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Star Wars Producer Says Box Office is Doomed
Cutriss writes "Seen at CNN, this article interviews Rick McCallum, longtime producer at LucasFilms. McCallum says that DVDs will be responsible for the downfall of the movie industry *without* taking piracy into account, due to the fact that people think the home theatre experience is just as good, or better than the big screens, and they know that in five months, the DVD will be out on the market. Of course, his claim that "studios are barely breaking even" falls on deaf ears when I hear about 9-digit salaries for individual actors in a big-name film that's just some rehash of an old concept. He also mentions, of course, that DVD piracy and movie "sharing" groups will only speed up the cycle, and that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years."
More propaganda from the big money movie folks. They need to learn to budget better like everyone else.
I could really care less about the box office. Everytime I go to the movies...
1. The food portions are smaller than a few years ago.
2. The price is WAY WAY higher!
3. People's cell phones are going off.
4. Some a**hole is giving comentary to the person sitting next to him/her.
Overall, not a very pleasant experience.
Good movies won't be doomed, something McCallum & Lucas might like to try making some time.
Even considering the worst case scenario - all major studios go out of business - that still leaves a wide open market for people to make movies and sell them for money.
It's completely absurd to think that movies MUST be made by companies named "Paramount Pictures" or "Universal Studios". There's nothing magical about those names. If they can't stay in business, or refuse to change enough to stay in business, then screw them. Time for new blood.
Get your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape
At least Hollywood isn't trying to sue TV companies which simulcast on the web, unlike another group of people I could mention are doing with radio...
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
They said the same thing when VCRs came out, and that certainly wasn't the end of the movie industry.
The MPAA will most certinly follow, besides, indie films, generally speaking, are just as entertaining, if not more so than their big budget counter-parts If actors take a pay cut, not much, maybe just oh, ONE MILLION per picture, it wouldn't be such a big deal...
--fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
George and I are just praying that we can finish 'Episode III' in time, before it's all over."
Its already over lad! George shot his own golden goose with Episode I. "Before its all over" reads to us fans like "before you suckers realize what tripe we are churning out each episode".
Starwars is dead. Long live Starwars.
Rapid Nirvana
And when the studios die, we'll finally get films with interesting and innovative plots and meaningful content. I can't wait!
"Luncheon meats make the sawdust in your stomach explode."
They always underestimate the social aspect. I like going to see movies with my friends,
-- (uh oh, here come the "How dare you support the MPAA" loonies...) -- it's a social occasion. We can have a few beers, or a pizza, talk about the movie, throw some popcorn around, and generally have ourselves tidied up after by acned teenagers. It's a different experience from watching a DVD, no matter how good someones home cinema system is.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Unless you have money to burn, nothing beats seeing a movie in the theater. Now if they'd just start putting real butter back on the popcorn...
Don't they always say this? Wasn't it said about videos, CD Video, cable? Who produces the DVD's? OK, so if people stop going to theatres then thats a revenue stream down but more income from DVD rentals, sales, airlines, pay per view, airlines ....
I really wish they'd just see that technology opens up new revenue streams faster than it closes them down.
It doesn't matter to me. If I go to see the movie at the cinema on cheap night, it's 5-7 bucks. If I wait 5 months to rent it and watch it on my 20 year old TV and VCR, it's still 5-6 bucks... so why would I wait? I wouldn't.
Sure, the chump with $20,000 home theatre could wait, but obviously, money isn't a big factor in his decision.
Personally, I enjoy a night at the movies, but I also enjoy snuggling up at home to a movie with the girlfriend... I think both will be around for a while, personally.
I'm sure someone said similar things when VHS was introduced.
--
Some weasel took the cork out of my lunch.
set up the atmosphere in the media and congress to justify more draconian copy protection?
Our government's knee jerks visibly every time the record and movie industry announces some new threat to their livlihood.
They seem somewhat less concerned with me, but then, I never contribute to political campaigns.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Awww, the poor movie people. Going to have to find something else to keep them in cocaine and BMWs.
because people have completely forgotten how to behave in a theater. I can't count the number of times I've had a movie ruined by inconsiderate dolts talking, or ANSWERING THEIR CELLPHONES and having an entire conversaion during the movie. Except for major blockbusters, I wait until I can rent it on DVD.
This makes about as much since as p2p will kill the music industry. I think DVD can only help the small guys get films into the main stream. Artisan Entertainment has done a great job bringing indepented films to the mass market
Mikey
I've always been the kinda guy to fall for the girl dressed like an eskimo.
Star Wars Producer Says Box Office is Doomed
Only the force can save it now?
Happy Noodle Boy says "F###ing doughnut! Mock me? You fried cyclops!!"
VHS/Beta were supposed to be the downfall of theaters because people would be able to watch movies at home. This guy is saying the same thing. Personally, I think there will be a market for theaters until someone invents a home system that has a 40' (or whatever size the movie screens are) screen, overpriced popcorn and other people in the room to cheer/boo/talk loudly throughout the film. Movies are a technological (big screen, obscenely expensive sound system, etc.) and social (crowds, etc) event.
Then, once they go out of business, perhaps people that are interested in making good movies rather than huge incomes will start making movies.
And oh, here's a thought...who forces them to release a DVD in 6mo's??? Seems like they could delay the release of alternate distributions indefinately. Don't think so? Go ask Disney. They did it for a VERY long time.
If it's such a risk...release alternate media 1 or 2 years after the movie comes out.
Wow. That was hard to think of wasn't it. Perhaps if he stopped thinking about his next big rip-off-money-making-flick, such an obvious concept would be obvious to him too.
What was his point again...
If I go see a movie at the theater it costs me about $10. If I buy the DVD it costs me about $20-$30. How is me buying the DVD instead of going to the theater worse for the movie studio?
They said the exact same thing about VHS
imagine a beowolf cluster of natali.... ahh fsck it
let the movie co's go out of business. Maybe we'll all be able to see better independant films that don't have adam sandler or anything resembling that drunken master movie. not to mention chick flicks
It looks like he says these are good trends:
"Filmmakers love it because it more closely resembles the film made," he says.
All he really states is that the Box Office gross doesn't mean what it used to and more directors are "relying on DVD sales".
This would be redundant, but it doesn't look like the previous posters actually read it.....
Karma: Not Particularly Funny.
I remember reading an article a few months ago that said that last years movie attendance was the highest since the 40's or 50's. It also said that there were more movies that grossed over 100million than any other year in history.
