Much as the movie industry would like to avoid having Apple becoming the dominant digital vendor for digital movies as it has in the world of digital music, Apple is doing it anyway.

While the movie and television industry experiments with a bunch of incompatible standards and technologies, Apple has been inexorably putting together a video ecosystem that just works.

Independent film studio Lionsgate announced today that it’s struck a deal with Apple to provide digitized versions of its movies that can play on iPods and similar devices. Buy a copy of Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo or Jessica Alba’s The Eye, and you’ll get an iTunes code that you can use to download a digital copy of the movie that you can watch with iTunes compatible devices.

“Digital Copy for iTunes is a perfect example of how packaged media and new digital technology can work hand in hand for the benefit of our consumers,” Lionsgate president Steve Beeks said in a statement.

“Our consumers are always looking for new viewing options in terms of the motion pictures they buy, and we are always searching for new ways to deliver content in formats that reflect consumer preference across the entire home entertainment spectrum, from packaged media to digital storage to (video on demand).”

Last fall, 20th Century Fox introduced the concept to the market with the release of Bruce Willis’ Live Free or Die Hard.