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Lions Gate chief financial officer Jon Feltheimer told listeners to the company's quarterly results conference call that the deal with Apple is just one of several that the company has agreed.

'We ... have digital delivery deals in place with Cinema Now, Movielink, and iTunes, with upcoming announcements with at least two more major industry players,' he said.

The distributor's president Steve Beeks added that Apple will begin selling its movies

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sometime this year.

'In terms of iTunes movie downloads, I think [will be] most likely some time before the end of the year,' he said. 'We know when they are planning on launching, but since they have not announced it publicly, I do not think it is our place to say anything more about that.'

However Apple, which already sells a handful of Lions Gate TV shows is unlikely to be impressed, given its closely guarded secrecy over any future product announcements.

Its track record for music sales suggests that Apple will prove, at least initially, Hollywood's most fertile ground for cashing in on the latent demand for digital movies.

US business magazine Forbes reported in June that Apple intends to revolutionise the film industry as it did with music sales, with the only sticking point being CEO Steve Jobs insistence that the single-price policy that has been so successful for music is also applied to movies.

Industry observers are speculating over who 'two more major industry players' might be, with Amazon the favourite.