So how can the movie industry be declining if attendance is up and they are breaking sales records?
For the utterly uninspired, drab, poorly acted drivel that he and Lucas have draped the Star Wars banner over in order to make more money..
Didn't they say this about Betamax? VHS? Laserdisc? Personal Computers? Laptops? Etc., etc., etc.? I'll believe it when I hear Hollywood fall into the Pacific Ocean.
This is what the movie industry ALWAYS says.
When TV was launched, the movie industry cried that it would be the end of movies and it wasn't.
When color TV was launched, the movie industry cried that it would be the end of movies, and it wasn't.
When the VCR was launched, the movie industry cried that it would be the end of movies, and it wasn't.
And when DVD was launched, the movie industry cried that it would be the end of movies, and....
However, the cinema as an experience is still different, no matter what. I think they need to look at how much it costs for theaters to rent the celluloid versions to work out where it's going wrong. Cinema places are too expensive, popcorn etc is too expensive and poor quality, and a lot of this is because theaters can't make money on all the duff crap that comes out of Hollywood these days.
Therefore, several things need to be taken into account:
Of course, DVD itself should be a massive growth market for Hollywood... why are they complaining if DVD sales are so good? Why aren't they asking themselves why people are swapping so much - why is the cinema theater unpopular? It's not just because of DVD, far from it!
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
Back when TV was just starting to get big they were worried about the same thing. When was that? About 50 years ago. Guess what the movies are still here. The studios and theatres will just have to adapt like they did before.
I really doubt this will be a real issue. I can imagine I'd ever have a 30 - 45 ft screen in my house. I like going to movies just for the massive screen size. LOTR looks great on my home TV, but it will never compare to the theatre.
Sean D.
"Hmm. I am to metaphor cheese as metaphor cheese is to transitive verb crackers!"
Dude don't dis I-Spy before I even get a chance to see it! I wasn't alive during the first time it was done! 'Cause, like, Owen Wilson is a genius. He did that movie with the chick that got a wooden finger and the dad that was dying from being an unsufferable prick. That r0x0red!
The most popular movies are gating over $400 dollars in the US alone. (Star Wars, Spider-man, Fellowship of the Ring).
Those same movies will likely make killings in overseas markets.
And then, those movies will make even more on DVD sales around the world.
If Hollywood goes out of business, it'll only be caused by their own incompetence. Maybe Hollywood should drop the $30 million salaries and ridiculous special effects costs and concentrate on writing (or adapting) entertaining storylines for movies.
DVD's aren't going to kill Hollywood any more then VHS did. A big screen TV is not the same as a movie theater screen. However, I'd wager that the quality of movies is declining. For every gem like Fellowship of the Ring, there's 3 or 4 movies with the quality of "Kung Pow".
I'm normally a fan of big screens, but lately where I live (Hartford, CT) there's an epidemic of people who won't shut up at movies or people who bring their two-year olds or younger to R-rated movies. Don't even get me started about the morally deviant fuckers who let their cell phones ring and then TALK in the theatre.
Most prominent was the not-so-great, but oh-so-silent movie "Signs" -- basically spoiled by the other people in the audience with cell phones or something loud to say to the person next to them. That made me wish for the first time that I'd waited until DVD and my regulated environment at home before seeing a new movie.
If it wasn't for morons like those in the theatres, I would be more than happy to see all my movies at the theatres. A pirated movie or DVD really pales in comparison to the big screen and big sound system in movie theatres. But the other sound makers in the theatres are just getting too much to handle.
The thing about things we don't know is we often don't know we don't know them.
He is just pissed that after the next Star Wars film (number three right?) there won't be anymore.
.sig anyway?
What in the hell is a
Bet this
This reminded me of insightful comments by longtime slashdot user doomy.
/. is a lot far ahead of the rest of the sci-tech community when predicting future :-)
Seems like
when HBO, Cinemax, and pals should of killed off the movie industry long ago.. after all they are not earning as much from those outlets as they are via dvd/vhs release.
.. record and rewatch it over and over?? sure i have to wait an extra 6 months on top of the 6 months for dvd .. but now with payperview i can watch the movie just before or just after it comes out for dvd .. record and not pay any more to see it again..
so why buy the dvd when i can watch it on digital cable and pay less
This is just a ploy to use the recent outcry over pirating as a wedge to push digital projectors and THX approved sound systems in theaters. Remember the toll free number given out for the SW trilogy re-release to report theaters with substandard equipment?
Pretty sneaky!
And don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Slashdot Patriotism: We Support our Dupes!
I'm not sure why someone modded this as Funny because I think zensmile makes good points. It costs a lot to go to the movies and the experience is inferior to what I can have in my home. Here's a few more additions to the list:
5. Sticky floors6. Six or seven trailers before the show starts
7. No control over sound, picture quality, environmental conditions
8. Just too many people in general
If the film industry starts hurting for business, they can start to work on making the theater a more enjoyable experience. Until then, I'm just going to wait a few months and get a better experience at a better price in my own place.
GMD
watch this
Haven't been to the movies in more than a year. Why would I want to go sit in a loud theatre full of rude people with overly priced stale popcorn anyway? I'd rather spend that $20 on the DVD when it comes out (like it said about 5 months later). Maybe Hollywood will realized that they sometimes the actors/movies just aren't worth that much money and they should be content to make profits like the rest of the world! Just my 2 cents.... http://ross.htheatre.net
Literally, our very lives are at stake now. George and I are just praying that we can finish 'Episode III' in time, before it's all over."
Pirates! Hear my plea! George Lucas is down to the wire on his multi-billion dollar empire! If you don't stop pirating, Slashdot itself will fall when all the Anakin and Jar Jar jokes can no longer be propped up with new material!
I really have no sympathy for this media-sponsored whining. You know, just because somebody else is shooting you in the foot doesn't mean that you didn't hand them the gun in the first place.
Hmmm... let's see Rick McCallum, producer of Star Wars I and Star Wars II wondering why people aren't going to see his movies more than once... hmm, what could be the reason, what could be the reason?
Could it be you produced movies that were shite, Rick? oh no,no,no must be DVDs and the internet, that's it!!
I know I'm preaching to the converted here but frankly this is BS. Do they consider that for generations the movie theater experience has been an integral part of people's lives? Just go to the theater on a Friday and Saturday night and count the couples. Dinner and a movie is still a part of courtship. And renting a movie and watching it on my home theater is no substitute for taking a person out to the theater.
This is like saying that TV will kill radio or radio will kill literature. Hogwash!
