Donuts Inc., the world’s largest registry for new generic top-level domain names (gTLDs), will begin releasing over 1.3 million previously reserved domain names in the 144 extensions they administer this week. The names are to be released in batches each week between June and September. These are domains that were previously withheld to address the potential for “name collision,” or the possible leakage of Internet traffic from a closed private network onto the broader domain name system ( DNS), an issue no longer of concern.  

Those interested in the more than 1 million frequently searched terms contained in these domains can order them through these accredited domain name registrars. In the final month of the release program - on September 9 - Donuts will also release thousands of two-character combinations across all its gTLDs.

Donuts had another major development to announce this week. On  Tuesday, Lionsgate, the U.S. film studio, began promotion of its latest feature in the wildly popular The Hunger Games series by directing viewers to a name chosen from Donuts' stable of new gTLDs -  TheHungerGames.movie. As Kevin Murphy reported at DomainIncite.com today, that domain was allocated a few days earlier than .movie domains were supposed to be released, but the opportunity for this kind of massive exposure for a new TLD is one that a lot of new registries would have a difficult time passing up. If ICANN does impose any kind of penalty for bending the release rule the cost would likely be worth the reward Donuts will reap from having the extension associated with such a highly anticipated movie release.