Netflix and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios today announced a new multi-year licensing agreement that will make Netflix the exclusive subscription streaming service in the UK and Ireland for most first-run feature films from MGM. MGM titles will be available for Netflix members in the UK and Ireland to watch in the pay TV window on their televisions, tablets, game consoles, computers and mobile phones, for a low monthly price. Netflix announced last month that it would launch its service in the UK and Ireland early in 2012.

Appearing exclusively on Netflix within one year of their theatrical release will be such films as "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" and "The Hobbit: There and Back Again," the highly-anticipated prequels to the Academy Award-winning "Lord of the Rings" trilogy by Peter Jackson, "Zookeeper" starring Kevin James, "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters," with Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton, and "21 Jump Street," featuring Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill and Ice Cube.

A selection of MGM catalogue titles will also be available on Netflix in the UK and Ireland, including "Capote," "Fargo," "The Usual Suspects," "West Side Story" and "The Amityville Horror."