Most people don't have a home theater. Many don't have a DVD player. Many people have crappy 13" televisions with mono sound. Even the most apathetic can still tell the difference between that and the megaplex down the street.
Finally people won't just stop making movies either. The industry is huge and the budgets might get a little smaller but the industry is not going to collapse. There will always be independents that do it just for the love of telling a story. IF the big company stop making movies the independents will take over where the big companies left off.
Anything with the momentum of Hollywood won't be gone in 3 years no matter what.
Take an an example the porn industry. It is years ahead of mainstream entertainment technology all the time. Is the "Hollywood" side of the porn industry gone due to DVD and internet? No. So why is a more entrenched and better endowed indutry going to be goen in such a short time frame. I find the agument a little bit sensational and a little bit of "the sky is falling."
I have no doubt that the wave of change is at the door step but like many coups, the change made be better by the incumbents.
-F34nor
The movie industry did basically the same thing to live theater. it still lives as a niche product for those who want it, but it is not nearly as pervasive as it was.
just because you have managed to earn a living doing something in the past, that is no guarantee of being able to do so in the future.
technology changes the rules, and some industries suffer, but other industries prosper.
the movie industry needs to realize that they are not "entitled" to make money from traditional movies, they must provide us a reason to do pay them for the experience.
if they made movies that were worth the extra $5 to see on a big screen vs. my tv, then maybe I they wouldn't have this problem.
The difference between Theory and Practice is greater in Practice than in Theory.
It's not like Hollywood isn't making millions and millions of dollars out of the DVD industry!! If releasing the DVDs is making them lose money, they're delay the release dates of the DVDs.
Plus fine, you're making less money, then reduce the cast salaries and we'll all live happily everafter. Afterall, the Friends cast gets paid a million (yes million) dollars per episode. That's outright sick (i know this is TC not hollywood, but these are the salary figures!).
I don't think so. I didn't see any technical/analytical numbers on the website. I find it skeptical that Hollywood has only three years of life left. Yes, the ever rising cost of going to the movies can be a burden, but you can't beat going out and "getting away" from house. I guess when you get a little older and have kids, you cherish that a lot more. Then there is always someone out there always out there to get you to that dollar (in this case it is the video rental places), but I haven't seen the movie theaters in our town desperate for customers. It all comes with the territory. Besides, without Hollywood, there wouldn't be any new movies to rent in the first place.
While television brought the downfall of the huge single-show theaters, there was still a group of people that went out to see the shows (might have something to do with not being a cheap/easy date). From there the multi-plex theaters were born, with more variety for a large group of people.
This information is from Maurice Kanbar's book. He invented one of the first multi-show movie theatres.
Well, when a DVD I own permenantly costs ~$20 and a movie I see once costs ~$12.00 I have to agree that the Box office will die (if it does not change).
Anyway, my seats are comfier (no seat kickers), I can adjust my audio levels to match the film I'm watching and the drunk guy making a nuisance of himself is me!
crazy dynamite monkey
It'll be as dead as...
...movie theatres after TV.
...Live music after radio.
...theatre after movies.
...radio after TV.
There's something that going to the movies can provide that DVDs can't. The movies provide the whole "going out" experience, and the crowd. How many times have you gone to a movie and remarked "when that happened, the whole crowd laughed, yelled, groaned, etc."
Staying at home with a DVD and the microwave is lame. Dinner and a movie is cool.
Better yet, we may see more innovation in theatres like the Cinema and Drafthouse. If you've never been to one of those, you don't know what you're missing.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
I do not watch much TV lately, but from what I have seen there is not a single movie out that I would want to see. After a very disappointing summer of movies I have lost faith in holiwood. Last good movie I saw was The Matrix, spiderman sucked star wars 1 and 2 sucked, all the steven spielberg movies have crappy plots and suck.
I'll chalk this up to "We only have 10 years left on this planet!" stated by actor Ted Danson about 10 years ago (also from Hollywood).
Look at how piracy has destroyed the software industry! Oh, it hasn't? But people have been pirating software for 10 years, how can software vendors still be making money?!!! Funny, isn't it?
My hope for the future is that we get rid of alot of the "Fame and Fortune" aspect of acting. In the future (thanks to the Internet), I believe that anyone will be able to broadcast anything they want, and may become famous, but not necessarily rich.
Hollywood makes lots of great movies, and a lot of bad ones. But they've only been around for less than 100 years. They may simply be a short-lived 20th century phenomena, with other forms of entertainment eventually taking over. Don't boohoo about it. If they disappear, it will be because nobody wants their stuff, not because everyone wants DVD's...
For the record, I've never put off "going to the movies" with my wife, simply so that I could watch it on DVD/VHS/PPV three months later...
Seems to me this is the exact same thing that the studios said back when television became common, and said again when VCRs became commonplace. Yet, the studios continue to rake in huge profits at the box office.
Quite frankly, I don't think that a home theatre can ever replace the theatre experience. Until my home theatre has a 6 story screen, and a 50 000 watt, 12 channel audio system, I think I will continue to spend the money to see good movies in the theatre.
Now, if Hollywood wants to get more profits from the Box Office, they really ought to start producing better movies, but that's a whole other ball of wax.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
Only people putting Hollywood out of business is themselves. Actors get paid too much. Plain and simple.
Now I understand why the movie theater is always packed with a lineup around the block whenever a cool movie comes out. It's because nobody's going to the theater, and they are staying home to wait for the DVD.
Seriously, does this guy GO to the movies?
who is this actor who supposedly made $100,000,000 on a single film?
1. Record movies, and make DVDs...
....?
2.
3. No profit?
DJMD - The fourth man - Planetary
The solution is obvious: simply release the film once in a great theater experience. Release the DVD , oh, maybe 5 years later.
If they announced their intentions in advance and forewent the extra revenue from the 2nd release on DVD they'd fare better in the long term.
Hollywood disappearing might not be as bad as all that, anyway.
In the long term, people are still willing to pay handsomely for their entertainment and so long as that market exists I think they just have to re-arrange their current business model. It's not the end of the world.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
this will open up the door for the independent film makers that have new ideas that the studios think 'won't sell'. Scripts in Hollywood take years and multiple re-writes before a studio is happy.
Other than big budget special effects, that I want to see on the big screen, I don't go to the theaters. There isn't any content that hasn't been done before and Hollywood *always* trashes the original basis for the movie.
Peter Parker did *not* abandon Mary Jane...of course he originally snapped her neck trying to save her when she was tossed off the bridge, too.
