ITV Secures Rights To Show Blockbuster Movies
ITV has secured an exclusive licensing agreement with Warner Brothers International Television Distribution for the rights to show a range of high-profile Hollywood movies across its family of channels over the next few years.
The deal will give the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster access to feature films from Warner Brothers’ recent theatrical slates including titles such as Harry Potter sequels The Chamber of Secrets and The Prisoner of Azkaban, as well as Matrix spin-offs Reloaded and Revolutions.
Also included in the deal are Scooby Doo and Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, The Last Samurai, Troy, Ocean’s 11 and the upcoming Ocean’s 12, The Polar Express and Alexander. Other titles from the back catalogue include Unforgiven, The Fugitive and Lethal Weapon.
Commenting on the deal, ITV’s director of programmes, Nigel Pickard, said: “This deal offers an incredible slate of top flight films from the hugely successful Warner Bros. Pictures stable. We are delighted to have secured these films for ITV’s family of channels and look forward to screening them for our viewers.”
The deal will provide a much needed boost for ITV which has been hard hit by the success of the BBC’s Olympic coverage and a bumper summer for Channel 4. Hollywood movies have traditionally been reliable ratings winners for the channel with almost 9 million tuning in for the recent screening of Mission Impossible 2 and 8.6 million switching on for Unbreakable.
The new line-up of movies will also be used to support the launch of ITV3, the new digital channel for older, upmarket viewers. ITV3 will debut in November as a free-to-air offering showcasing films and classic dramas such as Cold Feet and Inspector Morse (see ITV3 To Launch As Free-To-Air Offering In November).
| Top Ten Films On ITV1 Since September 2003 | ||
| Date | Film | Viewers (000) |
| 17-Sep-03 | MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II | 8,882 |
| 15-Feb-04 | UNBREAKABLE | 8,679 |
| 01-Oct-03 | DR. DOLITTLE | 8,213 |
| 03-Sep-03 | THE FULL MONTY | 8,180 |
| 18-Apr-04 | WHAT LIES BENEATH | 7,443 |
| 22-Oct-03 | X-MEN | 7,220 |
| 05-Nov-03 | DOUBLE JEOPARDY | 6,955 |
| 03-Sep-03 | THE FULL MONTY | 6,855 |
| 06-Mar-04 | THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH | 6,677 |
| 13-Oct-03 | COYOTE UGLY | 6,406 |
| Source: BARB | ||
Earlier this week ITV1 announced planning to drop its celebrity idents as part of a rebrand timed to coincide with the launch of ITV3. The broadcaster has used a range of its biggest stars to promote its flagship ITV1 brand for the last two years. However, the celebrity idents will be ditched in early November to make way for a much stronger focus on the ‘digital family’ of channels (see ITV To Drop Celebrity Idents As Part Of Rebrand).
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com
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