If you click the 'rent' icon on the official Dark Knight facebook page, you can watch the battle for Gotham's soul and listen to Christian Bale's gravelly Bat-voice as much as you please for 48 hours.  It will cost you 30 facebook credits, though, or the equivalent of $3 in actual American currency.  And don't worry, because watching a movie through facebook will in no way impair your ability to get your social media fix; you'll still be able to update your status, upload pictures, post comments, and stalk whomever you please while the movie is playing.

"Making our films available through Facebook is a natural extension of our digital distribution efforts," says Warner Bros' president of Digital Distribution Thomas Gewecke.  "It gives consumers a simple, convenient way to access and enjoy our films through the world's largest social network."

If Sony eventually signs up to rent their titles on facebook, and you can watch The Social Network  on facebook, we will finally have gone through the digital looking glass.

It just occurred to me that you could very well be watching The Dark Knight through facebook whilst reading this.  While such a digital singularity would no doubt be entertaining, it also makes one ponder the way we watch movies nowadays.  Most young people I know tend to watch movies at home while kicking around on their laptops, usually browsing facebook.  A lot of film makers, I'm sure, are not psyched about the notion of their films playing in the background on facebook, as opposed to occupying your undivided attention.  Given that it's been years since I've gone to the movies without at least one person texting during the show, a shortened attention span is just a reality to which the dreamers of cinematic dreams will have to become accustomed, I suppose.

Do you think this new facebook rental service is a potential threat to Netflix, Amazon, Redbox, and any other such streaming rental services?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter