Jackass Set to be First Broadband Movie from Major Studio
It couldn’t be more perfect. On the day that awards seasons kicks off with the Golden Globe nominations being announced, Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment announced that they will distribute the next installment of Jackass via broadband.
Blockbuster will debut “Jackass 2.5″ for free on their website, JackassWorld, beginning December 19th. Instead of ticket sales, the studio hopes to make money from downloads, sales of the DVD, and from ad revenue. This highlights the significance of the writer’s strike and digital distribution, although this particular film doesn’t actually require any “writing.” But we’ll overlook that small caveat for the sake of the broader argument.
Additionally, this distribution model supports a recent survey from Choicestream, that found that 65% of the content consumed online is traditional TV fare ported over to the Web, rising to 70% when looking at the critical 18-24 demo.
Above: Johnny Knoxville’s Announcement From a Dentist Chair
Ben adds: This is more of a stunt to promote the new Jackass website than any kind of shift in distribution strategy. Jackass 2.5, which combines unused footage from Jackass 2 with new scenes is more an attempt to make money off old footage than to reinvent distribution.
It should be interesting to see how much money they can actually make from downloads, DVD sales and embedded ads. The Studios have the machine of film distribution to their advantage and while they may gain word of mouth and publicity from online promos and “midquels,” offering theater released films for free online won’t improve their bottom line.
Tags: choicestream, jackass