Piracy Doesn’t Affect U.S. Box Office Returns

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Another study that claims piracy doesn't have an impact on movie ticket sales in the U.S. was published today. The reason? Pirates weren't going to pay to see the movie in the first place. Oddly enough, the study DID find that piracy abroad hurt ticket sales.

In a paper titled ‘Reel Piracy: The Effect of Online Film Piracy on International Box Office Sales’ researchers from the University of Minnesota and Wellesley College examine the link between BitTorrent piracy and box office returns. As hypothesized, they find that international movie piracy losses are directly linked to the delay between US and foreign premieres. In other words, the longer it takes before a movie is released internationally, the more box office revenues are impacted through piracy.
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why I find it daft when they stagger the release dates over the world, where as the same time world wide makes better for money returns
 
Didn't we ALL know this already?! I live in a foreign country and I see this first hand. Many people here are left with no other choice than to watch the pirated version of the movie because it is not available, or will NEVER be available here.

This doesn't just affect the movie business either. Games are affected too. Steam jacks up the price for foreign releases (not to their doing I'm sure: I'm pointing my finger at you EA!!) or they are not even available unless one can use a proxy and set up a U.S. bank account. Why bother when one can simply pirate easier?

American television shows are what I see as the most prevalent choice to pirate here, especially since many of the shows are available free to watch in the U.S. but when trying to access them internationally a message simply stating that the content is not available in your region is where the show should be. So what does everyone do? Pirate.

I hope they can screw their heads on straight soon. People are willing to actually PAY for their media most of the time, or have it with advertising, but when it is not available they are just shooting themselves in the foot over and over and over and they keep telling us it is their finger that hurts from pulling the trigger.
 
Pfft, it never did and never WILL have anything to do with loosing money.

It is about control, plain and simple.
 
I don't understand why there can't just be one universal date to do it.

Or why you don't release the Blu-Ray/DVD of it that same day. People who want to pay for the movie theater experience are going to pay it regardless. The people that don't intend on paying the high cost of just seeing a movie on opening night on top of putting up with all the douchebags at the theater that ruin the experience, are going to wait until it comes out on Blu-Ray/DVD anyway.
 
Regions were set up in the mid-90s, when everyone on dial-up and downloading movies was not feasible even for pirates. With pirates uploading movies in full 1080p format on or before the day of release wherever the release might be, regions are now absolutely pointless. Last year, Wired asked the big studios why they still do it, and only got "no comment". Guess it's just pure hard-headed stubbornness on the part of executives who have no connection with the real world.
 
STrooperTK421 said:
Pfft, it never did and never WILL have anything to do with loosing money.

It is about control, plain and simple.
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Gotta keep those sheeples under control, and you have to tell them the big bad wolf will get them if they get out of line.
 
This has been a fact since the start, they are just unwilling to admit it.

People who pirate most likely would not have bought it anyway. Most just pirate because it's easily available but if it was not, they probably would not have bothered.

It's kinda like when you see an impulse purchase item at the cash at Walmart, like light bulbs or something. You were not planing on buying them, but they happened to be right there, and at a good price, so figured why not.
 
This is the same reason not to delay rentals, just forces people to pirate because of unavailability. The industries ego has the thought process that everyone who wants to see something of their's also wants to own it is retarded.
 
CAPTAIN OBVIOUS award!

So provide on-demand access to movies on premier night worldwide. And have worldwide theater premiers.

It's not like it's all that hard to manage today.
 
Advil said:
CAPTAIN OBVIOUS award!

So provide on-demand access to movies on premier night worldwide. And have worldwide theater premiers.

It's not like it's all that hard to manage today.
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THIS

I love the way they are distributing smaller indie movies that cant afford to have a wide distribution.

What I never understood was why hollywood thinks just because pirates download movies, they would go to the movie theater to see every one.

It would be cool if they did an experiment where a theater did $5 movies and $3 drinks and pop corn. I bet you it would see a lot more business than the other theaters charging almost double
 
Greed, greed, greed

Movie comes out, it costs a bloody fortune to see in the movies, then you get a 2nd mortgage to buy snacks... but whatever you're paying for an experience with equipment that costs more than most people make in a year.

Fast forward some months when the DVD/BR is released...
Consumer: oh hey I don't think I want to buy this movie, I'll go rent it at a movie store instead.
Movie studio: Well fuck that, we can't lose money to impulse buying! Lets stagger the rental period by a month... well except for those companies willing to pay a premium to rent it on the same day it comes out.

Enter netflix
Movie studio: Ok we're really putting a hold on this shit, now they can see movies without paying even higher premiums? Damnit all to hell! There are pirates out there *rabble rabble rabble*
 
Obviously it wasn't obvious to the people who keep coming on here and acting like piracy is akin to murdering kittens. :rolleyes:

I think everyone with half a brain knew this to be true, though.
 
I know people who watch the movie in the theatre, download the torrent as soon as its available to watch on their big tv, and then go out and buy the DVD/BluRay combo pack when its released. What people really want is for studios to release right to their home theatres.
 
Their high price of concession foods affects the box office profits more than piracy. I, for one, refuse to go to the theater any more because I see them for the crooks they are when they charge $3.00 for a $1.00 choco bar and $6.00 for $0.25 worth of popcorn. Fuck you Hollywood.
 
Not my problem. Overpricing is overpricing, which I view as theft. I always snuck in my own choco bars anyway so they never made a dime off an asshole like me.
 
Tekara said:
They charge that much for concessions because that's the theater's only real source of revenue and they need the money to pay their employees. Pretty much all the money you pay for the ticket to watch the show goes directly to purchasing the rights to show the movie.
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+1

Ticket prices around here are right around 12 bucks a pop...and theaters have definitely been hurting. They HAVE to charge ridiculous prices for concessions to even keep the doors open.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Greed, greed, greed

Movie comes out, it costs a bloody fortune to see in the movies, then you get a 2nd mortgage to buy snacks... but whatever you're paying for an experience with equipment that costs more than most people make in a year.

Fast forward some months when the DVD/BR is released...
Consumer: oh hey I don't think I want to buy this movie, I'll go rent it at a movie store instead.
Movie studio: Well fuck that, we can't lose money to impulse buying! Lets stagger the rental period by a month... well except for those companies willing to pay a premium to rent it on the same day it comes out.

Enter netflix
Movie studio: Ok we're really putting a hold on this shit, now they can see movies without paying even higher premiums? Damnit all to hell! There are pirates out there *rabble rabble rabble*
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Add some comic style art to this and you could have a hit!
You might even be able to sell it for $39.99 and release it in different regions at a later date just so you can lose more money to pirates.
 
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