TNT Acquires Cable Rights to 'Inglourious Basterds'

Unlike most Quentin Tarantino movies, when Inglourious Basterds is edited for content, there won't need to be as much sanitized revionist dialogue, the kind that turns Samuel L. Jackson into a Sunday school teacher in most cable-ready versions. TNT just picked up the cable rights to Basterds, paying $12 million for the shot to air the film before its competitors in early 2012. The film recently became Tarantino's highest-grossing effort, topping the output of Pulp Fiction in 1994 and 1995. And with $115 million in US receipts already, combined with almost exactly that amount overseas, Basterds has received great reviews from audiences and critics alike, meaning TNT was wise to pick up this property. But did the network overpay? Well, yes. Unfortunately, the standard measure for these kinds of deals is about 10% of the domestic gross, but I can't imagine the amount will stay that high too much longer. With DVD and VOD and pay cable and all the rest, paying that much for a movie you can't show for over two years doesn't seem like a business model built for the long haul. And who knows what will technological advances will happen between now and then that could allow you to watch this movie and many others on even more different platforms. Before it gets to TNT, Inglourious Basterds will run exclusively on Showtime after the DVD release, which is currently scheduled for January 2010.