Movies Doomed!

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  • #38738
    SadGeezer
    Keymaster

    The scifiguys.com website reported:

    quote[quote]In an interview with CNN, Star Wars producer Rick McCallum reportedly said that DVDs will be responsible for destroying the movie industry because the home theater experience encourages people to skip the theaters and wait five months for the DVD. He also claims that studios are just breaking even and that DVD piracy and movie “sharing” will put the movie business out of business as soon as three years. [/quote]

    What do you think?

    [i]I know that spiderman has so far totalled $200 million with DVD sales alone![/i]

    #63978
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Sure, DVD and home cinema stuff has gotten big…

    But nuttin beats the BIG screen of a cinema when youre watching LOTR….

    And its a social thing as well….

    I HATE PIRACY!!!

    I never support it!

    IT WILL BE THE DOOM OF COMPUTER GAMING TO!!!

    Shishkebab! [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img]

    #63979
    Flamegrape
    Participant

    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.

    #63980
    Anonymous
    Guest

    It’s progress, in 50 years you will just order new movies and wham they download to your TV and you watch in the privacy of your home. Maybe much sooner, who knows. There’s a balance, if people stop seeing movies, production values drop and the demand for the flashy films return.

    As for the social aspect I’ve soured so much on the “Movie experience”; waiting in lines, crowded seats, cell phones, insane prices on popcorn, soda, not to mention it just takes one person near ya acting loud, obnoxious, smelly, coughing, sneezing to ruin the experience in many ways. I only go to movies now when the lady drags me.

    #63981
    Anonymous
    Guest

    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. [img]images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img] 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 [img]images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]

    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:

    [url=http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/20020802_eff_berman_p2p_bill.html]Berman Bill[/url]

    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

    #63982
    Anonymous
    Guest

    I have faith that movies will survive. What WILL die are the movie houses. Movies can be made strictly for release on DVD or cable or TV. But with the price of electronics dropping daily, it’s no longer cost efficient to run a big warehouse with a limited number of seats when people can watch the same thing at home sans sticky seats and $20 popcorn.

    #63983
    Anonymous
    Guest

    quote:


    Originally posted by SadGeezer:
    What do you think?


    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 [i]Star Wars[/i] franchise, and attempting to come up with excuses as to why there was little repeat business for [i]Attack of the Clones[/i]. The statements quoted were all said in the context of why [i]AOTC[/i] did relatively poorly at the box office, when compared with other films in the [i]SW[/i] 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 [i]Spider-Man[/i] and [i]Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring[/i] 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 ]

    #63984
    Anonymous
    Guest

    I’ll have to agree with Aleck on this one in respect to movies and DVDs. However, when it comes to piracy, I have to agree with it [img]images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img] .

    For example, when it comes to a computer game, even a one CD thing, it would cost about RM 89.90 (RM being a unit of M’sian currency). Combine this with the fact that the average member of the gaming industry’s target audience (teenage males etc) has an allowance of RM 15 a week and that pirated games cost at the most RM 8, well, I hope you see my position [img]images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img] .

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