Freakonomics Does 'Pay What You Want' Screening
from the reasons-to-buy? dept
Last month, we talked about how the new Freakonomics movie was going to flip the traditional windowing methodology, and get released online before it was in theaters. At the time, Stephen Dubner warned that there was also going to be another "wrinkle" in how they released the movie. I'm not sure if this is it, but it's been announced that there is going to be a special "pay what you want" screening in select cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Denver, and Seattle). Free isn't an option, however. The prices range from $0.01 to $100, and you also have to answer some survey questions. I'm always a little hesitant to buy into straight "pay what you want" deals, because I don't think they represent much -- and I worry that people read too much into the results of any particular experiment, especially when little is done to give people a real reason to buy on top of the content. So, to some extent, I worry how Levitt and Dubner might interpret any results from this experiment.





