AMC, one of the theaters that is working with Paramount, has theaters in both China and Europe so I'll be interested to see if they work on moving this deal over to those markets as well. I think you are probably right that this won't end up taking off but it's an interesting idea. I'm also wondering if the theater chains agreed to do it with the two films listed, which likely won't have huge audience draws anyways since they are smaller releases, so when they don't make much money from the deal on their end they can say it doesn't work for them and have an excuse to avoid doing it with bigger releases in the future.
Yeah, the films they're talking about would have been B-movies back in the era when there were still B-movies. That's a segment that has gone almost entirely to direct distribution already. The only thing the exhibitors really give a shit about anymore is event viewing and that shit ain't never going cheap so long as there are big screens with rented seats in front of them.