The Movies Anywhere service was developed by Walt Disney Co (>> Walt Disney Company (The)) to provide a single app and website where customers can find movies they have purchased from a variety of retailers.

Comcast Corp's (>> Comcast Corporation) Universal Pictures, Time Warner Inc's (>> Time Warner) Warner Bros, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc's (>> Twenty-First Century Fox) 20th Century Fox and Sony Corp's (>> Sony Corp) Sony Pictures Entertainment have signed on to the effort, the statement said.

Hollywood's movie studios are looking for ways to encourage digital sales of movies after they leave theaters in order to help make up for the decline in popularity of physical DVDs.

The free Movies Anywhere service, launched in the United States on Wednesday, initially will allow users to access movies purchased from Apple Inc's (>> Apple) iTunes, Amazon.com Inc's (>> Amazon.com) Amazon Video, Alphabet Inc's (>> Alphabet) Google Play and Wal-Mart Stores Inc's (>> Wal-Mart Stores) Vudu. Other retailers and studios may join in the future.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)