Warner to Rent Movies Through Facebook
Published: March 07, 2011
By Daniel Frankel


Who needs Facebook friends when you can watch movies?

Warner Bros. has become the first movie studio to offer movie rentals through Facebook, offering Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight for viewing through the social network for the cost of 30 Facebook credits ($3 in the non-Mark Zuckerberg world).

Starting immediately, movie watchers can visit http://www.facebook.com/darkknight and click on a "rent" button.

Within seconds, they'll be watching Chrisian Bale act his Academy Award-winning fanny off with stop, pause and play ability.







According to Warner officials, other titles will become available for digital viewing on Facebook shortly.

“Facebook has become a daily destination for hundreds of millions of people,” said Thomas Gewecke, President of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.

“Making our films available through Facebook is a natural extension of our digital distribution efforts. It gives consumers a simple, convenient way to access and enjoy our films through the world’s largest social network.”

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/warner-rent-movies-through-facebook-25324

Can you rent TV Shows on Facebook soon? (The Famous and Obscure).

Can you rent TV Shows on Facebook soon? (The Famous and Obscure).

Since this is brand new that was not announced at the time of press release.

People predict that if the Facebook movie renting system takes off then tv shows will be available.

Since this is brand new that was not announced at the time of press release.

People predict that if the Facebook movie renting system takes off then tv shows will be available.

That would be great...maybe Warner Bros. could have people rent shows that aren't released on DVD such as "Head of the Class", "The Hogan Family", and "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper".

i can see how, if this is popular (and why wouldn't it be) Facebook could turn into another Hulu. watch whatever show the day after it premieres. Don't like TV shows? We have movies! and i can picture, too, whatever is being watched will be updated as that persons status (with premission from the indivdual, of course)

Roger Ebert Discusses Facebook Streaming
By Alison Nastasi
Posted Mar 16th 2011


Facebook's recent deal with Warner Bros. to stream feature films through the social media giant's platform, promises to be an interactive movie experience. You pay three bucks (equal to 30 Facebook credits), and you get 48 hours to watch the film.

So far, you only have The Dark Knight to choose from, but this gives Warner Bros. the potential to dish up their entire library.






As famous film critic Roger Ebert also outlines in his Sun-Times blog, the entry of Facebook into the live-streaming pantheon gives people who might never use the technology an opportunity to check it out.

We're talking about folks like grandma, who might actually enjoy cheering Batman on, but was afraid to give her credit card to a website other than the one feeding her nasty Farmville addiction.






Rog says while that's all fine and good, Facebook live-streaming is not a service he'll be clicking the "Like" button on anytime soon.

He goes on to reassure us that he's not opposed to streaming movies online, and outlines a number of services he takes advantage of -- including the reigning champ, Netflix.

He also supports some of the lesser-known companies like Mubi.com, who specialize in art house and foreign cinema classics, as well as AsiaPacificFilms.com, where you can indulge in one of the 199 movies from South Korea.








The outspoken critic makes it clear that Facebook's ongoing security issues are his biggest concern, but he's also not digging their user interface.

"It's easier to use the Mac operating system right out of the box than to manage a Facebook account," he jabs.


Rog also seems to be missing the feedback that sites like Netflix or Amazon provide. There, you can read full reviews of films, page through dozens of recommendations based on what you've watched in the past and check out a variety of movies broken down into subgenres.







While Facebook continues to try to take over the world, Ebert isn't buying into the bigger-is-better theory.

"Growth is not excellence. It's so enormous not because of programming genius but because of a mass compulsion to be part of the crowd. But since Zuckerberg or the twins had the great original stroke of insight, do you think the site has been particularly well-managed?" he asks.

"If it's not making money, I'm in favor of monetizing it. Sell ads. But don't cannibalize sophisticated sites that do what they do perfectly well. And what kind of a streaming platform insists that you can only "Like" a movie?"

http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/03/16/roger-ebert-facebook-streaming/