Sig? What's a Sig?
and that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years."
Hollywood needs to be put down. They better stop paying their super stars enormous amounts of money and start behaving like real businesses. BTW. I just watched "The Transporter" at Famous Players. I am really sorry I went - what a rip off.
I put a small review of the movie
right here under title "Pathetic" and there are other reviews there that indicate what this movie is like.
I personally have not seing a great movie in theaters since the Matrix. Even LOTR did not give me the same effect as the Matrix.
I just want to see Solaris (coming out in November) and the next 2 films of the Matrix, and then it can all go to hell.
You can't handle the truth.
The problem is not that people are not seeing movies repeatedly (the article's prime example, Titanic, came out in the age of DVD and VHS). We know this because, as several other people have pointed out, movie box office takes are up. The problem is the much higher cost of making movies, where budgets often soar above the $100 million mark (remember when T2, with it's $100 million budget was unthinkable?). Now many movies have to be "blockbusters" to just break even. If anything, we can blame this trend on McCallum, Lucas and all the rest who keep pushing "digital" film making (whether its FX, new cameras, or what have you), which is far more expensive than traditional movie making techniques. Oh yeah, that and paying stars $20+ million to appear in a movie.
D'oh -- the stuff that buys me beer! Ray -- the guy who sells me beer!
But weren't DVDs supposed to *save* Hollywood? They were supposed to have Region Encoding, Macrovision and other Anti-Copying stuff embedded into them.
IIRC Hollywood wouldn't put anything out on DVD unless it contained all of the above (or most of the above) to prevent widespread theft.
Ah well, perhaps I am wrong.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
Come on, the movie industry is going to go out of business? Right. How about this one: The government is really controlled by martians? That's more believable.
Forget about salaries, these guys are raking in money hand over fist. Frankly, with all the crap they make, it's amazing they make any money.
The ones that can't figure out how to make a living in the current market environment may die off. That's fine. Smart people will figure out how to make money in the current technological environment without screwing the consumers left and right. If the big movie companies can't figure that out, fine. I could really care less. Here, let me show you guys the door.
Jack Valenti: "I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone."
Cut to 20 years later...
Rick McCallum: "Studios need it, or they're gone. They're on the verge of collapse anyway. They are not making money. Anyone who says, or thinks, that they are, is out of their mind."
--Joey
I was thinking about this just the other day actually, since I noticed that most new movies now come onto DVD much sooner than used to. Hell, some DVDs are on the shelves almost as quick as a month after the film was at the cinema (take Insomnia, WindTalkers as recent examples).
The fact is though that there is a much to made to in DVDs (if not more), so it is not like they're going to stop making movies. Also, I disagree with the comment that the home theatre experience is as good as the cinema. I still go to the movies because it is still better (for now), by quite a long way.
Perhaps they could do a scheme whereby if you watch the movie at the cinema you get a discount on the DVD purchase.
Rake Free + Mac Poker: CardCrusade
So they are doomed because they continue to increase their budgets faster than their revenue grows?
They deserve to be doomed.
I just hope some business genius is able figure out a solution!
It reminds me of the old joke about the guy who goes in to see his doctor because it hurts every time he bends in a strange way. The doctor tells him to stop bending that way, and the pain will go away.
If it really hurts the box office that the DVD is released just a few months after the theatrical release, why in hell are the doing it? They could always delay the DVD so that it only comes out a year or more after the theatrical release. That preserves the incentive to see the movie on the big screen, while letting the DVD come out close enough to the theatrical release that people can still remember the movie and want to buy it. What is wrong with these people?
There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.
Three or more people. Mom, Dad, and Kid.
I am absolutely convinced that it is technology that will save the movie theatre from wireless devices. When will some of those cold warriors rehash their technology and introduce the local area wireless jam device, prevents all wireless signals from being useful (i.e. recieved) within the confines of a single room. This would be great for theatres and classrooms to name two.
I can't believe people still goto movies... why?
1. With a progressive DVD player and an HDTV you can get a better picture than an analog projector will give you.
2. I can't drink beer or smoke pot in the theatre.
3. Snacks and drinks are outrageously priced @ the theatre.
4. My couch is more comfortable than the ones at the theatre.
5. I can't play with my girlfriend during the boring parts of the movie @ the theatre.
6. It's much cheaper to rent a dvd than goto a movie.
7. I can make a copy of the dvd if i like it and watch it again!
So please.. stop going to the theatres.. maybe hollywood will start to produce movies that make u want to goto the theatre because the movie looks so good you don't want to wait. They have been releasing nothing but un original sequels and remakes for the last few years.
R
What movie theaters need are bouncers to bounce those annoying motherfuckers right out.
The Buggy Whip Manufacturer's association is calling for legeslation to restrict, license and tax "horsless carrages" citing safety concerns.
Traveling Theater Companies call for legeslation to regulate the new "moving pictures" industry, citing flickering and health concerns.
The dairy industry seeks non-dairy product regulation and distinctive markings so that consumers will not be "duped" by "inferior" products.
Television networks are calling for increased regulation of Cable and Satellite Television providers citing "unfair competition".
Looks like these movie guys are a little slow on the uptake with the same old false logic.
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
Ticket sales will improve as the economy improves. Theaters will install new technology to make the movie-going experience better. Ticket prices will increase leading to bigger and bigger box-office takes. DVD sales will remain strong. Hollywood will continue to thrive. Piracy will be a secondary factor (as it is now) until fat bandwidth is ubiquitous; after that, it will be controlled by social factors. MPAA will continue to believe that they represent the forces of free speech; people like me will continue to laugh in their faces.
Hollywood will face a major defeat, however, it won't be economic. It will be legal. Copyright extentions will be cut down by the Supreme Court and DMCA will either be stricken down or repealed. Hollywood will then have to resort to marketing (gasp!) to prevent mass piracy.
Finding God in a Dog
From the artical, "Literally, our very lives are at stake now. George and I are just praying that we can finish 'Episode III' in time, before it's all over." So Lucas and Mcallum are going to "literally" die if the box office does bad? DVDs and piracy kills, kids. This seems to indicate the rest of the interview is a rant as well and not based on any facts.
Perhaps that's why our local theator (not really local as the company is Consoladated) is starting to employ some strange tactics to make more money. Ever heard of "premium seating"? They rope off the front row of the second section (stadium seating), reserving it for those that buy some season seating pass. So now, my $8.50 ticket can't even buy me a good seat.
