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Paramount Pictures To Release Film On Bittorrent

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the bet-it-sucks dept.

TheyreNotTheir writes "In a little over two months time, the long-awaited horror movie The Tunnel will receive its world premiere. Rather than a traditional theatrical release, the movie – which is set in abandoned real-life tunnels under Sydney, Australia – will make its debut online for free with BitTorrent. Simultaneously it will be released on physical DVD, to be distributed by Hollywood giant Paramount Pictures."

17 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. MPAA will not care by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Smart money says people still end up in court being sued for distributing it anyway.

    1. Re:MPAA will not care by zethreal · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Unfortunately, I think you're right. Either that or they're planning on recording all the IP's that connect to it for "tracking" purposes.

    2. Re:MPAA will not care by Skarecrow77 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's a trap!

    3. Re:MPAA will not care by SilentStaid · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's at best being terrible at sarcasm and at worst you're being deliberately obtuse. After all, it was posted HERE before that they planned on this all along as a way to drum up interest in the under-budget film already. Source.

      That aside, I think everyone here who has ever bitched at the MPAA should at least do a little research and find out that, one of the many reasons that they're having trouble funding this film is because they're going against the grain and not opting for a huge distribution model that we so frequently claim to hate.

      All I'm saying is, pony up Slashdotters. Put your money where your mouth is and show them that you like the business model by trying it, and pay for it if it's worth it (which is a different story entirely.)

    4. Re:MPAA will not care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I hate to break it to you, but the people modifying their apps or phones to remove ads are the types that never - never as in, never in their entire lifetimes - willingly click on ads. Your post has as much truth to it as saying that Chinese or Russian piraters cause massive financial loss (while ignoring that they never bought any paid apps in the first place).

      Also... I'm not going to lax my general iptables rule so I can view ads on your goddamn app. If your app uses internet connectivity only for ads then it's already broken.

  2. Will it leak? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Funny

    The question now is whether the film will be leaked onto Bittorrent before the official Bittorrent release.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    1. Re:Will it leak? by Seumas · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The more important question is - how will you know it's okay to download it? I mean, what differentiates one movie on bit torrent versus another? It sounds like this just muddies things. After all, if one movie is okay to download on bit torrent (and I don't know what would identify it as being authorized to download by the copyright holder when you're looking at a torrent index) and a movie that isn't?

    2. Re:Will it leak? by Seumas · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There's plenty of content out there all over torrent sites that the creator of that content has intentionally seeded to the public. Just because something isn't from "Corporate Conglomerate Name" doesn't mean it isn't legitimate. Is all that project gutenberg content somehow less valid if it's up on a public torrent site, just because you didn't get it straight from some publisher (who wouldn't be able to own the copyright, anyway)?

  3. Re:Profit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A lot of people (claim?) to buy games/movies/software after "trying them out" from bit torrent downloads.

    This will be an interesting business model test.

  4. Putyour money were your mouth is! by elsJake · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Donate and or buy it if you like it , they're testing new grounds and we need to prove we're not hypocrites.
    The slashdot crowd seems to follow the "try before you buy" mentality , so if you end up enjoying the movie , put your money were your mouth is.

    1. Re:Putyour money were your mouth is! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      BOARDROOM, INT. DAYTIME

      Henchman 1: I know! Let's release a piss poor movie on BitTorrent, asking for donations. When it fails we'll prove it's a failed model!
      MPAA Bossman: Brilliant! But... which movie shall we release?
      Henchman 1: ???
      Henchman 2: ???
      Henchman 3: ???
      MPAA Bossman: Ha ha, you should see the looks on your faces. *throws a dart at the board* They're all piss poor!
      All: Huzzah!

    2. Re:Putyour money were your mouth is! by Wiarumas · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Seems like a strawman technique to me though. "Hey everyone, the movie pirates were liars - they didn't buy this terrible movie after downloading it for free off Bittorent!" If it was a half decent movie, I would most likely download it and buy it if I liked it... but a horror movie titled Tunnel? Not interested in even the free version.

      --
      I will bend like a reed in the wind.
  5. Re:Profit? by mehrotra.akash · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hasnt the Humble Indie Bundle already done this??

  6. Re:Profit? by Stenchwarrior · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's a good idea, but if they really wanted to see if it works then they would release a film with some big-name actors. This just looks like some B-movie pseudo-thriller.

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    Loading...
  7. Re:Profit? by iluvcapra · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What would be clever is releasing the Divx on a torrent, but making the torren pan-and-scan and standard def, mono audio, burned in French subtitles, and corrupt the datastream a little so that every few minutes the picture hangs. Such a torrent might be "good enough" for people that wanted to casually watch the movie, and would divert them from a better pirated copies, particularly if you made sure it was very easy to find, but would be unacceptable if you actually wanted to enjoy watching the movie, and would stimulate you to go buy the real one.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
  8. Re:Profit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No. The Humble Indie Bundle on bittorrent was just regular piracy. Of course it was only pirated because of the invasiveness of its non-existant DRM and its outrageous price of a whole dollar.

  9. Paramount HE is probably only a licensee by airfoobar · · Score: 4, Informative

    The summary is incredibly misleading, I think. It's not a trick, it's not a trap. Ackbar lied to you.

    What's happening is, the creators of the movie (who have always planned on releasing their movie on torrent) now also have a 'hard copy' DVD release planned. The DVD release is being distributed by Paramount HE, but it still seems quite clear that the rights are held by the movie creators, not the distributors as is usually the case. This is similar with what Paley did with Sita Sings the Blues, and it's a Good Thing (TM).

    If you people can now stop speculating and go support this initiative, it would be great!!