IMO, it should not be fear of putting the hardworking folk on the unemployment line that keeps you from pirating. It should just be the guilt from knowing you are stealing.
But I understand the anger of the OP. The movie industry seems to be run by idiots.
I often think that movie executives don’t actually watch movies, that they just read reports. They are not interested in creating something good, just in predicting trends. I understand the motive to make a profit, and I’m down with that. But they seem to interested in the ‘big kill’ blockbuster and it seems to me that they would do better by making smaller, better films with those budgets.
But what do I know? I just like to go to the movies.
And another thing: What’s with saying “The pre-movie entertainment is brought to you by [sponsor]” and then showing these crap-ass “PSAs” and ads? Newsflash: That’s not entertainment! Entertainment is (hopefully) the movie you are currently not allowing me to see. Why on earth would anyone sponsor that shite? And don’t tell me you’re “entertaining” me while you subject me to ads against my will. Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining, man.
Oh, come now Lynn. Need I really list all the crappy movies that were nevertheless enormously profitable? How much did Independence Day or Armageddon pull in again?
My point was that the movie business is risky. No one really knows what’s going to make money. Indepenence Day was a crappy big-budget sci-fi Will Smith vehicle that made gobs of money. Wild, Wild West was a crappy big-budget sci-fi Will Smith vehicle that tanked. If you’re an exec tring to decide which crappy big-budget sci-fi Will Smith vehicle to invest millions of dollars in – before even one second is committed to celluloid – you’re playing a risky game.
I agree, but the OP presumes a loss of profits to the movie industry. And again, while I don’t share that view, it’s an arguable point that shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. **
Don’t count on it. The first thing to go will be intelligent, adult-centered flicks. Remember, popcorn flicks for teenagers usually pull in the most bank. **
And you’re usually such a “solidarity with the working man” kind of guy. I’m surprised to hear you say “let them flip burgers.”
But you must remember I was responding to the OP, who was claiming that the profit costs of piracy doesn’t affect Bob or Barbara or Mike. If you’re prepared to say “screw Bob, Barbara and Mike,” fine. But it’s fallacious to claim that reductions in profits don’t impact them – it isn’t just a matter of some exec buying last year’s Gulfstream jet instead of the current model. **
Well, sure there is – it further erodes their profits, with no coterminous reduction in risk. At the margins, producers will look at the numbers, say “fuck it” and shift his capital into Caifornia real estate (or whatever). **
I agree that they are reaching out to the wrong audience, for exactly the reasons you state. Indeed, in a sense the placement of the ads in the theatre are tantamount to an admission that pirates still pay for movie tickets.
I find it disquieting that we’re only three days into the new year and I find myself compelled to agree with Diogenes… but in point of fact, the above is an excellent observation. I doubt that any would-be piraters in the audience with a camcorder are likely to be deterred by the ads, and everyone else is there to pay for the ticket and watch the show; they are preaching to the choir.
The irony is these fucking commercials have made me go to a lot fewer movies than I used to. I used to be the guy that’d hang at the theater all day and pay to catch two or three flicks. Now, I only go to see the big kinda stuff like Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings. Why? Because I don’t feel like paying 20 bucks to be bombarded with obnoxious ads. I’ll wait for the DVD, where I can fast-forward or mute the obnoxious ads.
They’re like those smarmy-ass “Responsibility…the anti-drug” commercials. I don’t smoke weed, but damn if they don’t make me want to start.
Does anyone see the inconsistancy here, playing that ad (I haven’t seen it in theaters, but it was on TV before I shipped out) to a paying audience in a theatre? Um, if I was going to rip you off, do you really think I’d pay (as in the ops case) $13.50 to see it in the theatre? It is one of the finest examples of preaching to the choir that i’ve ever seen.
The ads are even worse in the UK. They come from Federation Against Copyright Theft http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/
Among other claims, they state (in the theater ad, I couldn’t find that claim on their site) that illegal copies are used to fund terrorist activities.
Yeah, sure. Saddam and Osama, keep the DVD burners next to the WMD.
Sure, go ahead and ignore the evidence that Saddam Hussein tried to buy 1300 DVD burners from a source in Niger. Pretend the al-Qaeda operatives didn’t attend video encoding seminars in Northern Iraq, escorted by the Fedayeen. Pay no attention to the plastic spindles that are clearly only useful for holding stacks of pirated DVDs, and the remote-controlled balsa stealth gliders capable of dropping bootlegs on Tel Aviv.
We’ll see how you feel about copyright when your pets and neighbors are killed by nuclear anthrax, courtesy of Kazaa! If you’re not with the anti-piracy lobby, you’re against America, Mom, and apple pie! Er… I mean Britain, Mum, and kidney pie!
Day after Xmas, family six and I went to see Return of the King. Was the second time I paid for a full-price, evening ticket to that particular film, and I got to see no less than eight minutes of commercials. Not previews for other movies, commercials. We were treated to the ‘piracy is bad’ commercial (which made me want to go pirate something AND write some open source code) and the pot commercial with the little kid in the pool (which prompted me to shout ‘In the bathroom!’ when the commercial’s narrator sayd ‘getting stoned.’) and several other commercials for things such as coke, cars and XM radio.
It was bad enough when they started the advertising slide shows before the previews. Now it’s very, very loud commercials. It’s a wonder I go to the movies at all anymore. One of my ‘tricks’ though, is if I’m going to see a movie I know won’t be crowded, is to show up at the theatre at the scheduled start of the movie, buy my ticket, and when they say ‘That movie started 5 minutes ago.’, I know it’s safe to enter - the commercials are usually over by then.
Century Theatres have given me one more reason to always go there. So far, they have yet to add any commericals and it appears that they will continue to do so.
I’ll worry about it as soon as the industry stops frisking critics, resumes sending out DVDs to Oscar judges (way to screw little movies, Jack Valenti you witless industry whore!), stops putting red dots all over the damn screen every fifteen friggin’ seconds, and otherwise ceases its constant efforts to dumb down cinema until all of its aesthetic and cultural value is lost.
Hey, MPAA? Retract the R rating you gave Whale Rider, stop doing your absolute best to crush little movies, and start showing a little respect for me, and I promise you I’ll double the (already lamentably large) number of movie tickets I buy. You scratch my back, I’ll lavish you with the profits you’re lookin’ for.
The currently running Levi’s one, with the guy chasing the car in the bullring, is so unbearable I have to leave the room when it’s playing. LOUD, hideous screeching “music”, no dialogue. The thing seems aimed at testosterone-poisoned 18-year-olds with IQs of 40.
I am wondering if they apply the same rules about ads in movie theatres as they do (here at least) on TV. I once read a response to the common complaint that ads are too loud on TV that there is a maximum allowable volume that TV shows generally reserve the use of for loud things, screams, explosions, gun shots and so on, TV ads use that volume for dialogue and music as they need nowhere louder to go.
I haven’t been to a cinema for years, seems I am missing little.
