Fox to Offer Digital Movies Closer to Theatrical Release

Fox is about to pry open the window for digital film sales. Beginning later this month with Ridley Scott’s science fiction thriller “Prometheus,” the studio plans to offer high-definition versions of its films for sale at newly lowered prices about three weeks before making the movies available on discs and through video-on-demand services, studio executives said in interviews.

The new system is an aggressive bid to revive consumers’ interest in the purchase of movies, by giving them an earlier shot at films for about $15 each, down from a purchase price that is currently about $20. That will nibble into what has been a waiting period of roughly four months in which pictures play exclusively in theaters before their release in home entertainment formats. But the system is less provocative than a failed experiment last year.