Impact of Piracy on the Movie Business (1 Viewer)

[Nick Martin]

Speaking of making an impact:

FoxNews Columnist Fired Over Wolverine Review

 

[Rhett_Y]

This had more to do with the way he got the movie.. not so much what he had to say about the movie...

 

[Nick Martin]

I know, and it's telling that a "professional" for a news network would essentially promote piracy.

 

[paul_austin]

well the way I look at it is I wouldnt watch the work print version early because frankly I know its not finished and it will disappoint. Rather after seeing the completed film I'd be interested in seeing the work print to compare what they changed.

 

[JonZ]

Supposedly the workprint is missing finished FX shots and some of the reshoot scenes that took place after this cut was done.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

It seems like almost everyone I know at my job or even in the family are always asking me "Do you want to borrow this new movie? I've got a copy of it on DVD". It's really very common and frankly, I am never interested. I think it's unfortunate that so many average folks are perfectly satisfied watching a crummy pirated disc - even the ones that look pretty good - rather than seeing them on the Big Theater Screen. So for me personally, I'll never go for a pirated disc instead of the theater.

But the prices of tickets for new movies are getting more absurd than ever, too. Over $10 now to see a movie sometimes! I guess most families figure it's more affordable to buy a disc on the street for $5 and watch it with the entire family instead of spending $50 for a day at the theater.

 

[Lucia Duran]

We don't go to movies as much as we use to. We pretty much will only see a movie in the theaters a. if it's one we have been really excited about or b. if we are treating the kids to a flick.

It's just too expensive, even if we do buy our tickets at Costco (2 tickets for $14.99). A family of 4 for tickets usually would run us $28 and then food popcorn, drinks and one candy $30. $60 bucks is just too much for a movie.

I've seen some pirated movies before (never downloaded any) and they are too grainy, dark and sound bad to enjoy. I'll just wait till Netflix gets them.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Pirated movies look like crap! Anyone who's on this site would never sink to watching one of them.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Well I don't know about the whole movie business, but piracy has sure helped Disney, at least over the past several years. Those 3 movies with Johnny Depp did quite well.

 

[Don Solosan]

Some people are still bitter over Cutthroat Island...

 

[Chris Will]

Yea, I know, should have waited for a really good movie like Star Trek!


I honestly don't think piracy has effect the movie business much at all (not like the music industry at least). If it has effected them, then why are movies breaking box office records every summer?

Wolverine is not the first movie to be leaked before its release so, I don't understand all the attention this leak is getting. I believe it is because Fox thinks the movie is underwhelming and is trying to prevent that word from spreading. I think that if everyone was talking about how great the movie is, then you wouldn't see as much about this leak in the news like we are right now.

 

[Pete-D]

I can't remember the last time a major studio summer event picture was leaked online like a month before its release.

Some heads are going to have to roll over this.

If you're to spend $150+ million making, marketing, etc. one of these things, I think you should probably invest in a few bucks to make sure all prints are always accounted for and even accompanied by a studio rep who then takes the print back.

Also they should make sure all work prints are watermarked, so if they do get pirated, they can trace exactly where the leak came from.

 

[Brent M]

Yeah, I don't understand why measures aren't already in place to plan for that type of scenario.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Don't forget that a significant part of industry revenue is in the aftermarket (DVDs, TV, etc.), where I would suggest that piracy likely has a significant impact.

Further, for many working stiffs in the business, summer blockbusters don't mean that much.

 

[Pete-D]

Well another big part of the reason the movie industry seems relatively unscathed is people do need to get out of the house on a Friday or Saturday night or any other day of the week, and going to a movie is an easy outing/date/etc.

So there will always be that aspect that the movie industry has going for itself.

Still I think they should be wary. Having a film especailly one as costly as Wolverine available to watch on the internet before it's released in theaters is unacceptable.

If you're the studio suits, you have to take measures to ensure that never happens again. I was the filmmaker or the actors I would be livid. I can't even imagine what would happen if this happened to James Cameron, lol, but I would not want to be the exec having to phone him to tell him.