iTunes was primarily a vehicle for selling Apple’s media-playing devices like iPods and iPhones.

McQuivey said in the Times report that Apple is in a bit of a crisis. “If they can’t get the content soon, which may be why they’re doing all sorts of attention-getting content deals now–they need to show they have some traction in the video space–they stand to lose whatever momentum they’ve gained,” he said.

Facing Competition, iTunes Revs Up Its Film Section [NYT]

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