The Inception App Home Page

Once considered the savior of Hollywood due to their pristine image quality and durability, the DVD is quickly approaching the end of its shelf life. Over the past few years, sales have dropped by as much as 18% and that drop shows no signs of slowing. Meanwhile, new technologies such as HD TVs and Blu-ray, it was hoped, would revive sales. However, on demand services from the likes of Netflix, Hulu and now even Facebook are growing dramatically at the DVD's expense.

It's easy to say that the DVD will simply be replaced by a streamed movie, but that's only part of the picture. The problem with these services is that, for the most part, all you get is the movie itself; no deleted scenes, no commentary, no production art, assuming you don't rent/view the Bonus discs/features (if they're available).

For most people that's fine, but for cinephiles like me these are highly desired assets that add tremendous value to the overall experience and I want them. Then the unexpected happened. In an extremely rare moment of innovative thinking for Hollywood, Warner Bros solved the problem with the release of special, iOS "app editions" for both Inception and The Dark Knight.

The Future is Now

What's great about these apps is that they offer all the content that users expect from "special edition" DVDs such as photos, behind-the-scenes features, etc. While the apps are free, you still have to pay for the actual movie, but you would have to buy the DVD too. However, the apps also offer a lot of additional bonus material including the option to purchase the entire soundtrack or just individual songs.

To be sure, not every film will get the royal-app treatment, but we're already used to that with DVDs. Yet, apps can do a few things that DVDs would never be able to accomplish (unless you were watching via a PC, but you still need a disc for that).

• The app allows you to post to Facebook and Twitter. Spreading the word about both the film and the app can drive more sales.
• The app can be updated with additional features. Depending on the film, an app may, for example, link to a subscription-based online game. This too could generate additional revenue for the studio.
• The app could expand the experience by offering additional content. Disney's newly released Tron Legacy: The Complete Story is an "interactive book app. Featuring stunning illustrated artwork, true-to-life stills from the Film, thrilling music by Daft Punk, and an electrifying episode of TRON: Legacy Motion Comics."

Disney's Tron Legacy App

Certainly, there are still a lot of people who simply like having a tangible object. While I'm one of them, the benefits of what apps can offer have already made me reconsider the format of my future film purchases. Even the argument that I can't share the experience with a large group when watching a film on my iPad is fading with the introduction of Apple's Air Play, an app/hardware combination that streams music, video and photos to TVs.

Now, if the iPad could improve the quality of some of those films... I'm sure there'll be an app for that soon.

Neal Wiser is Vice President of Digital Strategy and Operations at ODM where he leads our teams in the creation and execution of strategic and tactical digital marketing plans. You can follow Neal on Twitter (his handle is @NealWiser) or connect with him Linkedin.