With No Promotion, New Soderbergh Film Debuts on Amazon.com

Steven Soderbergh's 'The Girlfriend Experience' appeared as a $9.99 online rental on Amazon this week, three weeks before its theatrical debut. Variety blogger Ben Fritz asks why Magnolia, the pic's distributor, isn't making more of a fuss. Ben writes:

If you're going to break the rules, piss of a bunch of big theater chains, and try to reshape the way entertainment is distributed, why not make a stink about it? There's nothing worse than rebelling in a way that people don't notice, or even care.

The first news of the digital release showed up on Gizmodo.

Innovative Release Plans for 'Che' and 'Princess of Nebraska'

Anne Thompson blogs from Toronto about the experimental release plans for the latest movies from Steven Soderbergh and Wayne Wang. They're being released by IFC and Magnolia (the latter is part of the Mark Cuban empire.)