Morgan Freeman attempts to 'free' movies

Why is Morgan Freeman trying to kickstart the online distribution of movies? Can anyone say Whoopi Goldberg and Flooz.com already?

Here's the premise of Freeman's idea in his own words:

"I live in Mississippi in a very small town," he said in a phone interview. "In order for me to see a first-run movie, I have to drive a couple of hours at a high rate of speed. For me, and many consumers like me, this will be a godsend. I will be able to get premium content safely and cheaply."

(Duh. You and all the geriatrics down in Mississippi do NOT constitute the very audience you pander to with your movies Mr Freeman!)

He added that the distribution windows are no longer meaningful because of online piracy and bootleg DVDs. "DVDs are already available in China and in Russia even before they are released for sale here," Mr. Freeman said.

(So what's the point of offering them legally over the Internet?)

Morgan Freeman maybe a great actor, and I respect him for that, but he's walking into this with blinkers on. Or perhaps Intel has lured him with more money than he can possibly make in his next movie.

With BitTorrent and broadband, any attempt to sell movies online will just die a premature death. Freeman plans Internet releases coinciding with theater dates thereby attempting to kill the very weekend opener that the industry thrives on. Movies are distributed in orchestrated progressions from theatres to DVD to cable to TV broadcast. What studio is going to give up those repeat sales in the near future?

Mr Freeman, this may be your Million Dollar Dud.