# Right, that's it, I'm now going to Pirate movies **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 22, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607 "2004-06-22T11:42:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/41 "2004-06-23T03:22:15Z")
I tried that Sydney one last time I was there and while the free popcorn and comfy seats were nice, we were just on a ledge higher up than the other seats in the cinema. We still got all the lovely extra long cinema ads. And while I like previews too, one or two is good enough for me. I don’t need to know about every single movie coming out in the next 6 months that has the same rating as the one I’m watching! ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/42 "2004-06-23T05:58:10Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > Lately, the dumbest commercial before a movie (even dumber than that Levi’s commercial with the guy roping the car) is the Revlon commercial that’s some sort of Italian music video. Come now. Surely it can’t be dumber than the [Fantanas?](http://www.fanta.com/) ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/43 "2004-06-23T06:31:48Z")
> [@drm](#): > > I like the whole movie going experience and I experience it a lot. There’s something about seeing it on the big screen with a $4 pop and $4.50 hotdog. I always feel like I’m getting a lesser experience if I see a movie without _at least_ a drink. Drink + Popcorn is the best, though. Sure, it’s overpriced, but it’s the primary way the theater makes money, and I do want to support good local theaters. > [@drm](#): > > I don’t have any love for the commercials though, that’s why I show up 5 minutes late (or so) so I still catch the trailers. I’m mixed on the commercials – some of them are good, some of them suck. I’ll grudgingly sit through the commercials in hopes of seeing a winner. Gotta get the trailers, though. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/44 "2004-06-23T10:00:36Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > I’m mixed on the commercials – some of them are good, some of them suck. I’ll grudgingly sit through the commercials in hopes of seeing a winner. Gotta get the trailers, though. That’s where I differ completely. I think that ads have no place – NONE – in a venue that I have paid to be at. Trailers are a bit different but I still think the glut of them we’ve started getting is too much. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/45 "2004-06-23T10:16:01Z")
[http://www.drafthouse.com](http://www.drafthouse.com) Dinner and a movie. Student discount, $7.75 at other times. The seats aren’t terribly comfortable, but you can order actual _food_, including some very nice pizzas. Including beer. Including wings, potato skins… …and no commercials, except for the theater’s productions. There’s arthouse films they show, local stuff, special events, etc. Fewer previews, too. They choose the previews from the usual set that actually seem to jive with the movie, and they occasionally also add previews from other related movies that they won’t be showing. For example, before every Matrix movie they showed the preview from Point Break (ya know, Keanu Reeves as the surfing FBI agent)… I’d happily pay $10+ for a ticket if we had more comfortable seating. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/46 "2004-06-23T10:16:19Z")
Hi! Me again! As much as I hate the %@\*!@ commercials, I _know_ the theatres have to do it to make money. Hollywood’s take from your ticket price is up to 90% for huge blockbusters. This means that when Spiderman 2 opens, for every 2000 people that pay $8 for a ticket, Hollywood gets $14,400 and the theatre gets $1,600. So it’s not like the theatre is getting rich off a ticket - 80¢ a person? Of course there’s the food and drinks. But even then, they’re not making as much as you think. Of course they have to pay for the raw materials - popcorn, soda syrups, ice, etc. - but they also have to pay (inflated prices) for the branded containers. If your local movie theatre is an individually-owned franchise, they’re paying AMC 25¢ for the soda cups, not the 2¢ you might expect. Look, I’m not saying commercials are right - as I said, I hate them myself. But I can’t blame the theatre owners for running them. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/47 "2004-06-23T11:16:57Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > I mean, what the fuck! 15 bucks for tickets, 5 bucks for popcorn and half a FUCKING hour of previews and ads, a sanctimonious message about how pirating movies is illegal and a toll free number to dob your friends in, and TWO more trailers before the movie starts?? > > Pissing off audiences with 30 minutes of ads is not going to make us sympathetic to any studio or theatre chain’s piracy woes. You weren’t at Indro seeing **Shrek 2** were you, by any chance? We didn’t even get into the theatre until the time the movie was supposed to be starting. Then there was **half an hour of ads**. But UQ students get $6.50 movies there 😉 I, also, commented on the ridiculous ad about people downloading movies, instead of going to the movies ad, being played in a movie theatre! > [@friedo](#): > > Here’s my Million Dollar Idea for a movie theater that could get away with charging $20 or more a seat. > > 1. No previews or commercials > 2. Assigned seating, plus, all the seats are comfy sofas or big comfy livingroom chairs. > 3. Waiters who come and take your popcorn and candy orders and bring you the stuff. > 4. A ninja who flips out and kills anybody whose cellphone rings. Brich Carrol and Coyle has this. It’s called [Gold Class](http://www.greaterunion.com.au/cinemas/goldclass.asp). But it doesn’t have any ninjas, but it does have wine, food and a comfy chair. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/48 "2004-06-23T11:27:10Z")
We were at Indro seeing **Harry Potter**. So **Shrek** has as many ads, eh? Guess what we’re going to be half an hour late for when we go see it. I haven’t been to Gold Class here, but it was BCC Gold Class in Sydney I was talking about earlier. Are they different cinemas with no ads here? I’d start going if that was the case, $6.50 (we take advantage of that too :)) tickets be damned. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/49 "2004-06-23T12:29:54Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Has anyone in this thread actually ever watched a movie pirated in this way? > > I ask because it seems to me that the quality would be pretty awful. I have, and it was indeed pretty awful. But that doesn’t stop people from buying them. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/50 "2004-06-23T12:33:23Z")
> [@LeeshaJoy](#): > > Come now. Surely it can’t be dumber than the [Fantanas?](http://www.fanta.com/) All I have to say is that no, I don’t want a fucking Fanta. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/51 "2004-06-23T13:44:44Z")
> [@Rex Fenestrarum](#): > > Hi! Me again! > > As much as I hate the %@\*!@ commercials, I _know_ the theatres have to do it to make money. Hollywood’s take from your ticket price is up to 90% for huge blockbusters. This means that when Spiderman 2 opens, for every 2000 people that pay $8 for a ticket, Hollywood gets $14,400 and the theatre gets $1,600. So it’s not like the theatre is getting rich off a ticket - 80¢ a person? > > Of course there’s the food and drinks. But even then, they’re not making as much as you think. Of course they have to pay for the raw materials - popcorn, soda syrups, ice, etc. - but they also have to pay (inflated prices) for the branded containers. If your local movie theatre is an individually-owned franchise, they’re paying AMC 25¢ for the soda cups, not the 2¢ you might expect. > > Look, I’m not saying commercials are right - as I said, I hate them myself. But I can’t blame the theatre owners for running them. Actually when all is said and done the film company takes about 55% of the total gross. It is a sliding scale with the best week at 90% but the later weeks are more like 35%. Plus theatres get a ‘house allowance’. This is a set dollar figure that the theatre takes off the top for ‘operating expenses’. Some chains take a higher cut when the show sells out. Plus if you think about it. Who made the movie? The theatre or the film company? So who should get most of the ticket money? PS I’ve worked in the film industry for years, both on the theatrical and distribution sides. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/52 "2004-06-23T14:32:56Z")
> [@LeeshaJoy](#): > > Come now. Surely it can’t be dumber than the [Fantanas?](http://www.fanta.com/) Oh, yes. Yes, it is. See, at least the Fanta commercial might have some value to the theatre, in that you might actually buy something to drink upon seeing that commercial. But the Revlon commercial? Not only does it play before showings that might be relevant (chick flicks), but it plays before movies that just don’t fit the demographics. [http://www.revlon.com/bellissimo/bellissimo.html](http://www.revlon.com/bellissimo/bellissimo.html) Here’s the info on the commercial. I haven’t seen the TV spots, but I imagine they’re shorter than the movie spot, which I swear is about 3 minutes long. [sub]And I kinda find that Fanta ad song a bit catchy.