Film Piracy (opinions and box office effect)

[Maxmoser3]

3 minutes ago, misafeco said:

If you can get something for free why would you pay for it? Even if you have the interest.

 

Studios should force lawmakers to make downloading movies punishable. I think it's working in some countries. Pirates won't disappear if you tell them they're morally wrong.

They've tried, they did it with DVD's  in the past. 

[GirafficPark]

13 minutes ago, Grand Moff Tele said:

 

I'm sorry, this is total BS. Piracy affects the entire industry in a variety of ways. I already listed two projects I was involved with that were directly affected, and I'm hardly someone who's got this vast range of experience. If people have no intention of paying for the product, why even bother to watch? Those people are supporting a multi-billion dollar scam and for no other reason than "ehhhh". I can at least understand the motivation from people who live in foreign countries or dictatorships where an official release is impossible.

Then Disney need to get with the times and realise that broadcast media on premium or package deal channels is dying, especially if they have little intention of selling the rights on internationally in a short space of time.

 

HBO have got wise, thats why on some international channels GoT is broadcast at the same time as it is on the US network. No point pirating if you can DVR it and watch at your convenience from the instant its premièred. You think GoT is profitable on HBO alone? Is it hell.

[elcaballero]

3 minutes ago, GirafficPark said:

HBO have got wise, thats why on some international channels GoT is broadcast at the same time as it is on the US network. No point pirating if you can DVR it and watch at your convenience from the instant its premièred. You think GoT is profitable on HBO alone? Is it hell.

HBO is notoriously hard on piracy of their shows...

[cannastop]

5 minutes ago, stuart360 said:

You can't just look at it like '1 pirate film download = 1 lost ticket sale', it doesn't work like that, no matter how much Hollywood would like people to believe thats how it works.

But you're not slipping the BS of "1 illegal download = 0 lost ticket sales" past me. You'd have to be either naive or disingenuous to think that piracy has literally no effect.

[Plain Old Tele]

6 minutes ago, stuart360 said:

...that the vast majority of pirates have no intention of paying for stuff in the first place, thats why they are pirates.

 

And the fact this is the prevailing attitude among younger people means that essentially they're dooming the very thing they claim to like, in the long run. It's basically the digital equivalent of anti-vaccers -- let everyone else cover the cost of things so I can get it free. Add up enough people with that attitude and the whole system starts to have serious problems.

[stuart360]

Just now, Grand Moff Tele said:

 

And the fact this is the prevailing attitude among younger people means that essentially they're dooming the very thing they claim to like, in the long run. It's basically the digital equivalent of anti-vaccers -- let everyone else cover the cost of things so I can get it free. Add up enough people with that attitude and the whole system starts to have serious problems.

 

[Mango]

4 hours ago, filmlover said:

Interstellar is the only movie where you could say piracy caused it to not reach its full potential (and even then that's stretching it). Get out.

All of the movies he mentioned had HUGE interest after their initial releases. They're the kind of films that, had they released in the 90s, would have topped off their moderate hit status at the box office with truckloads of home video sales.

 

Piracy has arguably effected home video a lot more than theatrical releases.

[stuart360]

Just now, cannastop said:

But you're not slipping the BS of "1 illegal download = 0 lost ticket sales" past me. You'd have to be either naive or disingenuous to think that piracy has literally no effect.

 

Oh i'm not saying it has zero effect, just that it has a much smaller effect than Hollywood wants you to believe.

[GirafficPark]

Just now, elcaballero said:

HBO is notoriously hard on piracy of their shows...

How so? Clearly legal threats and takedowns dont deter the torrenters in any way, but agreeing to similcasting on other networks works brilliantly. If thats whats called hard on piracy then pretty much everyone is a winner there.

 

These days there is no excuse for late releases in foreign markets, geo-blocking, or other restrictive practices. Even HBO arent perfect, since GoT is only available on Sky Atlantic in the UK, which is paid for satellite channels part of a package. There is NO other way to see it other than pay a minimum of £20 month, which is stupid if GoT is all you want.

[RobinHood26]

The whole I pirate because I would have never bought it or watched it otherwise is bullshit. I wouldn't pay 50 bucks for that game, but Ill sit my lazy ass on the couch and play it for 30 hours.

 

I won't buy the blu ray. but Ill pirate it, watch the whole thing for 2 hours, watch it again next year and rip gif's and make memes from it. 

 

No one pirates stuff they don't want.... How may people go around pirating CDs from wanna be rappers on the side of the street!?! If you truly are NEVER going to watch *blank* movie and have no desire to buy it or rent it, then why would you pirate and watch it?

[GirafficPark]

7 minutes ago, Grand Moff Tele said:

 

And the fact this is the prevailing attitude among younger people means that essentially they're dooming the very thing they claim to like, in the long run. It's basically the digital equivalent of anti-vaccers -- let everyone else cover the cost of things so I can get it free. Add up enough people with that attitude and the whole system starts to have serious problems.

Whats killing the industry is the thought of having to pay £100  month for everything when all you want is a few select things. Take sport. F1 in the UK is now only live on Sky F1, can you subscribe to that? Nope, you have to take ALL sport channels for £37 a month. This is ridiculous if you hate football, or Cricket, which is what the subscription is really paying for. GoT? That will be £20 minimum, same for Westworld, Disney XD? £32.

