Colin Firth's New Movie Is on BitTorrent—on Purpose - Businessweek

A bold BitTorrent-based bet

"Los Angeles-based film distributor Cinedigm has partnered with BitTorrent to promote Arthur Newman by releasing its first seven minutes for free. Seven minutes of a movie may not be very much—basically an extended trailer. But Cinedigm is hoping that you’ll be so enamored of Colin Firth’s bumbling eccentricities and Emily Blunt’s sullen expressions that you’ll buy a movie ticket to see the film in theaters.
“It’s a promotional play on one of the biggest platforms,” Jill Calcaterra, the chief marketing officer at Cinedigm, wrote to Bloomberg Businessweek in an e-mail. “We are simply taking the way [BitTorrent] has been used in the past and turning it on its head.” In that sense, Cinedigm’s marketing move is a turning point for the industry—not unlike going into business with the guy who stole all your lunch money in middle school."

Colin Firth's New Movie Is on BitTorrent—on Purpose - Businessweek