Australian & New Zealand residents and iTunes users can now rent or download movies from major film studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, MGM, Sony Pictures Television International and Lionsgate, according to Apple. More information, including pricing and availability, is listed below.

The iTunes Store in Australia (www.itunes.com/au) and the iTunes Store in New Zealand (www.itunes.com/nz) both feature movie purchases and rentals of over 700 films, including new releases (for purchase on the same day as their DVD release) like "National Treasure 2," "Jumper," "27 Dresses," "Cloverfield", "Vantage Point" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", says an official Apple report.

"Movie fans in Australia and New Zealand can choose from a great selection of over 700 films for purchase and rent on the iTunes Store," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of Internet Services. "iTunes provides an incredibly easy and fun way for people to discover and enjoy movies, and has quickly become the world's most popular online movie store with customers renting and purchasing over 50,000 movies everyday."

iTunes Movie Rentals use a mechanism that makes it possible to view a movie seconds after it starts downloading from the iTunes Store. From the moment you hit play, you have 30 days to start watching it. Once a movie has been started, you have 48 hours to watch it (as many times as you want). 100 of the total amount of movies are also available in high-definition (HD), for videophiles owning a widescreen TV with Apple TV.

Requirements, pricing and availability for Movie purchases / rentals from the iTunes Store Australia and New Zealand:

For Mac or Windows, iTunes 7.7.1 is required. The latest version of Apple's media player application is available right HERE on Softpedia. You will also be required a valid credit card to rent / purchase a movie.

iTunes movies in Australia start at A$9.99 for catalog title purchases, A$17.99 for recent releases and A$24.99 for new releases. Movie Rentals are A$3.99 for library title rentals and A$5.99 for new releases. HD films are priced at just one dollar more.

iTunes movies in New Zealand range from NZ$9.99 for catalog title purchases to NZ$17.99 for recent releases and NZ$24.99 for new releases. Movie Rentals are NZ$4.99 for library title rentals and NZ$6.99 for new releases. The HD versions of the movies are priced the same as everywhere, at just one dollar more.

All rentals can be previewed via iTunes. After purchase, movies can be watched on Apple's iPod classic, iPod nano with video, iPod touch, iPhone and Apple TV (widescreen TV required).