I don't think were quite at the "Home Theatre" area yet. I mean, most of us can't even afford those [Widescreen] HDTV's and surround sound, not to mention the expensive DVD's. It won't be until around 5 years until the prices for HDTV's drop, and when 80% of TV broadcasting is actually formated for HDTV's.
If home theatre's can competete with actual theatre's, then that is very insulting to the actual movie theatre's. Maybe they should increase their quality? Make people want to come? I know of some real beautifiul movie theatre's where they have gormet dinner inside, friendly service, clean movie houses, quality sound, good seating... of course, that's the minority of movie theatre's. But that's a good buisness model others can look at for help.
Also, what about all the dates? I doubt I'll tell the girl I'm going with "Yea, lets stay home and watch this movie on my coutch". I don't think it would have the same effect. And I think parents who have birthday parties love the theatre over their house for a gathering.
Basically, the reason people go to the movies is for the service. They don't want to worry about putting in the movie, making sure the sound is good, scheduling time, etc. They just go and watch a movie. The theature is not "doomed". Well, maybe it is if it keeps it's current buisness model. But that seems to be the trend for everything these days...
"Filmmakers love it because it more closely resembles the film made."
"[Movie-goers] are paying more attention to the fact that the movie will be out on DVD in just four or five months at a rental fee of $4 or $5."
Filmmakers love DVDs, movie-goers love DVDs. Who loses? Popcorn manufacturers.
Somebody get a violin please,
Or One Singing Fat Lady.
Thank you.
young people aren't going to the same movie five or six times a la "Titanic."
Maybe the movie companies aren't making a film as good as Titanic every year. Personally, I didn't care for it, but a lot of people really liked it. I don't see the same kind of passion for "Dude, where's my car?".
Filmmakers love it [DVD] because it more closely resembles the film made
Then maybe the movie studios and theatres should listen more closely to the filmmakers before eviscerating the movie for general release?
I don't think there's a single movie that can survive on box office gross alone; it just doesn't exist anymore. A theatrical gross can't hack it anymore, and the business is barely surviving right now
27 movies so far this year have grossed over $100 million. If you can't put a movie onto film for less than a million dollars a minute I suggest you need to control your costs a little better. Taco suggested paying actors less. That might be a start.
--
E_NOSIG
I mean, if hollywood dies like an old crippled dog, then indie films will be the main focus of film makers. I think that's a good thing.
Besides, going to the movies is a social activity. People bring dates to movies, they bring their kids on outings to movies, etc. It's kind of like saying bars and resturants are dying because people can eat and drink at their houses.
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
"The business will implode once you can download a movie, give it to your friends and not have a moral problem with doing it. Then we're screwed. Literally, our very lives are at stake now."
Do you mean that I can ruin their lives, and make them sacrifice one of their 7 BMWs in their driveways all by *downloading movies*?!?!?!
I can just feel the power... *looks down at glowing ring*
um.. nevermind...
If a and b in c, and a can create b, and a can create a, and b can create b, and b cannot create a, then a created c.
This from a man who's only produced 3 movies in the past 10 years (Episode 1 and 2 being two of the three) and who only seems to produce LucasArts projects.
I don't think anyone at Lucas has a grasp on what people want, with pushing digital projectors, producing bad video games and even worse movies.
McCallum proves that point with even the first two statements in the article...
1. "McCallum feels that the experience of watching the movie on DVD is superior to most movie theaters"
I don't know anyone that prefers to see things at home, I still hear 'its a film you need to see on the big screen' from a bunch of people all the time (not to mention most movies worth watching don't play at your major movie theaters). It's just the fact most movies aren't worth seeing or paying to see (ala no different then the music industry right now)
2. He blames DVD for "why young people aren't going to the same movie five or six times a la 'Titanic.'"
Its not DVD, its most movies don't have the appeal. I saw the Matrix a few times in the theater since it actually had some depth to it and was worth watching a few times. Of course I don't know a lot of people that saw Titanic more then once but I'm guessing a lot girlfriends dragged their boyfriends to it (poor souls).
Don't blame DVD, wake up and blame your crappy movies. People aren't going to see Episode I and II a bunch of times because they sucked and aren't worth watching over and over, not because it's coming out on DVD in a few months...
It's not the "theater experience" that attracts me. It's not the first-viewer opportunity. It's certainly not the overpriced popcorn and soda or the need to drive fifteen minutes across town with my entire family in tow. And it's not, nor will it ever be, the ability to recreate sounds in 6.1 speakers around the entire three-dimensional room.
No, it's the big screen I like. Mitsubishi electronics' best efforts notwithstanding, home theater will never be as impressive as a screen the size of an auditorium wall with all the characters projected in incredible detail. The movies I really love I go to see three, four times on those big screens, just because I prefer to watch a movie "up there" than "down here".
When I can afford to outfit an entire room of my house for darkened projected DVD movie experiences, I may reconsider. For now it's easier just to spend $3 apiece at the cheapie theater.
i think what all the doomsayers are forgetting is that the important thing - the demand for films/stories that people like to watch - will (prolly) never die. so long as that demand exists, there will be a market for films. everyone seems to forget simple economics.
suppose rick m. is right - dvds and piracy effectively reduce all incentives to produce films (or music). what happens then? consumers still demand these things but a system to make a profit/deliver these goods has died. well, guess what - the 'invisible hand' will strut its stuff and a new market, which gives incentives to producers and content to consumers, will spring up. that is the way a market economy works.
to rick: so stop lamenting your death, and perhaps poise yourself for the new market. then you can really make out. just keep producing good stories and you'll be ok, guy.
smd4985
Let's see, an american industry finds that it's distribution model, in this case the multi-plex theatre, are inefficient and threatened with extinction. Yes? So? Anyone find drive-ins today? Change happens all the time. The marketplace changes, and those that do not adapt die. Look at Compaq vs Dell. The movie industry has been Dell'd, dude, nothing more than that!
Now, of course, when one distribution model fails, the smart thing to do is jump onto the next popular one (DVD's), or even better, look past it. Yes, the internet could be the next after that. Industries must adapt to change or die out. So they should adopt to the internet and be ahead of the curve. But, it's these same studios, and the record companies, that wish to neuter the potential of the internet marketplace! Doh!
What happens when an entrenched industry or interest successfully holds back change is much like what happened to Sparta, or a more recent example, when Afganhanistan took a turn south from progress a few centuries back. Maybe one day we too will be waiting for delivery of a generous donation of internet infotainment devices to help "uplift" us the way we recently sent tv's to Afghanastan so they could see the world socker match, or looked upon with the same quaint humor the romans did of the Spartans when they too failed to change with the times.
