Viacom's (VIA) Paramount Dodges Movie Theaters With New "Jackass"

"Jackass" is a series of disgusting films based on an MTV show. The real live characters do things like drink the body fluids from animals. Or worse.

The first two installments of "Jackass" were released in theaters. They did well. So, they went to DVD and HBO. They probably did not make it to airlines for travelers on those cross country trips, but only because there might be children on the plane.

Now, the Paramount unit of Viacom (VIA) is releasing the new version of "Jackass" online. Consumers will be able to go to the Blockbuster (BBI) website and stream the movie for free from December 19 to December 26. That’s right. For free. Blockbuster is paying $2 million for the rights and hopes to get them back from advertising shown with the movie. The film will go into DVDs after the 26th according to The Wall Street Journal.

The move may be brilliant for Paramount. The typical "Jackass" viewer is probably male and about 20 years old. A perfect target. Kids who don’t want to go the movie theaters because they can’t smoke dope but have had PCs and broadband since they were 15 years old. "Jackass" is a cult to them. They will probably hit the web in big numbers.

But, unless the numbers are truly huge, Blockbuster has done another good job of throwing money out the window. It will have to sell a lot of ads to get back $2 million in seven days. And a 20-year-old probably knows how to skip them anyway. It is another reason that BBI shares have fallen nearly 80% over the last five years. Although Blockbuster may get hurt, if the model works, it is not good news for HBO or theater owners.

But, Viacom chief Sumner Redstone will be watching "Jackass". Someone finally named a movie after him.

Douglas A. McIntyre