YouTube Brings Sundance Films Out for Rental Until Jan 31st

YouTube Rentals is now live, and one of the offerings is a selection of films that screened at Sundance this year (and last). Dig it:

As you may have heard, we recently introduced YouTube Rentals. We’re very excited about this new offering as it will add to the great selection of movies already available on YouTube, including a group of independent films we’d like to tell you about now.

Until January 31st, you can rent five feature films from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance Film Festivals on YouTube. From last year’s documentary hit “The Cove” to selections from the brand new NEXT Category, there should be enough to keep you busy through the end of the Festival. The films available are:

“Children of Invention” explores the American Dream as seen through the eyes of a Chinese American family living in suburban Boston.

In “Homewrecker,” a prisoner on work release and a live-wire kook take a day-long ride in a seemingly stolen vehicle that neither of them will soon forget.

In “The Cove” an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Japan, and shine a light on a dark and deadly secret.

When humble Linas, kicked off of his friends couch and spurned by his lover, finds a forgotten van on a llama farm outside Seattle, he begins lurching east with nothing to lose in “Bass Ackwards”

In “One Too Many Mornings,” Fisher and Pete are two dudes with dude problems — one drinks too much and one just got cheated on by his girlfriend — and few prospects of helping each other out.

Head on over and check out the rentals. They’re 3.99 a piece looks like.

“Bass Ackwards” Film to Premiere on VOD February 1st

UPDATE: the film is currently available for rental on Youtube – Rent “Bass Ackwards” on YouTube for $3.99

“Bass Acwkards”, a new film recently screening at Sundance, is set to premiere in the US on VOD one day after the film fest comes to a close: Feb 1st, 2010. Check it out:

In an unprecedented distribution maneuver that will bypass theatrical and other traditional windows, the highly anticipated film, Bass Ackwards, which will have its World Premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, will be available nationwide one day after the festival closes. Through this unusual distribution deal with New York based New Video and Zipline Entertainment, Bass Ackwards will be available for purchase and download in tens of millions of homes via major digital retailers, cable VOD and DVD on demand beginning Monday, February 1, 2010. A full retail DVD release in the spring will include in-depth bonus material documenting the unique distribution strategy. This ground-breaking deal is a first of its kind for a feature-length film out of a premier festival like Sundance.

The film, executive produced by Sundance veteran Mark Duplass and marketing executive Marian Koltai-Levine, produced by Thomas Woodrow and directed by actor Linas Phillips, also stars Phillips as a man who embarks on a lyrical, strange and comedic cross-country journey in a modified VW bus after ending a disastrous affair with a married woman.

There’s also a short video from the film’s producer discussing why they’re going this route for distribution.

For more info, check out the Bass Ackwards website. Apparently they were trying to raise money for the premiere, though they have only met 10% of their goal. It is not clear whether or not that has impacted the release. Still, a step in the right direction if it happens.

Thanks Rotten Tomatoes.

Get Splattered: New Webseries “Splatter” to Debut on Netflix For Free

That’s right, the genius that brought you Gremlins is back with a new webseries called “Splatter“, starring your favorite Goonie Corey Feldman. The series, produced by B-movie legend Roger Corman, will debut for free on Netflix (no account required). The first episode will go up on October 29th, with a second following on November 6th, and then the finale on November 13th (a Friday too, nice). Here’s some more info:

Directed by Joe Dante, “Splatter” is about a musical genius who accumulated as many hit records as he did enemies while climbing up the fame ladder. Johnny Splatter’s sudden death, ruled a suicide, brings a small circle of professional parasites and hangers-on to his Hollywood Hills mansion for the reading of his last will and testament.  But as his “frenmies” come to pick the bones clean, Johnny has returned for a deadly encore long after what they thought was his final curtain.

The Splatter website already has a trailer and some nice bonus features. Go check it out! Thanks to Hacking Netflix again – Netflix To Present Free Webisodes of ‘Splatter’ Starting on October 29th.

Day-and-Date for Disc Based Media and VOD Strategy is Working

Sure, maybe it is a bad example because it’s “Twilight”. It’s something you wouldn’t understand unless you’re a teenage girl. However, Summit Entertainment is reporting that their fears of digital copies taking precedence over the obsolete disc formats are still not yet a reality. Observe:

When Summit Entertainment released the vampire hit simultaneously on DVD and video-on-demand, it broke the oldest taboo in home entertainment: No other studio had released a pic grossing more than $100 million at the domestic B.O. that way, fearing VOD transactions would cannibalize disc sales.

As the entertainment biz inevitably moves toward a day when discs will give way to product delivered directly to TVs and computers, the business is poised somewhat uneasily on a tightrope. Summit and some majors like the day and date VOD and DVD release strategy; others are worried it will cut into DVD sales.

