Will movie downloading become as popular as music ?

[Pas]

So called "specialist" tend to agree that the future trend is movie downloading, DIVX format. I've downloaded quite a couple, but I doubt it will become as big as the MP3 thing. Don't know why though, might be pure naiveté. I also don't thing the downloading of movies or music hurts the business. In fact, I'd have no The Smiths, The Cure, Neil Young, Tom Waits and many more artists CD collection if it weren't for MP3s.

[filmcritic]

Downloading movies are very popular already. They may become more popular as time goes on. The problem is that a lot of people want to see these movies in theatres and not on their computer. But a lot of people download movies like crazy.

[phil marlowe]

i think it will hurt the renting bussiness more than the actual sale, the collectors will most sertainly not stop buing movies but they will propably use it as a way to spot what to buy.

i've downloaded quite a lot movies in the past, mainly to be able to discuss them here instead of waiting six months untill they hit the theaters in denmark plus there's no good video rentals around my place.

but if i really dig the movie, i'll go by it.

it'll get more popular with time that's sertain, it's getting far more structured nowadays.

[rustinglass]

I am almost always downloading one, very sloly so it doesn't kill my bandwith, like 12kb/s, it usualy finishes in a couple of days if I leave it on.
Of course, once,I was downloading dogville happy out of my mind, and it turned out to be jap porn, 700Mb worth. fucking porn!motherfuckers!

I download games too, broken sword 1 and 2 kick ass!

[Ernie]

i think it will hurt the renting bussiness more than the actual sale, the collectors will most sertainly not stop buing movies but they will propably use it as a way to spot what to buy.

I hope to god you're right man. I wouldn't care if all the Blockbusters and Hollywood Videos disappeared tomorrow, just as long as Netflix and the mom and pop video stores stick around. I buy a lot more than I rent. I'd be totally cool with blind buying and selling the ones I don't like as I'm rarely wrong in my choices and there's always somebody that's a fan of the ones I choose to sell.

I think movie downloading and internet rental stores like Netflix, along digital cable movie ordering (On Demand and whatnot) will take down most, if not all of the rental businesses soon enough.

[Banky]

yeah i havent rented movies in a while.  I just download old movies i want to see.  I think its fair though because i pay 7 dollars plus to go to the movies.  And i go quite a lot

[Jeremy Blackman]

I also don't thing the downloading of movies or music hurts the business.

What hurts the music business is selling CDs at obscene profits and turning off an entire generation to buying them.

[Banky]

I also don't thing the downloading of movies or music hurts the business.

What hurts the music business is selling CDs at obscene profits and turning off an entire generation to buying them.

agree

[Raikus]

No, not at all. Nothing can beat a good movie in a theater setting. I actually see it helping the state of movies in the long run. If you're iffy about seeing the newest Ashton Kutcher/Freddie Prince Jr./Mandy Moore/Ashley Judd crap coming out, just watch some of it. If it's shit, you've saved $12. If it's good, you're going to want to see it on the wall and not a 320x240 jittery quicktime window. In the long run, it will MAKE Hollywood create better pictures and not all the flotsam it's been tossing into theaters.

As for music, it's popular because you're downloading the exact same thing you'd be paying for otherwise. There's no degradation in quality and you can easily burn then to CD's to listen to portably. I think DVD's and movies will always succeed due to the packaging and extras on DVD's and the unbeatable experience of seeing a good movie in the theater.

[MacGuffin]

Somewhat topic related, and since there is no Blair Witch thread...

'Blair Witch' Creator Makes Web Film

NEW YORK (AP) webisodic (web'e sad'ik) n. 1.an independently produced narrative, broadcast in episodes in a digital format over the Internet.

If the term "webisodic" is new to you, that's because, well, it is new. It comes by way of "The Blair Witch Project" co-creator Daniel Myrick, who announced Thursday that his first film since the 1999 cult classic will premiere on the Web in a series of "webisodes."

His new miniseries, "The Strand," again uses many of the method-film techniques of "Blair Witch," this time telling a documentary-like story of several offbeat characters in Venice Beach, Calif. The first episode will premiere March 15 on www.strandvenice.com.

"Blair Witch" woke people up to the fact that you can think outside the box, Myrick told The Associated Press.

"You can do something that doesn't include big stars and big names," he said. "You can something that, if you've got a good story and smart way of marketing it, you can have (both critical and commercial success)."

"We're applying some of the same methodology to `The Strand' where we're not really following any rules except the base rules of just telling a good story with good characters, and letting the audience decide, rather than a handful of executives."

Though the first webisode is free, each subsequent installment will cost 99 cents. The Web site will also encourage audience interaction and feedback that will shape the future episodes.

"Hopefully, if we garner enough interest and get enough downloads, then the audience quite literally will be paying for the show directly," Myrick says.

Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez wrote and directed "The Blair Witch Project" in 1999. The story of three student filmmakers who get lost in haunted Maryland woods became a surprise hit and had a hand in revolutionizing independent cinema.

Made for an estimated $35,000, the film created a groundswell of advance hype on the Internet and went on to gross over $140 million in the United States.

[pete]

dude that guy still hasn't given up yet?

[Raikus]

To be fair, he's done more than any of us.

[pete]

yeah, so?