Rick is right, Sad. Digital media is destroying the entertainment industry as we know. But I think it’s a GOOD thing. The entire music, movie, and television industry is in the process of being reinvented. And trying to make the square peg of the current system fit into the round hole of the new media of the digital information age is complete bollocks.

Three years huh? Maybe he thinks Episode III will be the final straw….

I don’t know the context of McCallum’s statements, but they’re crap. The only real danger to the movie business is Hollywood itself.

First, the issue of DVD’s destroying the movie industry: sure, they’re waiting in line right behind television, video recorders and whatever else Hollywood has been crying wolf over for the last umpteen years. In the meantime the studios are all running to the the bank with the millions they’re raking in re-releasing old titles in this format. And I think Star Wars has made a few bucks off of DVD’s as well.

How many Star Wars fans said, gee I don’t think I’ll go see the movie now on the big screen with surround sound, I think I’ll wait five months and watch the DVD on my 27 inch TV here. And Lexx Lurker is right as well, there has been no real attempt to make the experience of going to a regular theater in any way pleasant or special for the audience.

Wait, my real rant is still to come

There are legitimate concerns about piracy, but piracy is not putting Hollywood studios out of business. And “sharing” as McCallum so kindly puts it is certainly not doing so.
It’s been clear for several years that “Hollywood” is totally bankrupt of ideas for dealing with the new media environment. Instead they’re initiating rear-guard actions like the asinine Berman bill which their pet Congressman is trying to ram through Congress. McCasllum’s comments are just another volley in that effort–these guys all get them off the same crib sheet.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the bill, it will allow Hollywood studios and music companies to launch, at their own discretion, DOS attacks at any individual they suspect of violating their copyrights.
SUSPECT, not have proof against. And the individual affected has practically no recourse if the suspicion proves to be wrong. It’s obviously aimed at P2P networks but can be used against any individual who’s online. Here’s some more details on the bill:

Berman Bill

Pretty damn scary stuff.

And finally, to follow up on Flamegrape’s comments, digital media are in many ways rescueing movies and allowing people who care about them to actually make them again. Digital video and High Definition have helped to fuel the surge of independent film over the last few years–when the average Hollywood movie cost 40 or 50 million to make, who’s going to take a chance on something new and different? Not Hollywood. So maybe the present Hollywood system will actually die a self-induced and well-deserved death, but movies sure won’t.

elmey

quote:

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Originally posted by SadGeezer:
What do you think?

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Before anyone takes McCallum’s comments that seriously, you have to look at the context in which they were given. I think McCallum’s clutching at straws to explain the diminishing financial returns of the Star Wars franchise, and attempting to come up with excuses as to why there was little repeat business for Attack of the Clones. The statements quoted were all said in the context of why AOTC did relatively poorly at the box office, when compared with other films in the SW series, and it was obvious in the interview that he was just trying to “spin” the film’s performance into some condemnation of the home video market. Both Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring had incredible theatrical runs, and had significant repeat business (meaning that the box office take stayed consistently good week after week, implying that people were seeing the films more than once after the “target audience” caught them opening night, in addition to people just catching up with the films). This seems to go completely against the theory that McCallum advances.
I think that the home video market is definitely affecting the theatrical market in some ways, but nowhere nearly as drastically as McCallum is claiming.

–Aleck

[ 18-11-2002: Message edited by: Aleck ]