We usually don’t cover the movie removals here at ATVJ like we do the new additions. We’ve been burned before where Apple might removal a title one day and then add it back the next. But I thought I would post this list because most of these removals seemed to have happened over the last few days. Really since the new iTunes HD Rentals were added. Most of the titles listed below have been removed all together from iTunes, some of them remain purchase titles, such as Hancock, and a handful were available in HD on the Apple TV.

I like to think that the way the movie studios view the iTunes Movie store is as a sort of hybrid Netflix/cable channel on TV, such as an Spike or TNT. Let’s call it for what the studios see it as, Channel iTunes. From time to time you will see a run of particular movies on those channels, Lord of the Rings, The Godfather trilogy, and so on, and then they are gone for a few months. This seems to happen with the SD and HD titles in the iTunes Store. Like Netflix, iTunes will get a new release right off the bat, will run it for a few months until its time for it to appear on a premium cable channel such as HBO, and it will disappear. iTunes may get it back after the premium channels run of the movie. Then there are the older catalog titles such as National Lampoon’s Vacation, which show up for a limited run of a few weeks or months, and then the title seems to revert back to the cable TV channels.

What does this all mean? Well, If you happen to see any of the titles listed below this weekend on cable channels such as Spike, TNT, AMC, or TBS, then you know where they came from and why they aren’t showing up in your search in iTunes or the Apple TV.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
48 Hrs.
A Fish Called Wanda
Adam’s Rib
Addicted to Love
Aliens Gone Wild!
American Movie
And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird!
Asunder
At the Circus
Barricade (1950)
Boomerang
Breakheart Pass
Brooklyn Bound
Buddies (1985)
Casualties of War
Changing Lanes
Cleaner
Clockstoppers
Clue
Con Air
Dances With Wolves
Dead of Winter
Deep Blue Sea
Die Hard: With a Vengeance
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Dot the i
Dr. Goldfoot & the Girl Bombs
Eight Men Out
Elf
Eraser
Escape from Alcatraz
Eyes Wide Shut
Falling Down
Farewell to Arms
For a Few Dollars More
Goodnight We Love You: Phyllis Diller
Hancock
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
Hey Arnold! The Movie
Hurricane on the Bayou
It Happened One Night
J.D.’s Revenge
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead
Kemper
King David
Kisses for My President
Knockaround Guys
La Bamba
Lady Jane
Leviathan
Lost Boys: The Tribe (Uncut)
Love Story
Mars Attacks!
Mr. Majestyk
Multiplicity
My Best Friend’s Girl
National Lampoon’s Vacation
Night Shift
Once Upon a Time In the West
Outbreak
Peter Frampton: Live In Detroit
Pootie Tang
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Radio
Rocky IV
Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders
Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico
Shall We Dance
Shanghai Noon
Shelter Me (2007)
So I Married an Axe Murderer
Soccer Dog
Sorority Boys
Soul’s Midnight
Species: The Awakening
Spy Kids 3: Game Over
Tequila Sunrise
The Adventures of Huck Finn (1939)
The Alps
The Apple Dumpling Gang
The Barbie Diaries
The Cat from Outer Space
The Devil’s Own
The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill, But Came Down a Mountain
The Exorcist
The Glass Shield
The Glimmer Man
The Happening
The Hunger
The Invisible
The Omega Man
The Others
The Postman
The Presidio
The Prestige
The Principal
The Return of a Man Called Horse
Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her
Tom and Huck
True Grit
Two Tigers
Urban Cowboy
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Wildcats