In only one week, Apple"s iTunes Store has generated $1 million in movie sales for Walt Disney, and that"s "just the beginning," the head of Disney said Tuesday.
By the end of this year, Disney expects to reap $50 million in movie sales through the iTunes Store "at no marketing expense to us at all," said Robert Iger, Disney CEO, at a conference put on by The Goldman Sacks Group and Webcast over the Internet.
Disney became the first company to offer movies through the iTunes Store last week. Disney"s selection comes to a total of 75 films including new titles such as "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," and older classics such as "The Incredibles" and "Cinderella."
The initial success of the venture, with more than 125,000 Disney titles sold in a week, should help boost confidence in the Internet as a lucrative place for entertainment companies to deliver content to users. It should also help allay fears over movie piracy, an issue the movie and recording industry has fought a tough battle against.
"We are very, very bullish on consumption over electronically delivered media and we"re taking a very optimistic view of technology as a friend, or a great enabler, and not a great predator," Iger said.