But that didn’t happen with “Twilight”: The March release became — and still is — the year’s top home entertainment title. Almost 8.5 million copies have been sold on disc or via download on sites such as iTunes, while rentals have exceeded 14 million transactions on all formats, with VOD accounting for a healthy portion of that.

Summit Home Entertainment prexy Steve Nickerson is convinced the release strategy paid off in greater overall coin.

The article goes on to explain more on the decline of DVD sales and where the market is at. It’s a good read, so check out the full article on Variety – The upside of a DVD and VOD day-and-date release.

Nostalgia for Rental Shops: Time Says “Netflix Stinks!”

Netflix has grown so quickly that you can’t be surprised some are still left clinging to the old ways of getting content to your eye balls. A writer for Time is one of them and this is what he has to say:

Beyond the mail delays and the botched orders, the lack of human interaction is the big problem with Netflix and its cyber-ilk. Thanks to the Internet, we can now do nearly everything–working, shopping, moviegoing, social networking, having sex–on one machine at home. We’re becoming a society of shut-ins. We deprive ourselves of exercise, even if it’s just a stroll around the mall, until we’re the shape of those blobby people in WALL•E. And we deny ourselves the random epiphanies of human contact.

Getting movies by mail is, Netflix hopes, just a stage between the Blockbuster era of video stores and the imminent streaming of movies. You can already get 12,000 Netflix titles on your TV (if you have a Blu-ray player or spring for a $100 Netflix box). So, O.K., soon there will be no more waiting for DVDs. But it’ll come at a price. You’ll be what the online corporate culture wants you to be: a passive, inert receptacle for its products.

I don’t really agree with most of it, but if there’s anything to take away from the article it’s that Netflix’s recommendation system could use some more work, and you’re a mindless lump of lard if you embrace simplified, direct, and active choices for accessing the one thing that really matters: content. Full article over at Time.

Blockbuster to Offer Netbooks and Blu-ray Players In Store

In another curious move by the fledgling Blockbuster, they plan on offering ARCHOS 10 netbooks in store for $299. The dirt:

Blockbuster will add $299 Archos 10 netbook computers to its product offerings at 1,000 of its U.S. locations.The Archos netbooks will include an embedded link to Blockbuster’s Web site.

At less than 2.8 pounds each, the mini laptops feature a 10-inch ultra-bright LED screen, 1GB RAM and a 160GB harddrive. They also come equipped with Windows XP and a built-in Web cam.

I think they’re going to need more than a link to their site. Thanks VidBiz.

Also, the company plans on offering Samsung Blu-ray players which will feature the ability to steam the Blockbuster On-demand titles. Check it:

Blockbuster has reached an agreement to have its on-demand titles playable through Samsung high-definition televisions and Blu-ray Disc players.Owners of Samsung HDTVs, Blu-ray players and home-theater systems will be able to video-stream Blockbuster OnDemand titles as soon as this fall, Blockbuster said in a statement today. As part of the agreement, Blockbuster will sell Samsung Blu-ray players at “thousands” of its stores, the company said.

The efforts of the largest U.S. movie rental company to boost sales of digital content mirror competitor Netflix, which reached a similar agreement with Sony for its Bravia televisions late last week.

Thanks again to VidBiz.

ScreenPlay Plans to Offer Full-Length Films Online with Metadata Standard

ScreenPlay has been offering film trailers for quite a while, but now they plan on making the leap over to full films. One other important note is their plan to standardize metadata for digital content. Check it out:

ScreenPlay CEO Mark Vrieling said the company plans to streamline digital movie delivery from studios to digital retailers the same way the company streamlined the process for movie trailers.

ScreenPlay has deals with all the major studios for digital movie trailers, which it puts into a standard digital format and distributes online to customers that include IMDb, Best Buy, The New York Times and others. It also handles all Disney trailers in most regions of the world. ScreenPlay has a deal with a smaller supplier it won’t yet name for full-length films, but plans to fully roll out the service with other partners in the fourth quarter.

For full-length movies, the digital distribution process is tedious, requiring studios and other suppliers to create different digital formats for each movie service, because there are so many formats and copyright technologies being used.

“It’s becoming a bit of a headache for all of them,” Vrieling said. “What Netflix wants for a digital file is not the same as what Apple wants, which is different again from what Amazon wants, which is a whole different process from what CinemaNow wants.”

Vrieling said ScreenPlay could make the process more economical for studios, which currently get their digital masters from DVD replicators and then make a different master for each digital retailer.