 

Dont blame the pirate, blame the pricing structure that supports crap people dont want at the expense of the stuff people do. In this day and age that pricing structure just isnt going to work.

[AniNate]

I guess the question ought to be if piracy has really gotten worse since the early 00s, when there really were very limited legal options for watching digital copies of films at home. Netflix and Hulu seem to be thriving as legal paid outlets for watching entertainment and HBO finally conceded to cord-cutters with their HBO Now app, and there's now DirecTV Now and Sling TV for live channels.

Edited December 31, 2016 by tribefan695

[GirafficPark]

Just now, Jay Hollywood said:

The whole I pirate because I would have never bought it or watched it otherwise is bullshit. I wouldn't pay 50 bucks for that game, but Ill sit my lazy ass on the couch and play it for 30 hours.

 

I won't buy the blu ray. but Ill pirate it, watch the whole thing for 2 hours, watch it again next year and rip gif's and make memes from it. 

 

No one pirates stuff they don't want.... How may people go around pirating CDs from wanna be rappers on the side of the street!?! If you truly are NEVER going to watch *blank* movie and have no desire to buy it or rent it, then why would you pirate and watch it?

I would and do. I pay for stuff im know im going to like, if im not that bothered ill pirate, and then if I like it I might pay later. If there was no pirate option I would never watch it, or wait 5 years + for it to be on FTA TV. Keep in mind i already pay for Virgin Media (paid cable), Netflix and Amazon Prime.

[stuart360]

Just now, Jay Hollywood said:

The whole I pirate because I would have never bought it or watched it otherwise is bullshit. I wouldn't pay 50 bucks for that game, but Ill sit my lazy ass on the couch and play it for 30 hours.

 

I won't buy the blu ray. but Ill pirate it, watch the whole thing for 2 hours, watch it again next year and rip gif's and make memes from it. 

 

No one pirates stuff they don't want.... How may people go around pirating CDs from wanna be rappers on the side of the street!?! If you truly are NEVER going to watch *blank* movie and have no desire to buy it or rent it, then why would you pirate and watch it?

I have downloaded a lot of films this year that i wasn't bothered enough with going to see. I DID pay to see Rogue One, Suicide Squad, Finding Dory, Batman v Superman, and a load of others that i WANTED to see.

Trust me, this is a common thing in the piracy scene.

 

EDIT. As the post above shows perfectly.

Edited December 31, 2016 by stuart360

[edroger3]

I mostly download old movies, but sometimes also new releases. I can say in my excuse that in 9 on 10 times, I after saw the movie at the cinema. Different is for the DVD/BR: The only title I bought in past ten years was Frozen. I read that some cinema chains operators think that the "pirates" are their best customers. In my case, many times I wouldn't go to the cinema without a positive "pirate preview" maybe of only 20/30 minutes. Remember that a cinematic experience costs 25/30 €/$ in ticket-food-drink-moving from/to home.

[RobinHood26]

1 minute ago, GirafficPark said:

I would and do. I pay for stuff im know im going to like, if im not that bothered ill pirate, and then if I like it I might pay later. If there was no pirate option I would never watch it, or wait 5 years + for it to be on FTA TV. Keep in mind i already pay for Virgin Media (paid cable), Netflix and Amazon Prime.

 

 

You DO want to watch it though. You just don't wanna pay, you want to steal. Im not going to go out and buy Hot Shots, I can go 10 years without seeing it easily. But if it popped up on Netflix today I'd watch it. If I actively today downloaded it and watched it, that would make it a 1000000% fact I wanted to see it.

 

I still *want to see it (because I choose to watch it) If you say you don't EVER wanna see it, but would be willing to watch it you just LIED. 

 

If you go online download and watch it you obviously WANT to see it. You cant say you don't. 

[AniNate]

If people are hatewatching I could see them being very inclined to pirate the movie. You could be curious about just how awful Battlefield Earth is but you don't want to indirectly encourage it.

[RobinHood26]

Youtube videos are free, do you click on everyone even the ones you don't want to watch!?

[GirafficPark]

Just now, Jay Hollywood said:

 

 

You DO want to watch it though. You just don't wanna pay, you want to steal. Im not going to go out and buy Hot Shots, I can go 10 years without seeing it easily. But if it popped up on Netflix today I'd watch it. If I actively today downloaded it and watched it, that would make it a 1000000% fact I wanted to see it.

 

I still *want to see it (because I choose to watch it) If you say you don't EVER wanna see it, but would be willing to watch it you just LIED. 

 

If you go online download and watch it you obviously WANT to see it. You cant say you don't. 

OK, so i dont want to watch it enough to pay for it then. Either way the effect is the same, no money for them. I feel exactly like that about Passengers, i have ZERO intention of paying to see it, but might pirate it, or wait until its on my paid cable/streaming service.

[Plain Old Tele]

What does "indirectly encourage" even mean? This concept that content creators will somehow magically make a better movie if you don't watch a bad movie has no bearing in reality. 

 

I agree that content platforms have a lot of room for improvement. That does not in any way mean it's fine to pirate something just because you feel like it. There is no absolute right to get something for free just because you feel like it.