And this is bad news?
I seem to remember the same argument happening in the early 80s about video tapes. And something about a crazy old man and the Boston strangler...
So why haven't CDs killed concerts?
And CDs have better sound than most concerts (though increasingly concerts are pre-recorded and musicians just pretend to play and sing).
Oh, and concerts for big acts cost five times as much or more these days.
Furthermore, people will STILL go to the movies as a social event, it's something to do with friends, it's an experience, and most people just don't have home theater equipment that comes close to that yet, until we all get InFocus-style LCD projectors for our living rooms. Oh yeah, and if you want us to come to the theater, consider that just maybe 10 bucks+ a person, not including snacks and soda is a little outrageous - when I was a kid, I remember it was 4-5 dollars, and I'm only 23. Price has gone up substantially faster than inflation, and the quality of most major studio releases has gone down. Hmmm....
Good.
Let them die, let us get to see movies from other places then Hollywood, hasnt they had monopol on movies for a long time now?
Not to mention product comercials before a movie you have paid for...
I should have known better ;-)
Anyway, my favorite quote was at the end:
Personally, I'd like to see Lucas standing out on Hollywood Blvd holding a placard that says "The end is near! Repent from your evil filesharing ways!"
Karma: Bored. (Thinking about resurrecting the "Anyone else is an imposter" joke.)
What they are really complaining about is, they used to be able to make SHITTY movies and make good money on them, but not anymore. Most of my friends in the 20 something crowd are just SICK of the bullshit, and my younger (HS age) friends are filled with venom for bullshit music, movies, and corporations. Younger middle-class folks are rebelling against pre-packaged plastic crap.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
6 or 7 years ago, I'd take my girlfriend to the local 3-screen theatre and we'd watch a first-run movie for about $5 a head, plus a shared $8 combo. Total cost, after taxes, $18. Now, the ticket price at my local 12-screen megaplex is $13 per ticket, and the cheapest popcorn+soda combo runs $9 plus tax. Total cost, after taxes, $38.
Now, at $18 for a night out, it was worth it. But once the cost of the experience exceeds the price of owning the movie on DVD, I get a little hesitant about running out to the theatre every weekend. So now, unless it's a movie that will truly benefit from the big-screen experience (i.e., Clones), I simply wait and buy the DVD. That's right, I buy the DVD, even if I'm not sure I'll like the movie. Know why? Because it's still cheaper than seeing it in the theatre, and plus, I get to keep the movie. So even if the movie sucked, hey, at least I still have something to show for it. If it had sucked on the big screen, all I'd walk out with would be some butter on my fingers.
What I'd like to see happen is for studios to make less use of expensive, superfluous special effects and quit pandering to the silver-spoon prima donna crybaby megastars like Julia Roberts, and start hiring equally-capable, but far lesser-known (and thus, far cheaper) actors, like Guy Pearce. Of course, now that he's becoming popular, you'd have to opt for someone else, unless he's willing to continue working at his "Memento" salary levels. This way, we'd get more diversity on screen, and the movies would be far cheaper to produce (and dare I dream, far cheaper to watch?).
Am I the only one who, when I see a Tom Hanks movie (and don't get me wrong, Tom is an amazing actor), I have a lot of trouble accepting him in whatever role he's supposed to be? I keep seeing Forrest Gump. Of course, he was great, but he's still got that recognition, and sometimes, that can hurt a movie. I mean, come on, George Clooney as Batman? Sure, he did a great job, but I kept seeing the doctor from "E.R." I think this was one of the reasons I liked "Memento" so much - I'd never seen Guy Pearce before.
By the way, there's no way that the industry will die in a mere 3 years. That's insanely fast. They couldn't die that fast if they tried. It would take nothing short of some extreme economics and a perfect sequence of disastrous coincidences and events to eliminate such a massive industry so quickly.
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
6 or 7 previews. I want to go to that theater!
Last movie I saw in the theater I counted 12, yes *12* full length previews!
On the plus side, I could have showed up half an hour late and not missed more than five minutes of the movie.
Spyky
I gotta say, #6 is the worst, around here there are a minimimum of 20 minutes of not just trailers, but freakin commercials.
I'm at the movies, i dont need to see a ford commercial.
waaa waaa waaa, cry a little harder Mr Lucas.
Just because DVD's usually use a Dolby surround sound logic instead of your expensive THX logic doesn't mean DVD's will put the industry out of business.
It couldn't have been the 100million you spent on marketing that ate your profits now could it? It couldn't have been there were times i could wipe my ass with something with your name on it that maybe, just maybe if you had produced a better movie and less fluff there would be some money to share????
It couldn't possibly be the 20 million dollar fees actors charge or personal learjets used to flown you around eating up profits now could it?
It couldn't also be the fact the economy has tanked and terrorism and other threats just make it more enjoyable to stay at home with friends and family and enjoy a great movie now could it?
It couldn't be the fact it costs 50.00 bucks to see a movie with 2 tickets, soda, popcorn and parking these days that a 5.00 7 day rental i can watch as much as i want just makes more financial sense for those of us living on a more down to earth budget.. oh nooooo...
the consumers are the end of the industry.. gotta love that ignorance.
They make money on DVDs!! Tons of it! I doubt the shiny plastic disc, printing, and packaging costs them more than a tiny fraction of the cost of the DVD.
What do they care if theatres disappear entirely? Why is this an issue for them at all?
Why is it that low budget indy fliks regularly turn a small -- but very real -- profit, while these huge mega-smash, cross licensed, and wholly over-marketed pieces of crap seem to lose money every time? Clearly, the problem is with these indy fliks, their low budgets, and the bad example they set for film makers hollywood-wide.
Seems to me the studios need to hire real management, pay them much more against shareholder wishes, and get one of those trendy insider-connected CFOs to start a few hundred shill corporations offshore to move the profit around faster than light -- thus creating money where none existed! This ties in: space travel fliks, current financial trends, and a completely new business model together! And hey, just look at where Enron is today! Mr. Vallenti, do you see your calling?!?! --M
Well maybe if they tossed out the crazy idea of digital film and started to show movies in 70 mm, then maybe I'll go to the movies more often.
