Paramount, Hammer looking for new distribution platforms

Posted by Chris

December 13, 2007

On the same day (more or less) we get two stories about movies being distributed online in new and inventive ways.

First, there’s the widely discussed decision by Paramount and MTV to make Jackass 2.5 available through the Blockbuster-owned MovieLink exclusively for a week before releasing it into theaters. The movie will stream there for free, with ad support. Spots will air before and after the movie. The move is part of MTV’s online extension of the Jackass franchise, something that’s going to be expanded in the coming months. It should come as no surprise that Ian Schafer and the Deep Focus team are all over this, doing the online advertising for the movie.

(Side note: Keith O’Brien picks out the money quote from the NYT story. Good catch)

The legendary Hammer films shingle is back in business and looking for a new audience after 30 years off. The studio will release movies for free through the MySpace TV platform. Episodes will be released in 20-minute segments and then the finished product will be available for downloading or to buy on DVD. Even though it’s been a while, the Hammer name is apparently still synonymous with the horror genre, with the first movie being a teen vampire flick.

These are both great experiments, much along the same lines as Ed Burns releasing Purple Violets exclusively through iTunes, eschewing a theatrical release as well as not going the direct-to-DVD route. Players like this are going to be the ones that might be on the bleeding edge of a business-model shift, a scary place to be for sure, but we’re going to look back on this kind of stuff and remember how they changed distribution models for the better.

Also of interest is something Jane Green is trying out with Honeydripper, the new film from John Sayles. She’s going to be interviewing Sayles about the state of independent film and other related issues and posting those interviews online. That sort of transparency and talent access can be a big hook and I’m looking forward to seeing how this progresses.