Apple partners with Oscar-winning movie studio A24 for feature films

FILE PHOTO: Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York, U.S., August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

(Reuters) - Apple Inc <AAPL.O> has inked a multi-year deal with A24, the studio behind Oscar-winning projects "Moonlight" and "Amy", a source familiar with the plans told Reuters, as the iPhone maker pushes deeper into original content and movies.

Apple, which had allocated an initial $1 billion for programming, earlier inked deals with Hollywood celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and ordered two seasons of a series starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston to bring in more content for its users.

Other projects Apple had announced include a remake of Steven Spielberg's 1980s science fiction anthology series "Amazing Stories," based on Isaac Asimov's influential "Foundation" science fiction novels, and a drama from "La La Land" movie director Damian Chazelle.

New York-based A24's Academy Award nominations include "Lady Bird" and "Room".

The deal comes at a time when top online streaming service providers including Netflix Inc <NFLX.O>, Amazon.com Inc's <AMZN.O> Prime Video and Time Warner Inc's <TWX.N> HBO are spending billions to create original content.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco and Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)