Yesterday was a huge The Big Lebowski day, with die-hard fans of the 1998 cult classic joining stars Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman and Julianne Moore as well as musician T Bone Burnett at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom to celebrate the film’s Blu-ray release.
Today, Universal Pictures made public its plans to make the Coen brothers film available for rent on the Big Lebowski Facebook page. Universal has its own ‘Social Theater’ application on the social networking site, and users will be able to watch the movie through this app for a $3 rental window for 48 hours.
THR spoke to John Goodman at the Hammerstein event last night, who offered two theories for the film’s enduring popularity: the Coens’ script and cast and the notion that people “just like to get high and watch.”
T Bone Burnett stoked the rumor of a sequel when he said he’d ask Janelle Monae to do an original track should the opportunity arise. The odds of a Big Lebowski 2 look slim though. Tara Reid’s claim early this year that she was working on The Big Lebowski 2 elicited this response from Ethan Coen: “I’m glad she’s working on it.”
The Social Theater app itself is aimed at turning the solitary act of watching a movie at home into a communal activity. Through the Facebook page, fans of The Big Lebowski will be able to like and comment on their favorite quotes and scenes and see comments that other fans post on the site. Facebook is also offering a $1 discount off the rental through its ‘Buy With Friends’ feature.
Turns out Reid was only half-joking: a month later, Funny or Die released a fake trailer for The Big Lebowski 2 with Reid playing every single role in the film, including the iconic Dude.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
