Apple is winding down its classic iTunes Movie Trailers app

Apple’s classic iTunes Movie Trailers app for iOS is miraculously still around, but MacRumors reports that it won’t be for much longer. The more-than-decade-old app that lets people watch film trailers and previews and get movie theater showtimes will soon wind down. But Apple won’t be getting out of the trailer screening business. Instead, based on a new banner appearing on the top of the Trailers app, it appears the trailers will end up in the Apple TV app.

“Apple TV app is the new home of iTunes Movie Trailers,” reads the banner on the top of the aging Movie Trailers app. The same banner message also exists on the top of the classic iTunes Movie Trailers website, which is still live and retains a blast-from-the-past circa-2009 Apple web design. According to MacRumors, this banner first appeared on August 9th.

a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>The new Movie and TV Trailers section is inside the Apple TV app.
a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge

If you’re still looking for trailers, The Verge was able to verify that there’s a new “Movie and TV Trailers” section within the Apple TV app’s Store menu, but it’s a bit hidden — you’ll need to scroll far down in the Store menu to find the Movie and TV Trailers icon.

Confusingly, the classic Movie Trailers app is also still available on Apple TV as well, and it too displays the banner. Which means these apps probably aren’t sticking around much longer.

a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>The iTunes Movie Trailers website, with its legacy Apple web design elements.
a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Screenshot: Umar Shakir / The Verge

The iTunes Movie Trailers app has certainly been showing its age. It has some older Apple software design elements, and with dark mode activated, many headers appear barely readable. The app, which originally launched in 2011, stemmed from Apple’s Y2K-era Quicktime Movie Trailers website, which was where people would go to watch high-quality versions of trailers before YouTube arrived and made playing videos directly in the browser easy and consistently viewable.

Personally, I used to use this app all the time to get movie showtimes, but that feature seems to have broken at some point, as the app doesn’t populate all the films my local theater is showing. As of right now, selecting Barbie in the new Apple TV Trailers experience takes you straight to a preorder screen asking to cough up $24.99, with no options for showings in your area. So I wouldn’t hold out hope for the old movie showtimes feature to stick around in this new iteration.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/11/23828718/apple-classic-itunes-movie-trailers-app-winding-down