Starting on October 2nd, 2008 in New York City’s famous Times Square, Netflix and the Guinness World Records are holding an eight-person contest to see who can break the current record for the most consecutive hours spent watching movies.

The current record is held by Ashish Sharma of Mathura, India who spent 120 hours and 23 minutes watching movies last June. He will be flying across the globe to participate in this year’s event.

Other participants include:

– Former three-time movie marathon record holder Claudia Wavra of Germany.

– Canadian Suresh Joachim who holds 32 Guinness World Records, including the one for consecutive television viewing (69 hours, 48 minutes).

– Cheryl Jones of Portland, Oregon who was part of the Netflix team that broke the Guinness World Record for continuous movie watching in 2003.

– Jeff Jones who won $250,000 on the movie edition of the popular game show series “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” in 2007.

– Crazy Legs Conti from New York, a competitive eating champion and movie buff.

Sharma and the other participants have a shot at winning $10,000, an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records, the first-ever Popcorn Bowl trophy and a lifetime subscription to Netflix.

Contestants will watch 56 movies, equally 121 hours, straight (titles have yet to be determined), with ten-minute breaks in between.

The companies said that the participants will be closely monitored by “medical professionals” to determine whether “they are truly ‘watching’ or are simply staring blankly at the screen.”

The event will begin at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time in the Netflix Movie Watching Arena, a specifically built plexi-glass living room for the event.