StevenFC

Only in America could someone controlling the purse strings claim poverty while they continue to throw money around like candy. Is the MPAA run by Major League Baseball owners?

Maybe you should clean your own house before you ask me to consider your claim that pirated movies are really the problem. If there's a rash of shoplifting from store shelves, maybe I'll listen. Someone stole something they wanted instead of paying for it.

But I doubt that the relatively small number people buying $5 DVDs on the street or downloading inferior quality movies off the net are going to put the studios in profit heaven if they suddenly decide to start buying official DVDs. Anyway, you can't stop it as long as the copy protection on DVDs is not unbreakable.

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The spammers motto: I stink, therefore I spam.

Krystian C

I wonder how much it cost to make the anti-piracy ads? More money taken from the mouths of starving painters, and set people. How pissed would you be if you were a painter and saw yourself being played by some actor for 10 times what you get paid. Which in all likelihood is what happens with these commercial. There is a reason they are not in front of the camera, most of them can't act...

Anyway, on a serious note, these ads piss me off as well. It is bad enough I have to endure the same Honda ad every 60 seconds till the movie starts, and then be treated to (surprise) a full length Honda ad, then perfume, and Coke, and now I am a thief who needs to be talked down to after I just bought my ticket.

They are preaching to the wrong people. We already bought your product, save the lecture. Start airing these commercial on local university campus's.

These ads are like having commercial about car theft playing on a loop at your local car dealers "Bob the car door installer loses $5 everything a Ford is stolen, please buy a car" Piss off, I am here to buy a car not steal one.

And I seriously doubt that anyone sitting in the theater with a camcorder ready to tape a movie will have a life changing moment of clarity when they see that anti-piracy ad. "Oh my, you mean that poor painter is going to go hungry because of me? I think I will pass on making this low quality copy of ROTK and help feed a techie" Hmm I should get that printed on a shirt.....

Steve Kuester

Sorry, but I don't see what the big deal is with these anti-piracy ads. I saw my first one the other day (I very rarely go to the theater) and it didn't bother me a bit. I didn't feel like I was being talked to like I was a thief.

All this talk about priacy not hurting the studios, movies still getting made, the set painter still gets paid, greedy millionaires... none of this changes the fact that piracy is stealing. Regardless of minimal or no money lost, who gets hurt, etc. It's still stealing, it's wrong.

These ads may not be the best way, but people/studios are just trying to protect their property. And I see nothing wrong with that at all.

Joe Schwartz

I agree, the ads don't annoy me. It's the f'ing anti-piracy dots that piss me off.

ThomasC

Yes, but it's not going to stop anything AT ALL. Many people have already paid $10 to see a movie theater where some of the seats are broken, the floor is dirty and sticky, the projection is blurry, and the sound is in mono. At least some of us aren't really complaining about the ads, we're complaining about the placement of the ads. It might be more effective if they were placing these "advertisements" on TV. Then, Mr. Poor College Student might be watching TV and he sees this ad with the set painter, and decides that he'll stop the download and just wait for the DVD. Who knows, it might happen.

The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.

Glenn Overholt

I think that those ads are THERE to get everyone to make sure that the people sitting next to you doesn't have a camera ready.

Yeah, I know. It is stupid, but I can't blame them for trying.

After being reminded the other day of an actor getting $20. mil for a show, I couldn't help but wonder if the 'piracy' numbers would go down if they took one million of that and hired some unemployed people.

Did they ever do the statistics on how many people have to stop going to the movies if they are out of work?

My soapbox just collapsed, so I'm done.

Glenn

Steve Kuester

I don't have any facts to back me up on this, but I've got to think the vast majority of people who steal movies do not do it because they don't have 5 bucks to go see a matinee. They do it because they think they're getting even with the big evil movie studios, they do it so they can tell all their friends, they do it because they have nothing else to do. They do it becasue they don't know right from wrong.

I agree that the ads may not be the best answer.

What I do find interesting is that in these types of discussions the topic always seems to float around to a bunch of various excuses and "reasons" why people steal, instead of calling it what it really is.

Dave Bennett

I saw one of these ads when I went to see the House of Sand and Fog today. Luckily, the only theater that plays this drivel(the piracy ads that is) is my local Loewes which I don't go to that often.
To me it just seems stupid; they're targeting the wrong people. Why subject honest paying theater goers to this stuff? Wouldn't it make more sense to go about it a different way? It was especially funny since I went to a matinee and for this type of movie, I don't think you need to worry about internet piracy. Judging by my quick observation that I was the only person under 40 there(and I heard one lady talking about having to "fiddle with" her computer) I somehow doubt this crowd was a bunch of techies who are downloading movies
Though that reminds me of another thing, in the one with the stuntman, he says all you have to do to download a movie is "push a couple of buttons". From what I know about the phenomenon, it's a lot more complex than that.

Regards,
Dave

Phil Florian

That doesn't seem to be happening here, though. Sure there is some specualation about the type of people that steal movies, but the bigger point that is being made that the likely group of thieves aren't sitting in the theatres that are playing those ads! They are at home watching their downloaded movies...where I am sure those ads don't creep in.

Since I started the thread, my question was really about is piracy really hurting the industry enough to put these kinds of ads out there (and, as noted, put dots that people can see that potentially ruins a theater-going experience). Finding out why people steal is a part of this discussion.

For example, if ATM machines didn't have pass words and anyone could walk up to it and take what they wanted, banks would go belly up all the time, right? So they make passwords and bank cards so that only certain people have access to their money. My point is that sure it is stealing from ATMs but by golly, there should be more to do than mark the money or put out ads about how taking from ATM machines is bad.

For example, why not get the jump on the market and release DVD's sooner? Why the delay? As some have noted, some of the thieves just want to see a movie they liked (many times the very blockbusters that are raking in the cash) in between the end of the run and the release of the DVD. Would some piracy be cut down if DVD releases, even just barebones ones before a later released special edition, cut into that? Some movies are coming out a lot faster than when I was a youngster but even 3-4 months (or more) is plenty of time for people anxious to just take what is sitting there. Is marking and ruining the theatre experience more worthwhile? Or would jumping the release date to right after the movie is out of theatres a better idea? In the day of home theatres and skyrocketing DVD sales, the theatrical release is almost just paid ad for the eventual DVD (which is where most movies will be seen over time).

That is the bigger discussion to me. Is it really a problem when the ones complaining are richer than ever? And if it is, are ads to their target audience and not target criminals really a way to effectively deal with it or, at best, engender some sympathy?


phil

Glenn Overholt

I can see people brag when they are the first one to get a new movie up on the net, so releasing the DVD's sooner wouldn't help - but I would still like it!

However, I fear something sinister is going on here. No suits like the RIAA did? Did the publicity about the girl getting sued stop the whole thing? (I knew they had more suits to put out the following month, but I have heard nothing from anyone since then).

Gee, I can't even use the "What are they waiting for, Christmas?" excuse.

So, what is going on?

Glenn

JamieD

I tend to say, rather loudly,
"Oh wow, I can download movies! I didn't know that.. why the hell am I paying for the ticket!.. Idiots!"

But I don't shout, someone might think I'm serious.

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