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YouTube's low-key movie rental service got a shot in the arm from major Hollywood studios on Monday. YouTube announced that it is adding thousands of feature films from Lions Gate, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, and Universal to its stable of streaming movie content. US users will be able to rent movies for "industry standard pricing," which works out to $2.99 for most films and $3.99 for recent releases. Unfortunately, that content so far remains locked to your computer screen.

YouTube originally launched its service in early 2010 after negotiations with major studios in 2009 didn't get very far. The initial launch included several independent films that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. Later in the year, YouTube quietly added about 500 films to the service—still largely independent fare, but including a handful of well-known movies like Reservoir Dogs, Precious, Pi, and The Cove.

Financial Times reported in August 2010 that YouTube was still trying to hammer out deals with major studios, and Monday's announcement suggests the effort wasn't in vain. The new content includes classics like Caddyshack, Goodfellas, Ghostbusters, and Taxi Driver as well as recent hits like Inception, The King’s Speech, The Social Network, and The Kids Are All Right.

http://arstechnica.com/media/news/20...=Google+Reader

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