Film Piracy (opinions and box office effect)

[The Panda]

11 minutes ago, That One Guy said:

Well, since you guys seem to think piracy has little to no effect, here's a little test for you!  The next time you pirate a movie, send a tweet to that director's Twitter saying you pirated that director's movie.  Hell, for good measure, if they don't respond, try sending emails or something to make it so they will respond to you.  Let's see if they appreciate their movie being stolen .

 

 

Arguing that it has little to no effect isn't equivalent to endorsing pirating.  Also, the director isn't in charge of the economic aspect of the movie at all.

 

[terrestrial]

18 minutes ago, La La Panda said:

Arguing that it has little to no effect isn't equivalent to endorsing pirating.  Also, the director isn't in charge of the economic aspect of the movie at all.

But I guess he knows whom to send the info to... 

[AJG]

What even is this thread?

 

Piracy is stealing 100%. It's morally wrong. But nobody cares and honestly the reason I've seen from most people I know that don't pirate movies is simply that they don't know how to pirate and they would if they could, or its just because they want to take their families out for a trip to the cinema. I've never come across anybody that shells out money for a movie to support the filmmakers or whatever giant corporation is backing them. I pirate movies, go cinema, have netflix and the other 2 major streaming services in the UK too.

 

As for BO impact that's something that needs to be addressed regionally, as different countries have much different systems when it comes to how movies make their way to the cinema, different ticket prices, different levels of availability and access. 

[robertman2]

Also, I pirate pirate movies.

[Lordmandeep]

The moralizing here that downloading a film is the worst thing ever and by default that person is bad is rather hilarious and out of touch.

 

I sense a rather 'old man yelling at cloud' from some users.

 

 

 

[franfar]

6 hours ago, EmpireCity said:

If you pirate content and aren't in a 3rd world country, you are a lazy douchebag.

Poor people exist within first world countries...

[franfar]

4 hours ago, tribefan695 said:

We basically have two sides here that aren't going to budge at all and continuing to try arguing your points is just going to make all of you look like assholes, regardless of whether you're on the right or wrong side of the law.

The tenor in this thread is full of ultimatums, and bringing up the character of people that they barely know. It's kind of off-putting to be honest.

 

I think the best way for piracy to decrease is if studios make their films more available on streaming sites like Netflix. 

[DMan7]

7 minutes ago, fracfar said:

Poor people exist within first world countries...

 

Then poor people aren't entitled to watch movies, simple! 

[franfar]

4 hours ago, La La Panda said:

 

I'd be interested about seeing the data on it.  As my first thought was that the box office effect is likely minimal, but I did think there could be a potential impact on the home video market (including things like channel bids).

 

But I am still skeptical to blame it all on piracy.  TV Ratings in general have also been dropping, which is another potential reason for why those channels can no longer bid as much as they used to.  I'm also skeptical that piracy is the reason for the drop in cable subscriptions and overall TV ratings.  I think it's more likely that there are now cheaper alternatives to get your TV Shows (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, to an extent HBOGo), and so with as costly as Cable subscriptions are, people are cutting them in favor of those cheaper programs.  Piracy, would likely have some effect, but not to the extent where I think studios can change the blame to it.  

 

Anecdotally, I know a few people that pirate, but on the other hand nearly everybody I know uses a program like Netflix, Hulu, HBOGo, Amazon Prime, etc.  

 

Piracy is a blackmarket, and blackmarkets are always going to exist.  I think it's a hopeless effort to try and shame people out of using them.  It'd be much more efficient for a studio to adjust to the new state of the market (that is a streaming based one) when it comes to home video and TV and provide proper incentives to use them (such as providing more streaming options), then to try and blame piracy for their problems and shut their eyes and ears on why their channels aren't doing as well as they used to.

Plus the movies aren't the only things keeping people's attention nowadays. Millennials are likely to live in cities where entertainment options are plentiful. In combination with the factory style of filmmaking these days (where the most popular films are fairly generic), in most people's eyes, the value of movies has dropped significantly. From their eyes, why spend $15+ per person for a movie and food when they can do something else? I really hate to say this, but it seems that the film industry has been cheapened because there's not enough of a hook to see a film in theatres.

[franfar]

4 hours ago, DMan7 said:

I can't believe there are folks in here trying to justify stealing. What's next justifying killing?

Holy false equivalency. 

[AndyLL]

4 minutes ago, fracfar said:

 

I think the best way for piracy to decrease is if studios make their films more available on streaming sites like Netflix. 

 

Did that work in the music industry?

 

Now that there are a billion ways to cheaply stream music or buy individual tracks has music piracy decreased?

[franfar]

2 minutes ago, DMan7 said:

 

Then poor people aren't entitled to watch movies, simple! 

