Paramount to launch movie on BitTorrent first
updated 10:50 am EDT, Thu March 17, 2011
The Tunnel to debut on torrent and DVD on May 19
Come May 19, a new horror movie called The Tunnel will make the most original and uncommon of premieres: on BitTorrent. According to TorrentFreak, the free movie from Paramount Pictures will also come out at the same time on DVD, though the physical format will carry a sticker price with it. The movie is set in the tunnels under Sydney, Australia, and follows a TV news crew.
The DVD, distributed by Transmission Films, will include two hours of special footage, an alternate ending and a behind-the-scenes documentary. Made by Distracted Media, the movie will be launched worldwide.
"From day one we’ve maintained that The Tunnel is not supporting or condoning piracy, but instead trying to incorporate a legitimate use of peer-to-peer in our distribution strategy internationally," said the movie's producer and editor Enzo Tedeschi. "Our experience with Paramount has been positive, and we're impressed with how forward-thinking they’ve been on considering our specific project."
Paramount like most movie studios has been traditionally against sharing movies through torrents, as it's commonly used to distribute pirated movies. BitTorrent as a company has been pushing legitimate uses, such as speeding up game downloads and patches, but has often had difficulty pushing support for media when many content providers often want BitTorrent blocked.
