Paramount Makes Jackass out of Itself
by John Paczkowski
Posted on December 13, 2007 at 2:05 PM PT
Odd to think that a 64-minute foray into excrement and emesis might be a defining moment in Hollywood’s transition to digital distribution. But it could.
Paramount Pictures plans to debut “Jackass 2.5,” the third installment of the “Jackass” movies, online, skipping the multiplexes entirely. “2.5” will launch Dec. 19 on Blockbuster’s new online property, Movielink, where it will be streamed free for two weeks. Then, beginning Dec. 26, it will be released on DVD, through video-on-demand and in Apple’s iTunes Store. An interesting experiment, and one that could pave the way for first-run broadband movies.
But will it succeed? Paramount certainly seems to think so. After all, the film is sort of a long-form version of the rough-edged, occasionally tasteless DIY content that predominates online. Said Tom Lesinski, president of Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment, “When you think about what people generally consume online it’s fairly low-end user-generated content, yet there are hundreds of millions of people online watching video every day.”
Or as another executive candidly told the New York Times: “There’s more vomiting, nudity and defecation. The stuff that consumers really want.”
