Pirating and downloading movies means studios can't make more, Sony claims.
Sony plans to release the upcoming film Michael Jackson's This Is It in every country tomorrow. The company said that--based on the multitudes of Jackson fans--it wouldn't make sense to distribute the film any differently. However, the company also has a secret motive concerning the film: piracy. If the movie premiered in the States first, by Thursday it would be "cammed" and distributed via BitTorrent and peer-to-peer networks.
While that will still be the case, whether the movie opens locally or world-wide, Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said that smaller movie companies that generate independent films can't afford to open globally. "When such movies are stolen, it hurts their chances of building an international audience--robbing film-makers of entire markets where stolen versions of their work have proliferated online," he said in an online blog via Times Online.
His personal statement can't be confused with anything else other than a message to those who pirate or watch pirated movies. He clearly states that online theft siphons billions of dollars out of the industry, dollars that could have been obtained had those individuals who watched pirated movies went to the theater instead. Without those funds, there's less money to make movies. Lynton even threw in a few numbers, indicating that top movie studios made 162 films: over 40 less than the number filmed in 2006, and the lowest number in a decade.
"Making a movie takes lots of money and years of effort, and always involves a huge amount of risk," he said. "Film-makers are making a big bet that the story they are telling will appeal to large audiences two or three years down the road. That comes with the territory, but rampant piracy is an additional risk that we shouldn’t have to absorb."
Read the full disclosure here.
LOL!
LOL!
Why does Sony and other think that the people pirating the movie would actually go and pay for it? If you are willing to watch a cam, chances are you WOULD NOT pay for it in a theater. To those that have 1000's of songs....Would you have that many if you had to pay for each one? NO!!
Again, I'm not making a case for Pirating, I'm just pointing out that there may actually be very little revenue that is lost because many of the pirated files, just wouldn't be paid for.
People are also spending more time online, in social networks such as facebook, and also twitting, blogging, in second life, etc, sending more and more sms, playing games on their iPhones, and Nokias and whatever.
Sony has to get over it: the day still only has 24 hours and people are having more stuff to spend their leisure time on. Start making games. Oh, wait, you do, you just started with an onverpriced console with a CPU that's hard to program on, Wii and Xbox are only now starting to be at your reach. Well, don't complain so much, adapt. Lowering the price and releasing a slim version was a good starting point.
-Well lets see..
2 tickets $10 each (Ripoff)
1 bucket of popcorn $7 (Ripoff)
2 large pops $5 each (Ripoff)
Total $37 for a night at the movies.
OR
$2.99 to rent a movie on the playstation
($4.99 at blockbuster)
2 $1 pops
$5 for 2 large buckets of popcorn from blockbuster
Total $14 for a night at home in a comfy couch with surround sound and a big screen TV.
What the hell would you expect? I stop going to movies a while back. Mostly cause now I have surround sound and a big HDTV. PLUS it's WAAAAYY cheaper!
Most theater companies pay a bonus for catching people trying to record movies, like a month's pay for someone earning minimum wage.
I don't know, I haven't watched one in a long time. None of the new releases are all that compelling, and when they are, I kinda like IMAX if I don't want to wait on the DVD release.
They can blame pirating, but that's not true. It's supply and demand. Make good movies, and people will pay to see them. People spend a set amount of money on entertainment, regardless of the season. If your company doesn't entertain, they spend that money elsewhere.
I'm sorry, but why on earth can they complain about how pirates destroy them but never consider lowering prices, reducing costs, lowering too high salaries.
We have seen enough garbage movies. It's not even worth my time to download them. Stop making junk and blame it on pirates. A lot of movies people just don't even download anymore.
And a A-team movie without any of the 4 original A-team members is a fail. Don't start with it. Or better yet, even with the original members, don't waste your money. Just put the old eps back on a dvd and sell those. People love to watch those, new a team eps and new A-team movies aren't what we are waiting for.