The company plans to house digital masters from the studios on servers, which could then be transferred in real-time and in the necessary format to the various retailers.

For now, Vrieling is calling the new service Digitally-bonded Warehouse, noting that the company is already bonded by the Motion Picture Association of America.

ScreenPlay also plans to handle metadata information on those files for studios. Metadata—the film summary, cast list and other information about a film—has become another area of frustration for studio and digital retailers because there is no standard. Studios all include different information, each in their own file format. And retailers all require different levels of information for their sites, some including a full cast list and other just key actors, for example.

Thanks to VidBiz.

France to Shrink Theater -> VOD Window to 4 Months

It seems that the French are more readily accepting VOD, as the government and the film industry there formed an agreement to decrease the window of time between a film hitting theaters and VOD services from 7.5 months to 4. Dig it:

France on Monday narrowed the windows between a film’s release and its debut on other platforms.Titles will move to video-on-demand four months after they hit cinema screens instead of the present 7½ months under a new “media chronology” to which the industry and the government have agreed. The change puts VOD on a par with DVD release.

Pay TV webs will get titles 10 months after cinema release rather than 12 months. Free TV takes over at 22 months rather than at 24-36 months.

Gaul is unusual in having a highly regulated set of release windows overseen by the government and the industry, including exhibitors, distributors, producers, broadcast organizations and new-media companies.

Pretty nice that the whole industry has accepted the movement. Shame something like that isn’t happening in the US. Thanks Variety.

Amazon Offering 7 Day Rentals for Indie VOD

Some Indie studio favorites such as Criterion Collection, Docurama, Magnolia Pictures, Strand Releasing, and Virgil Films are among the studios offering films with 7 day rental periods instead of Amazon’s typical rental. The details:

While Walt Disney Studios, Warner Home Video and Lionsgate have begun extending the viewing window for video-on-demand rentals through Comcast this summer, a number of indie suppliers have gone even further with Amazon Video On Demand.Criterion Collection, Docurama, Magnolia Pictures, Strand Releasing, Virgil Films and Entertainment and Zeitgeist Films are among those offering VOD rentals on Amazon with a seven-day viewing period. Films available include new releases such as Criterion’s Grey Gardens, Virgil’s Super Size Me and Magnolia’s Man on Wire.

First Look, meanwhile, is offering rentals with a three-day viewing period on Amazon.

Major studios and even indie suppliers have traditionally stuck to a 24-hour viewing period on VOD rentals. For downloads and streams, that means consumers have 24 hours to watch the film once they click play before the content is no longer viewable.

That’s longer than a lot of DVD rental places, so consider that next time you’re in the mood to rent a flick. No driving required, unelss you’re out of popcorn of course. Thanks VidBiz.

It Isn’t All Gravy for Some VOD Start Ups

Despite advances in technology and viewers, many VOD initiatives have been shutting down. It seems only natural, given the glut already out there considering how young the format is (in viewers’ eyes). Ripe Digital Entertainment is the latest on the list of casualties. There’s an interesting write up over at PaidContent reflecting on the VOD closures:

It wasn’t that long ago when Disney, HBO, NBC and AOL started funding these projects, with flashy announcements and high-profile backers. Now, as the bubble on original online video has burst, most of these efforts have been stalled, and network-backed options such as Hulu have taken off, LAT surveys the scenario and trends going ahead:—In Feb last year, Disney launched Stage 9 Digital with an initial roster of about 20 shows. With the exception of its first series, “Squeegees,” a comedy about window washers, none of the others saw the light of the day. Earlier this year, it laid off most of its staff, and in March Stage 9 was shut down.

—Turner’s online comedy venture SuperDeluxe, launched in 2007 as edgy, multiplatform brand aimed at men 18-24, folded last year into its much more recognizable AdultSwim brand.

—HBO and AOL’s comedy venture ThisJustIn folded due to, well, pure and simple mismanagement, besides the macro issues. Then we all know siste[r] company Time Inc’s doomed venture with OfficePirates: that closed down two years ago.

—Besides big media, startups like 60Frames and ManiaTV have also closed down in the last year. Some of these moved away from creating original content but served as distributors, but even then, ad dollars didn’t grow fast enough to cover production costs, let alone overhead, as LAT story explains.

—Just yesterday, CBS-backed EQAL announced that it is moving away from development and funding of its own standalone series, in favor of running the online video properties for existing brands like CBS’ Harpers Island (called Harper’s Globe) or Food Network icon Paula Deen.

The reasons for the above failures came down to hubris, the hope that advertising would help tide the way. With the economy, and general lack of a big enough audience to monetize, most of the optimism has frittered away.

Still, it seems that nobody out there really has the answer. Check out the full article over at PC.