LOS ANGELES — As consumers display increased interest in owning movies digitally, a habit considered crucial to Hollywood’s future, Walt Disney Studios unveiled a service on Tuesday that aimed to make collecting its films easier.

Once fully deployed, the free service, called Disney Movies Anywhere, will allow consumers to buy a Disney, Marvel or Pixar movie once and watch it on any web-ready TV, mobile device or computer. Users on Tuesday were immediately able to link their Apple iTunes accounts with the Disney Movies Anywhere website and app.

The arrival of Disney Movies Anywhere has been long delayed. Two years ago the company declined to participate in a digital movie storage and management system called UltraViolet, even though every other major film studio signed on. At the time, Disney was concerned that the name was confusing and worried that families — Disney’s core consumers — were not yet ready to embrace cloud storage technology. The company, always mindful of tightly controlling how its products are presented, also felt its brand was strong enough to go it alone.

Disney also wanted to enter the cloud-based market in lock step with Apple. UltraViolet has partnerships with major digital movie retailers like Best Buy and Walmart, but lacks a direct tie to iTunes, which controls roughly 60 percent of digital movie purchases.