Online weekly episodic release starting March 2011

When you’re a mega-successful film franchise, doing something unique in digital distribution is typically besides the point. But nobody told Paramount Digital Entertainment and MTV, which is continuing its unique experiment with a “3.5” installment of Jackass.

Hot on the heels of Jackass 3D, a second sequel that did record-setting boxoffice in its opening weekend in September, Jackass 3.5 is a project with the kind of release strategy you just don’t see being done. Never-before-seen footage left on the cutting-room floor of Johnny Knoxville’s masochistic misadventures will be packaged with entirely new material and distributed online in weekly installments beginning March 2011 before moving on to Blu-Ray and DVD.
It’s not the first time Jackass has done this; Paramount/MTV employed a similar strategy for “2.5,” which was released in 2007 after the second film. It’s an interesting way of keeping a brand fresh in the minds of a fickle young male fan base that live and breathe online in between theatrical installments.

UPDATE: Thomas Lesinski, president of Paramount Digital Entertainment, presided over the launch of Jackass 2.5 and is back for 3.5. One key difference: 3.5 was shot simultaneous with the 3D film, while 2.5 was cobbled together 18 months after Jackass 2 was in theaters.

“It only helps from a consumer marketing point of view that Jackass 3D did so well,” he said.

Not only did it gross $116 million domestically to date, but an additional $42 million outside the U.S., which will make the international push for 3.5 much bigger than the sprinkling of markets that saw 2.5. “There’s a lot more aggregators coming to us from overseas this time around,” he said.

Lesinski has an an eye on repeating the first’s success but with some tweaks to adapt to how the digital landscape has changed in the intervening years. Distributors and sponsors are nearly done deals, but PDE won’t be announcing them until the ink is dry in a few weeks.

But Lesinski gave a few details ahead of time: Look for Jackass 3.5 to roll out online with a broader range of partners, a more “open” strategy than some of the exclusivity that locked in 2.5 to partners like Blockbuster’s Movielink. And instead of just one episode releasing per week, it will likely be two at a time this time out. There will also be some overlap between its episodic online window and the deployment of the entire 3.5 film on DVD, VOD and iTunes.

by Andrew Wallenstein
full story here: http://paidcontent.org/article/419-jackass-3.5-blazes-distinct-path-to-digital-platforms/

I have seen the first Blu-ray 3D movie that could do what consumer electronics companies have been hoping would happen – drive me to buy a 3D TV and Blu-ray 3D player just to get and watch that movie, which is “Avatar.”

This is the OMG! disc the industry needs so badly.
Clearly Panasonic knew what it had in this disc that the company’s Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory also authored with lots of input and oversight by director James Cameron.
And clearly Cameron wasn’t joking when he told an audience a couple weeks ago that it looks as good on a 3DTV as it looked in theaters.
I would actually argue that it looks better, way better!

Since Nov. 1 the “Avatar” Blu-ray 3D disc has only been available in Europe only with the purchase of a Panasonic Blu-ray 3D player or 3DTV. I’ve been reporting for months that it will be available the same way here in the U.S. beginning Dec. 1, and only available that way for about a year. Panasonic and Fox have yet to confirm the Dec. 1 date for the U.S.

But I just discovered a new posting by Panasonic about special “Avatar” viewing settings for the Panasonic plasma 3D TV as recommended by Cameron to optimize the experience.

Many people have seen footage from “Avatar” on a demo disc at conferences and other industry and media events for months, which is impressive but nowhere near as dynamic and compelling as the actual movie disc that I had a chance to watch this week on a 60-inch 3D plasma display.

I saw 20-minutes of “Avatar” at Comic-Con in 2009; I saw the movie at the Hollywood premiere at the Chinese Theater last year; I saw it again at a giant-screen IMAXtheater at Universal Citywalk, where the 3D was far more impacting than on a traditional screen. And I saw both 2D Blu-ray versions, which I feel have images that are even more vivid than the theatrical 3D versions, probably because the TV screen is inherently brighter than watching on a theater screen through dark glasses.

But none of those experiences was anything like the Blu-ray 3D version I saw this week, which instantly immersed me in the world of Pandora beginning with the stunning main menu page. Finally, the 3D made me feel like I was in experiencing this world rather than observing. And everything had far more depth and clarity than any other version. When the two main characters run across the log in the forest, this was the first time I really felt the danger of the plunging depth below them, which also drew my eyes to a waterfall down below to the left that I had never seen before. The bright and colorful wood sprites felt as if they were flittering much more closely to me. I wanted to remain in this world and instantly watch all my favorite movies in this way.
This is much closer to the 3D experience I have always sought and have thus far only found in documentary films at IMAX giant-screen theaters. I was hoping Hollywood would be able to deliver that same sensation with its more personal, fictional stories, but so far that has not been the case, not even the theatrical release of “Avatar.” Next week’s “Tangled” comes about the closest I have seen so far.
Having just watched about a dozen of the most recent Blu-ray 3D titles released this week (Zemeckis’ Christmas Carol, Polar Express; IMAX documentaries from Image/Warner; Warner’s Clash of Titans, Cats & Dogs w/ Road Runner; Sony’s FIFA 2010 World Cup, Open Season, Monster House), with varying quality but none better than slightly above average, I did not think Blu-ray 3D would be the medium that would wind up coming closest to meeting my expectations.
That was until I saw the Blu-ray 3D of “Avatar,” which was followed shortly thereafter by a call to Best Buy to see if that current price of $1,799 for a Panasonic 3D package including a 50-inch 3D TV, Blu-ray 3D player, two pairs of 3D glasses, and two Blu-ray 3D movies will still be good after Dec. 1.

by Scott Hettrick

view full story with more graphics here: http://hollywoodinhidef.com/2010/11/avatar-blu-ray-3d-best-3d-yet/