Star Trek: Into Darkness, the highest-grossing movie in the Star Trek series, is now available on iTunes ($14.99SD/$19.99HD), Amazon Streaming and XBox Live Video three weeks before it is released on DVD or Blu-ray. It’s the first major movie available on digital media like iTunes prior to DVD sales, as part of a push to maximise digital sales.
Set a year after events in the original Star Trek movie, it was generally well-received by critics and grossed over $453M worldwide. Reviews and trailer below the fold …
As ever, the critics have differing views, with AVClub giving it a B:
While Into Darkness rarely resembles the thinking-man’s science fiction saga it purports to continue, the film’s worst moments are, ironically, the ones in which it pays direct homage to its forebears. For especially misguided example, Abrams’ parallel-timeline conceit allows him to re-imagine one of the most iconic scenes (and lines) in the Trek canon, through a revisionist callback as cynical as the entirety of Super 8. But there’s a middle ground between too much reverence and not enough, and the actors hit it consistently. The new Enterprise crew—not just Pine and Quinto, but also Karl Urban’s hilariously cranky Bones and John Cho’s steely Sulu—nicely capture the spirit of their characters without ever resorting to imitating those who used to play them. Here’s to boldly going where others have gone before, but taking different routes to get there.
While the New Yorker was less impressed:
Abrams cuts from surprisingly mushy scenes of emotional unveiling to vast, grandiloquent bouts of aggressive action, with almost nothing in between; most of the logic has leached away from this movie, and with it half of the fun. And was it really the intention of the filmmakers to let Spock take, if not the captain’s chair, at least the dramatic spotlight with such regularity and ease? A couple more sequels in this vein, and we could have a mutiny on our hands.
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I wait for the 3D Blu-Ray
It is certainly NOT the ‘first major movie available on digital mediums like iTunes prior to DVD sales’. But still cool, I guess.
It’s on Amazon for digital download/stream as well.
What’s DVD?
It would appear that this is NOT all iTunes Stores. Because iTunes UK is currently showing “Expected 2 Sep, 2013”
The ‘Amazon Streaming’ link you provide in the article is incorrect. it should be: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5Q1HJS/
There have been several “major” movies released on iTunes prior to DVD/Blu-Ray.
Great, now can Cumberbatch get back to Sherlock! :)
If they really wanted to shake things up the prices should be more like $9.99SD/$14.99HD. My guess is the Blu-ray will be $24.99 (for the first week) so at $19.99 for the HD version on iTunes sans all the special features, commentary and likely compromises in audio fidelity, I’d rather pay the extra $5 and get it on Blu-ray.
The pricing on these are flawed. I pre-ordered my copy from Wal-Mart for 29.96. That includes 3D Blu-Ray + Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital copy. Those iTunes prices you pay 20 dollars for just a HD digital copy. You can also get the Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital Copy for 24.96. In my opinion digital prices should be 4.99 SD/ 9.99 HD. Because you are losing alot by going with a digital copy they should not be 90% to 100% the price of a physical copy. Also drop the rental prices to compete more with Redbox pricing then cable/sat PPV pricing and I would gladly use it.
“Media” is the proper plural of “medium”.
It is indeed: I shall have words with a certain editor :-)
Buy it just for the AWESOME deleted scenes!
It’s not the fist to be digital. The only reason it came out in iTunes/Amazon before the DVD/Bluray is to combat privacy as it was released on torrent sites. Whenever a major movie hits torrent sites it is also released on iTunes.
It really depends how one defines ‘major movie’. I’m not aware of anything in this league, but please let me know titles if you do – thanks!
and let the pirating begin.
It’s also on Xbox Live/Video FYI.
Thanks, Cooper