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LOS ANGELES - The Jackass gang is about to attempt its most audacious stunt yet: online-first movie distribution.
In a radical departure from the traditional movie business model, the prankster sequel Jackass 2.5 will skip multiplexes entirely, courtesy of Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment and MTV New Media.
The third outing in the hit franchise will be offered online for free over a two-week span beginning December 19 via Blockbuster and its new online property Movielink at blockbuster.jackassworld.com
From there, the film will move on to different pay-per-view platforms including iTunes and DVD as part of a light-speed reinvention of the customary distribution-window chain. The domestic release strategy will be replicated internationally early next year, but with different distribution partners.
The movie launch also will be a curtain-raiser for JackassWorld.com, which will establish a permanent online home for the franchise beginning February 9.
As the first studio-backed broadband film, '2.5' is a bold shift for a franchise that has delivered hundreds of millions of dollars to parent company Viacom in traditional distribution channels, from theatres to DVD. When all is said and done, '2.5' could end up a milestone in Hollywood's transition to digital media or an overly ambitious mishap.
But Tom Lesinski, president of Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment, emphasises the film won't be its last experiment from a studio intent on being a first mover in the space.
"We're trying to shake up the model," he said. "We're trying to prove that some form of longform distribution can be successful on the internet."
David Gale, executive vp new media at MTV Networks Music Group, acknowledged that longform programming is a rarity online, where the conventional wisdom holds that shorter is better. But he begs to differ.
"People say it's serialised shortform content and that's the way you should see it, but that's not going to be the (whole) future," he said. "That's only part of the future."
The absence of content restrictions on the internet also will allow Jackass to push the boundaries of good taste even farther than before.
2.5 has a higher percentage of gross or inappropriate things to it, but nothing so gross that it couldn't have been in Jackass 2," said Jeff Tremaine, producer and co-creator of all the Jackass films.
To protect children from the graphic content during its free-viewing window, Blockbuster will employ an age-verification system that will discourage anyone under the age of 17 from seeing 2.5.
On December 26, the second window in the 2.5 distribution scheme begins. While the film remains free online for a second and final week, it also transitions to DVD, hotel-room VOD and electronic sell-through platforms including Amazon's Unbox and iTunes (prices to be determined).
DVD is pivotal for Jackass, where its 'unrated' versions have performed particularly well. The 2.5 DVD will sell for US$29.99 and feature 45 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage not available on other platforms.
A third window opens January 1, when Blockbuster gets exclusive online VOD rental rights via Movielink.
When JackassWorld.com opens, the film will move there, along with any other site that wants to syndicate it in fragmented form. Breaking down 2.5 into multiminute pieces won't disrupt the film, given that Jackass is essentially a series of vignettes sans narrative structure.
- REUTERS
