Do you fuck the industry you want to be in?

[Ghostboy]

Touche!

[aclockworkjj]

So... what you all are saying is Bringing Down the House was bad?

..."you gots me straight trippin' boo!"  

[bonanzataz]

who BUYS pirated movies anymore? i used to download movies a lot when i first got my cable modem, but it takes too much effort to locate the movie and actually get a full working copy of it. the only time i will download something is if i've seen it in the theaters and really enjoyed it and must see it again and it's gone out of theaters. actually, punch drunk love was the last movie i downloaded and i never even got a chance to watch it, so there.

backing up dvd's is another story though...

[kotte]

Can't it be that they are losing more money than we think on piracy? People automatically assume companies lie to us.

[TheVoiceOfNick]

The movie business knows that in the next couple of years, as internet connections get faster and copying systems get faster, they will face the same things that the music industry is facing right now... so they're just trying to cut it all off at the pass before it gets to be a giant issue... their view is "let's let the music schmucks look like idiots with all of their lawsuits and stuff... we'll just tag along by using their message, that way, when it's our turn, people won't turn against us!"... virtually a pre-emptive strike...

[kotte]

How do we know this? How do we know they're trying to use other industries etc? Isn't it possible that they are concerned about this? That they don't want to lose money?

Do you honestly think they're out to screw the public? It's like we think all industries are corrupted.

Maybe I'm naive...or maybe not.

[mutinyco]

I don't think the industry is out to screw people. They just want to make money. And they're going through a transition. There are DINOSAURS like Jack Valenti who's been running the MPAA for 40 years! He's the one who initiated the screener ban. We're dealing with middle-aged men (some even older) who have formalized ways of doing things that are out of synch with the direction we're going -- yet they're too powerful to get out of the way.

There was a recent article I read that stated by the year 2008 we're not going to be attending MOVIE THEATERS anymore. They'll be ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEXES. About 1/3 of their profits will derive from digital projection of concerts and other specialty events.

This will further put an emphasis on home entertainment with streaming internet video and play on request type things. That's where it's all going.

[TheVoiceOfNick]

There was a recent article I read that stated by the year 2008 we're not going to be attending MOVIE THEATERS anymore. They'll be ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEXES. About 1/3 of their profits will derive from digital projection of concerts and other specialty events.

There are already places like this in L.A.... this place called the Sherman Oaks Galleria is totally like this... the anchor is a giant multiplex Pacific Theater, and all around are stores that support that entertainment... the place is meant to be visited by people who want to enjoy entertainment... there are no stores that sell anything of great imoportance... just restaurants and the theater... oh, and a Tower Records... so you basically go there for a birthday or party of some sort... you can buy the gift at the Tower, eat at one of the restaurants, and go to the movie afterwards... you own little self-contained entertainment utopia... and they sometimes project concerts (i don't know if live, but maybe taped)... and there's anotehr place called the Howard Hughes Center which is EXACTLY the same type of thing, but just replace the Tower with a Borders (or B&N... I always confuse these)... plus this place has an IMAX that shows everything from IMAX movies to large format wide-release movies (i.e. the Matrix, Lord of the Rings, etc.) and sometimes live events).

[Ghostboy]

They just want to make money. And they're going through a transition. There are DINOSAURS like Jack Valenti who's been running the MPAA for 40 years!

Click here to read a transcription of Valenti's passionate speech against VCRs (which he compared to the Boston Strangler) in 1982. Talk about being consistently behind the curve...

[Recce]

No, I've never downloaded a movie. I have very rarely downloaded music. Only when I need it for a project or something. I did have a burning temptation to bootleg Kill Bill the other day, but I decided against it. It wouldn't be right. But mna, did I ever want to.

[Link]

If I buy a CD or movie, is it not mine?  Am I not allowed to do what I want with it (with the exception of selling it, which is shaky in itself)?  If I have a CD or movie, and say I wanna lend it to my bro.  Is that wrong?  What if a kid at school wants to see it.  I lend it to him, because I own it.  I'm allowed to do that, right?  My brother made a copy for me of Kid A.  Later on, a girl I knew asked if I had the CD, I said yes, and I made a copy for her.   A copy of my copy.  Ever done that?  This is the same thing, is it not?  yes, we dont' all know each other personally on the internet.  But if you're willing to let your internet "friend" borrow this from you, or have a copy, it's yours, right?  It's all the same thing, just taken to a much larger scale.  That's the internet's fault.  Everything's faster and bigger now.  Every get a CD for Christmas, then years later, you don't really like it, and sell it to Hastings or something?  Is this not the same thing?  You may not have bought it, but you still sell it.


Now, downloading BOOTLEGS, I'm against.  I'm against bootlegs, period.  If it's still in the theatre, or not out on DVD or something, I can understand people against that kind of piracy.  I can also understand the problem when people sell the bootlegs.

For me, the main point is, as Ghostboy already said, watching crappy copies of movies suck, and I hope that never happens with my movies.  It destroys the vision.  That's why I don't do any kind of "piracy" anymore.

[Raikus]

You can't compare downloading movies to downloading music. For one, with music downloads, you are getting the exact same product as you would if you get the CD. There is no degradation, therefore, it is more of a temptation to just download it instead of buy it.

However, I still don't think audio downloads are a bad thing. If you look at music trends in the last decade, you'll see a huge cross-genre jump for individuals when music downloading software (primarily Napster) first became popular. This has resulted in most people liking a multitude of classifications in music and therefore purchasing other genres then their original "liked" one, thus expanding the musical market and benefiting the majority of musical artists.

Back to movies though, downloading a movie is like getting a slice of pizza for free when you really want to whole thing. It may satisfy sometimes, but it will never replace the craving.

[Ravi]

I suppose the studios want the following scenario to occur:

Evil Joe Pirate enters movie theater with his MiniDV camera.  The lights dim.  Joe Setbuilder appears onscreen appealing to viewers not to pirate films.  Evil Joe Pirate is so moved that he puts away his camera, never to pirate a film again.

The studios are making assloads of money with DVDs.  They get no sympathy from me if they spend $80 million on an idiotic movie.  I always see hundreds of people at movie theaters.  I can't imagine that many people gather around a friend's computer screen to watch a fuzzy pirate of the latest release.

[Ghostboy]

I can't imagine that many people gather around a friend's computer screen to watch a fuzzy pirate of the latest release.

That's what I thought, until one of my friends told me about seeing Kill Bill this weekend...at a friend's house. That bastard.

[TheVoiceOfNick]

I had an interesting conversation with my friend's brother just yesterday... he wrote a paper about piracy for a school project... I posed him this question, which kinda made him go mute... I never buy new CDs... I ALWAYS buy used CDs... so the record company isn't getting my money in that case either... so what's the difference between buying a used CD, and downloading a song?  In niether case if the record company getting my cold hard cash.  I'm against piracy, but doesn't this make you think?  Why haven't they tried putting a stop to selling used CDs?

Nick