No one is entitled to anything. But it isn't up to you to decide what they want/need. Black markets exist for a lot of consumer goods.

[Goffe]

32 minutes ago, fracfar said:

Poor people exist within first world countries...

his post is not about poor people, it's about availability of content, I think.

 

or both idk.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Goffe

[Lordmandeep]

20 minutes ago, AndyLL said:

 

Did that work in the music industry?

 

Now that there are a billion ways to cheaply stream music or buy individual tracks has music piracy decreased?

I don't recall the last time I downloaded an album...

 

Just go to youtube..

 

Oh sorry that is immoral because the artists hardly gets money compared to the good old days lol..

[franfar]

19 minutes ago, AndyLL said:

 

Did that work in the music industry?

 

Now that there are a billion ways to cheaply stream music or buy individual tracks has music piracy decreased?

I think piracy will decrease if the MPAA/RIAA continues to crack down on it. Last year already had a lot of major sites taken down.

 

IMO, if there are convenient ways to get content, I'm fine with them cracking down.

[Lordmandeep]

4 minutes ago, fracfar said:

I think piracy will decrease if the MPAA/RIAA continues to crack down on it. Last year already had a lot of major sites taken down.

 

IMO, if there are convenient ways to get content, I'm fine with them cracking down.

For every site they take down they just come back.

 

 

Pirate Bay is still up even though being the focus of intense pressure.

 

How many streaming websites are around.

[franfar]

Just now, Lordmandeep said:

For every site they take down they just come back.

 

 

Pirate Bay is still up even though being the focus of intense pressure.

 

How many streaming websites are around.

They come back, but they can usually find the guys who are distributing the content, and through them, find more of them. If that's even possible, then it's like cutting the head off a snake.

 

I'm also concerned with the tactics the MPAA could take. SOPA would've allowed law enforcement to shut down domains if there was even a single webpage with illegal content on it. Plus, they could invade citizens privacy if they "suspect" that they're using torrents. I don't want this to be like warrantless wiretapping. 

[Boxx93]

I honestly don't think shaming people will make them stop piracing, in fact it will create the opposite effect and make people do it in spite of it. Nobody likes to be told what to do and not to do. Its human nature.

 

As for myself there are multiple reason why I am forced to piracing movies and TV shows:

 

1- The crisis in Venezuela has reached to such a point where moviegoing has become ridiculously expensive so I cant go every saturday like I used to and only go to the really big releases (Like Rougue One)

2- Even in the days where I could, Subtitled version ususally only plays at night, leaving only dubbed versions in matineè. I fucking hate watching dubbed movies so thats a big no no for me

3- Same reason I stopped watching TV shows on basic cables, They started to dub everything and most of the times the SAP doesnt work, so screw them.

4- You can only pay for Netflix in dollars and thats hard to come by in this country.

5- Video players in some legal services are crappier than pirate players (for the most part)

6- Anime doesnt come here legally at all (unless you have a crunchyroll account but I dont watch airing anime)

 

Granted, Piracy can hurt the industry theres no denying that, but when you are stuck between a rock and a hard place like me what can you do?

Convenience is the solution in my opinion.

[boomboom234]

honestly everyone pirates one way or another when's the last time any of you payed for music you're only getting angry now because it deals with movies but still everyone either torrents or streams movies especially out of the US, but even here no one thinks about they just watch there is no ethical dilemma for anyone.

[franfar]

33 minutes ago, Boxx93 said:

I honestly don't think shaming people will make them stop piracing, in fact it will create the opposite effect and make people do it in spite of it. Nobody likes to be told what to do and not to do. Its human nature.

 

As for myself there are multiple reason why I am forced to piracing movies and TV shows:

 

1- The crisis in Venezuela has reached to such a point where moviegoing has become ridiculously expensive so I cant go every saturday like I used to and only go to the really big releases (Like Rougue One)

2- Even in the days where I could, Subtitled version ususally only plays at night, leaving only dubbed versions in matineè. I fucking hate watching dubbed movies so thats a big no no for me

3- Same reason I stopped watching TV shows on basic cables, They started to dub everything and most of the times the SAP doesnt work, so screw them.

4- You can only pay for Netflix in dollars and thats hard to come by in this country.

5- Video players in some legal services are crappier than pirate players (for the most part)

6- Anime doesnt come here legally at all (unless you have a crunchyroll account but I dont watch airing anime)

 

Granted, Piracy can hurt the industry theres no denying that, but when you are stuck between a rock and a hard place like me what can you do?

Convenience is the solution in my opinion.

Exactly.

 

Guys, nothing is black and white. There's a background to everyone who does this activity. You can't just call pirates "losers," "immoral," or whatever. You barely even know them and you're just questioning their character. The more you do that, the more people will dig in their heels and pirate.