Online movie releases: the new 'straight to video?'

Jackass 2.5 from Paramount is believed to be the first studio-backed feature film to premiere online, and will be streamable for two weeks completely free of charge.

The Jackass movies essentially add a slightly larger budget to the MTV gross-out comedy clip show, stringing together a series of sketches into something of an anthology film. The 2.5 edition, which mixes new material with outtakes from the 2006 movie, reportedly cost a meager $2 million to produce.

From December 19 to January 2, Paramount will make the movie available for free in its entirety as an online stream with commercial pre- and post-rolls. After that, the film will be available for download on iTunes, Blockbuster's MovieLink, and Amazon for between $12 and $20 USD. There will be a subsequent DVD and pay-per-view TV release as well.

In a strange way, this "upgraded" edition may be just the right film for an online-first release. It was cheap to produce, its presentation is akin to that of viral videos, and the franchise, while not exactly a box office smash, has enough of an audience to drive traffic.

This release model could prove to be a successful alternative for lower-budget filmmakers, and actually be the next step for the direct-to-video niche market.