Really, most movies look like crap in the teaters, dark, dull colove that dull, greyed look and slightly out of focus. I thought LOTR should have that dull grey look after going to the movies but after seeing the SVCD/DVD-wow! Size isn't everything (no really;) ) and that is all the advantage a cinema has, IMHO.
Hollywood WILL go totally bankrupt! There are examples of this exact same thing happening in other industries! I mean, look at what happened to music studios after recordable audio cassettes were made available to the public!
...but theaters. The movie studios will keep making movies, and if they can't make as much on dvd sales then they reduce the cost of making movies (lower pay, increase productivity, the usual etc.). The worst that can happen is that theaters go out of business, and I see no reason why that would really cause movie studios to go down. Heck, with the focus off of getting people into theaters, maybe the number and quality of films released each year could rise. Maybe not to the level of the book industry (production costs too different), but along those lines.
The sky is falling! This argument was put forth when the VCR first came out, and theaters have been going strong since then.
"All great truths begin as blasphemies." -George Bernard Shaw
I bet when movies were invented they figured all actors were doomed.
After all, once you have a FILM of an actor doing Hamlet, you don't need that actor anymore do you?
So film killed the whole profession, didn't it?
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
maybe if movie theaters didnt blare the sound at like 100+db, it would be a more enjoyable experience... who are the idiots that are in charge of the sound at the theaters? I swear these people must be the same morons that drive around in thier vibrating "boom cars"... listen up you fuckers! "Louder does not mean better!!" when you have 8 speakers, you dont need it to be loud at all morons.. god i hate you people!
:)
thanks, i feel better now.
You might see some contraction in the industry, but you wont see the dissapearance of your local multiplex anytime soon. Would you rather see the next Lord of the Rings flick on
1- A huge theater screen with booming THX speakers
or
2- Your 27' television
Hmmmm, yeah, I chose number 1 as well. Face it, unless you're just plain El Cheapo, you still go to the movies for the ones you REALLY want to see. And unless you've got LOTS of cash flowing in, you probably don't have a "home theater" with all of the goodies. Sorry, but I agree with an earlier post. I don't think Lucas knows this YoYo is going around saying this.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
I don't know about everyone else but my home setup falls short of the 'cinema experience' in several key areas.
1. Screen Size: 32" is no slouch but it still doesn't compare to the walls I watch at the local multiplex. Say what you want about projection setups but I haven't found one yet that fits my lounge, taste or budget...
2. Sound Quality: 5.1 is also quite good, especially inside the confines of my lounge. But again it doesn't measure up to the cinema both on the clarity front (the room is far from an ideal shape) and the volume I can use without attracting police attention.
3. The Seats: admittedly much of a gamble at the cinema but my local has unusually large and comfortable ones with plenty of leg room. I can fit more friends and family into a cinema than into my lounge...
I have about 200 DVD's myself and view the format as far superior to vhs - but still filling the same niche in the entertainment ecology. It allows me to replicate part of the cinema experience at home, but not to replace it.
Given the option of seeing The Two Towers first at home or in a Cinema I would have no problem choosing the cinema - home theatre has a long way to go to match it...
It's not that I'm Anti-American - I'm Pro-Freedom
But that's ok, I have a better suggestion, just pass laws passing the enforcement costs of maintaining a slowly outdating business model onto the customers. Maybe you could get some help from the buggywhip manufacturers and pass some laws to require the inclusion of buggywhips with all modern automobiles while you're at it.
This is the same bellyaching the movie industry did when the VCR and pre-recorded tapes came out.
:)
Stop whining.
Keep in mind this is all in Canadian Dollars, for my girlfriend and myself to go to a movie..
$27 (2 tickets)
$12 (2 drinks & popcorn)
-------
$39 evening for 1 movie
Cost of the DVD 4 months later?
$29.95 +Applicable Taxes
Being able to get busy with my girlfriend on the couch then rewind?
$$Priceless$$
CodeTrap (www.codetrap.net)
So, by my choosing to not spend $8 on a movie ticket, and instead spending $17-20 5 months later, they're losing money?
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
How can one compare movie earnings from a few years ago to today? The economy is the exact opposite today as it was a few years ago. Back in the day we all had a little extra cash to spend on the outrageous 10 bucks a pop price to watch a movie in a theater.
Now that we are in lean times of course I, and many others in a similar situation, are not going to go out to the movies as often as once was.
We're all feeling the crunch McCallum, you are not immune to it.
Insert your own cheap shot about the drop being off due to rather poor story telling and execution for the last two Star Wars movies.
So don't blame the internet and kids with fat pipes. Try looking closer to home for the real reason things are so green right now.
So they are using the following logic:
"This is how things (the current state the Hollywood entertainment industry) are."
"Becuase things ARE this way, it is good and right."
"Because things are good and right, they should at least stay this way if not become MORE SO this way."
"Should anything, anything at all come along that could change this current state, then these affectors are bad and should be stopped at all costs."
So if I understand correctly, they have simply appended their classic idiocy to classic logic.
I think, therefore I am. + I am, therefore I should be. = Squish anyone who threatens to prove me wrong.
It's just as well that Hollywood should fold up. Everything coming out of there in the last several years has been formulaic and unoriginal, for the most part; look what The Matrix did to promote unnecessary use of Bullet-Time and cheesy near-future sci-fi plots of people using martial arts to defeat numerous nameless stereotypical villains. The most interesting films seem generally to be the ones without insane production costs.
The solution for the major movie houses, if they don't want to collapse under the weight of their production costs, is to reduce those costs by finding fresh, new talent who is willing to work for reasonable sums of money. I mean, what qualities truly relevant to acting does Jennifer Aniston have that dozens or hundreds of paycheck-to-paycheck stage actors don't?
For some reason we have all been programmed that Celebrity is some reason that a person should be compinstated in huge sums of money. Is what Lucas does really worth the hundreds of millions he gets paid? For that matter is Madonna/J-lo/Puff-Daddy||P-Diddy||Pinche Puto||Lucky bastard or any other singer? At the end of the day do these people REALLY do anything of any real signififcance? I think in the early days you had to be a lot smarter to get in the club.
I cant wait it is about time they stopen sucking mony out of the economy. Most of the best movies
are made by small shops or Independants anyway..
From the article, "Literally, our very lives are at stake now." Somehow, people not going to the movie theater, in a depression no less, *multiple* times instead of just once is killing the movie making industry and literally killing this poor fellow and the others he's referring to.
Take a deep breath buddy, think before you speak, and don't cry like a pansy when an industry has to move from the status quo and *earn* it's cash in tough times instead of having it handed to you the same old way using the same old business models. If you're industry really can't adapt it's time for it to be replaced anyway.
