Facebook will host its first paid movie premiere later this month, with the social network set to debut “The Outsider,” a new film on the construction of the 9/11 Museum in New York City.
The documentary will be available to Facebook users for $3.99 on August 19, according to Axios, the first outlet to report the news on Tuesday. The premiere window will be tight, though. Users will have a 12-hour opening between 8 p.m. ET on August 19 and 8 a.m. ET on August 20 to stream “The Outsider.” The film’s digital tickets will also include a panel discussion on Facebook Live.
Facebook, according to Axios, plans on investing some marketing dollars behind the movie, but won’t be taking a slice of the movie’s sales. The tech giant, the report said, “has committed to not taking a cut of any ticketed events or revenue from independent creators until 2023.”
Independent distributor Abramorama is the company behind “The Outsider”; Pamela Yoder and Steven Rosenbaum both produced and directed the movie.
“Rosenbaum, Yoder, and their documentary team had unlimited access to the site, and to private internal meetings never before revealed,” Abramorama said on its website. “The conflicts around the museum’s curatorial process reflect the complicated feelings Americans have about 9/11 today. Being a fly on the wall as the WTC story is written provides a gripping journey into a piece of American history that is both unsettled and unsettling.”
Following its Facebook debut, the film will be available on-demand and in in select theaters in September.