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/53 "2004-06-23T14:38:30Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by rjung_ > I always feel like I’m getting a lesser experience if I see a movie without at least a drink. Drink + Popcorn is the best, though. Sure, it’s overpriced, but it’s the primary way the theater makes money, and I do want to support good local theaters. exactly!! It can’t be the same watching a crappy pirated version in front of a 19" monitor. > [@](#): > > I’m mixed on the commercials – some of them are good, some of them suck. I’ll grudgingly sit through the commercials in hopes of seeing a winner. Gotta get the trailers, though. I used to think they were okay but ever since they started showing those godforsaken [movietickets.com](http://movietickets.com) commercials I’m determined to miss them. Now if they were to do a superbowl type thing and make the commercials worth watching, then I may give them another try. I love the trailers. A lot of the time I’m as excited about them as i am about the actual movie. If I’m seeing a movie on it’s first day or weekend of release I know there’s a greater chance of seeing a trailer I haven’t seen before - then I’m really excited. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/54 "2004-06-23T14:42:54Z")
> [@LeeshaJoy](#): > > Come now. Surely it can’t be dumber than the [Fantanas?](http://www.fanta.com/) I HATE the Fantanas…that commercial has assured Fanta at least one less customer for life…it has made me never want to drink Fanta, ever (not like I ever have before). On the other hand, there is an anti-cell commercial that I like - the one that starts out looking like a preview for a Native American movie of sorts, where they are hunting for buffalo to save their starving people. Then a cell phone rings, and scares the buffalo away, and the hunters turn around and glare at the audience, trying to shush whoever’s phone it is. When it was over, I actually saw quite a few people pull our their phones to make sure they were off or silent, so I guess it works pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/55 "2004-06-23T15:55:33Z")
> [@Little Plastic Ninja](#): > > [http://www.drafthouse.com](http://www.drafthouse.com) I have a friend who lives in Austin, and have been to the Drafthouse a couple of times. It’s an excellent place to watch a movie, although you’re right that the seats aren’t exactly made for lounging. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/56 "2004-06-23T15:56:30Z")
Way back in the day… I ran a 12 screen theater in Albany, NY. On the 3ed floor of the mall. With a escalator. Want to take a guess what would happen if two full houses broke at the same time? The escalator would shut down from being over weight. Patrons would topple like dominos. Now the movie companys would tell us all sorts of lies on run times. Friday night would be a madhouse in the booth, adding 300’ of trailers to make one movie longer while ripping off three trailers from the next print, because it ran long… Start late? Forgetaboutit! Leave the house lights up, run 450’ to punch the start button on another house, run back and drop the lights. Focus? Another moveing target. Different film stocks would focus differently. Our policy trailers were on mylar, and were always out of focus. Reels could have three or four stocks over the 20 min., and heaven help us if we missed any lab splices on build up. They would break Saturday night, 8pm show, two weeks into the run :wally ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/57 "2004-06-23T16:08:09Z")
There’s some theaters down here called [The Alamo Drafthouse](http://www.drafthouse.com/). You can eat dinner and drink liquor while you watch the movie. And NO commercials before the movie starts. A while back, I went to a regular movie theater and was astounded at the schlock they hawk before the movie started. Of course there were previews, but there were commercials for the Army, Levis, Pepsi, and Chevrolet. That was the last time I’ll ever see a movie in a regular theater. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/58 "2004-06-23T16:47:16Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > There’s some theaters down here called [The Alamo Drafthouse](http://www.drafthouse.com/). You can eat dinner and drink liquor while you watch the movie. And NO commercials before the movie starts. Psst, **Filmore** , check out post numbers 45 and 55, above. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/59 "2004-06-23T16:49:35Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Plus if you think about it. Who made the movie? The theatre or the film company? So who should get most of the ticket money? Perhaps you’d care to explain your pricing philosophy to the retail clothing stores that habitually mark up their product by at least 300%. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607/60 "2004-06-23T18:12:53Z")
Just for clarification: Psycho the remake sucked, not the original. There were rumors that Pixar was going to remake TRON. Looks like they are just rumors, but when I first heard it I was completely blown away by the idiocy of the idea. I think Hollywood hasn’t had an original idea since the seventies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-thats-it-im-now-going-to-pirate-movies/251607.md?page=4)