Microsoft inks movie deal with NBC Universal

Microsoft has announced a deal with NBC Universal that will see 30 classic film titles brought to the Xbox Live Marketplace across Europe, including Shaun of the Dead, The Fast and the Furious, and The Bourne Supremacy.

The titles, available now in the UK and Ireland, and in the next few weeks in France, Germany and Spain, will complement the existing offerings from Warner Bros and Paramount.

"NBC Universal has a fantastic reputation in the film world and have some true blockbusters in their portfolio," said David Gosen, VP of marketing for Xbox Europe. "We are delighted to be working with them to bring major titles from Universal Pictures into Xbox Live living rooms - this is all part of our ongoing strategy to make Xbox a major entertainment hub.

"This agreement makes the Xbox Live film offering bigger and better than ever. For Xbox, we want to ensure that we have the best entertainment content available - Xbox Live has grown into one of Europe's largest providers of on-demand high-definition movies and we’ll continue to grow the content offered through the service.

"Working with NBC Universal is further proof of our goal to be in business with the best in the entertainment industry," he added.

The new additions will follow the existing movie rental pattern for library films, which cost 250 Microsoft Points (GBP 2.08/EUR 2.98) for standard definition and 380 Microsoft Points (GBP 3.17/EUR 4.53) for high definition. Rented titles must be viewed within 14 days of downloading, and within 24 hours of first playback.

The full list of titles included in the deal is as follows:

• Baby Mama
• Billy Madison
• The Blues Brothers
• The Bourne Supremacy
• Carlito's Way
• Cheech and Chong's Next Movie
• Child's Play 2
• Child's Play 3
• The Chronicles of Riddick
• The Fast and the Furious
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
• The Frighteners
• The Game
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army
• How High
• Incredible Hulk ('08)
• The Jerk
• The Mummy Returns
• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
• National Lampoon's Animal House
• Out of Sight ('98)
• Red Dragon
• Scarface ('83)
• The Scorpion King
• The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior
• Shaun of the Dead
• Village of the Damned
• Wanted
• Waterworld
• Weird Science