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Apple on Thursday announced that new movie releases will be available for purchase on the iTunes Store the same day as they're available as their DVD release.

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New releases and catalog titles are coming from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios, according to Apple.

New releases available for purchase are priced at US$14.99 each; catalog titles -- that is, older titles that are still in circulation -- are mostly available for $9.99 each.

It's a step forward for the iTunes Store as a source for new video entertainment. When Apple first announced the availability of movies through the iTunes Store, it was indicated that Apple would offer new movies within 30 days of their availability on DVD. Now the company's promising them the same day.

Apple is kicking off the new feature of the iTunes Store with new releases this week including "American Gangster," the crime drama starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe; and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," a drama based on the true story of French fashion editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, at the age of 43, suffered a debilitating stroke that left him almost entirely unable to move except to blink his left eye.

Other recently released movies available to purchase from iTunes include "Juno," "Cloverfield," "I Am Legend," "There Will Be Blood," "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story."

The movies can be viewed using a Mac or PC, iPod with video, iPhone, or Apple TV.

Apple now counts over six million songs, 600 TV shows and more than 1,500 films available through the iTunes Store, with 200 of those movies available in high definition video.