14 DAY TRIAL // Full-length movies available for rent on Facebook aren't new, but Miramax is now expanding on the idea with a Facebook app which offers several titles from its catalog. The app is launching with 20 titles in the US and 10 in the UK and Turkey. The movies cost 30 cents, which comes in at $3 per title.
The Facebook app is dubbed Miramax eXperience and is now live on the site. It available in the three countries listed above, but there are plans to release it in France and Germany as well. Other countries, of course, should be coming at a later date.
The selection isn't great for now, there are only a handful of titles now, but that should improve in time.
Even so, it's the first time someone has offered a video rental store of sorts on Facebook, all efforts until now have been single title apps.
That said, those initial experiments proved the viability of Facebook as a distribution medium. Earlier this year, Warner Bros. broke the ice with its mega blockbuster Dark Knight, being made available for rental on Facebook.
Users paid with their Facebook credits and watched the movie via a dedicated player on the site. Apparently, the first experiment was a success, since Warner Bros. added more titles, also as stand-alone apps, movies such as Harry Potter or Inception.
There have been others doing the same since, but Miramax is the first to offer a single gateway for more of its movies. The selection is rather sparse at the moment, there are 20 movies being offered in the US, but half that in other countries.
Some popular titles, like Pulp Fiction, are US-only for the moment. But this is a temporary thing, Miramax plans to expand as soon as it secures rights for each country.
As for why is Miramax setting up shop on Facebook, CEO Mike Lang has a simple explanation:
"We wanted to fish where the fish are. We could have created the most robust Miramax.com in the world and other than my family members, who would be there?" he asked.