Would anybody tolerate me going around saying "I can't believe I'm only getting paid once for this! Why aren't people buying it over and over so I can make more money? Waaaaaaah!"
Sheesh.
This sounds just like when George Lucas was predicting digital actors would put the regular actors out of business reasonably soon. Is it possible that DVD or some other format will lead to the down fall of cinema as we know it? Yes. Is it going to happen anytime soon? No.
Request: ECM unit, 1000 km fullerene cable, 1 tactical nuclear weapon. Reason: Birthday party for foreign dignitary.
I thought TV drove them under decades ago. At least that's what they told me at the time.
Ok, let's take it a bit seriously for a moment, shall we? He says that people would rather stay home and watch a DVD.
Who does he think is going to make the DVD's? My guess is it will be. . . a *movie studio.* Go figure.
Maybe Hoyt's will be having trouble in a few years,(they certainly deserve it), maybe not. I still see long lines at the mall, so yeah, the *box office* might be in jeopordy, but somehow I think the "content producers" will survive, so long as they're smart enought to produce "content" at least equal to the quality of the existig catalog.
And if they don't, well, fsck 'em, they deserve to bite the big one. I have better things to do with my time and money than watch the third live remake of a cartoon that sucked in the first place.
KFG
I don't know about you, but the last few DVDs I bought have this 5 minute mandatory intro on them that plays before it gets to the main menu. The skip buttons are disabled during this thing, so you have to basically stop the DVD and then press play to get past the damn thing. I'm sure that this will be where trailers and teasers will be placed next.
And to add to whatever list is building, I'm kind of getting tired of the damn teenage kids running into the theater and screaming to their friends from the wings and then running out. WTF is with this? I never did this when I hung out at the theater as a kid, and I don't remember any other fellow-annoying teenagers doing this either.
Another point to add to the negative theater experience is that it is impossible for parents with babies to go to the movies. While there are ways of going without the baby, sometimes those options just aren't available. We decided for the price of a movie, we could go out and buy two thick steaks and a new DVD and just barbecue at home. Nice dinner, a movie, and we don't need a sitter and we can watch the movie again if we like.
I can see where the combination of the DVD and the Home Theatre can spell grief for various movie theatre chains. So many of them are so small, that they barely rival someone's basement all decked out. That and their prices for bombs such as "Swept Away."
Granted, you'd have to go to ALOT of movies to spend enough money for a good home system, but then there are no lines at home, you can pause the movie when the pizza delivery guy shows up, and you can run cartoons before the main show!
I guess its just that the modern movie theatre experience just isn't as fun as it used to be.
--- have you healed your church website?
Windows IIS 5000 dollars too much
ASP 10 dollars too much
Your password and user name exposed to the world...PRICELESS
First of all who is making the movies that are going on to DVD's? The same people that are making them for the theatres. So maybe the theatres could go under, but not Hollywood. They would just be selling to a new market. But you might see a return to having rental DVD's come out before the ones you can buy.
But the idea that the home theatre experience is better than the movie experience is crazy. Unless you can afford a 200" screen projection set, subwoofers that go down to 10 hz, 7 channel sound systems driven by 200 watt amps, etc: I don't think you have the same thing at home. It's true that some theatres plain suck, but a good theatre with a real THX sound system is something that few people are going to emulate at home. I will continue to patronize my local theatres when a movie worth seeing comes out. I will also buy or rent DVD's that are worth seeing again (or for the first time if I missed the flick in the theatre). I will wait for the turkeys to come on cable.....hmm, Scobie Doo should be on showtime or hbo real soon now.
Do they think everyone will own a DVD player in the next 3 years? let alone, have a "HOME THEATRE" system? Movie piracy may slow DVD sales and may slightly hurt movie attendance, but the movie industry dying in 3 years is a crock.
Almost without exception... Movies made primarily as art, ie from the heart/soul, without the specific intention of making assloads of money, are always better. If the money goes... perhaps the art will remain. Certainly there will be alot less crap to wade though. I seriously don't understand America's addiction to DVDs though. There are very few movies I would want to watch more than once. One of the saddest things I ever saw was a guy standing in line at Fry's with 10 DVDs (Anime & Porn) and two large bags of Beef Jerky.
This Simpsons quote should put it all in perspective.
"Well, I hope you're all satisfied. You bankrupted a bunch of naive movie folks -- folks from a Hollywood where values are... different. They weren't thinking about the money. They just wanted to tell a story, a story about a radioactive man, and you slick small-towners took 'em for all they were worth."
I read somewhere a long time ago that you can determine what a society values the most in their lives by who makes the most money in that society.
in today's society (I am speaking primarily about Western Society and the US in particular), we value entertainment above everything else and it shows. atheletes and actors/actresses top out making millions of dollars a year while teachers and other educators don't really make all that much. Ok, doctors DO make a lot of money too, but that can be blamed on the sheer amount of schooling required and importance of their job.
close behind entertainment are jobs that obsesss with making more money... Wall Street etc. Engineers and Businessmen etc.
what is my point? well, like the article said:
Of course, his claim that "studios are barely breaking even" falls on deaf ears when I hear about 9-digit salaries for individual actors in a big-name film that's just some rehash of an old concept.
they make that much money because society allowed them to. Maybe society is finally putting an end to it. the big screen won't die. eventually the studios will stop paying so much money for bloated "talent". sure, some big names will cry foul and kick and scream and demand respect etc, but with the advent of digital effects so readily available, i think someday we will see films on smaller budgets due to lower paychecks to the actors and possibly more lesser known stars.
now, athletes are a whole other topic altogether..
-John
"The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and hoping for different results"
(The obligatory Linux post)
According to the box office, the box office is getting driven out of business by the home movie release people.
The home movie release people have been crying foul on the Linux DVD people, who are driving them ount of business.
So evidently, following the chain of damages...Linux is, according to various entertainment industry associations, responsible for wiping out most of the entertainment industry?
Yet more proof of the damage than an unchecked open source programmer can have.
May we never see th
The article says that the studios are becoming more and more dependent on DVDs to make their money, which doesn't really surprise anyone. That doesn't exactly forecast doom for the industry. Times are changing, and the bulk of the money comes from DVD sales. As long as it is coming from somewhere, the studios will be fine. The real problem creeps in when and if DVD copying becomes rampant and cannabalizes a significant percentage of revenue from DVD sales. This hasn't happened in the US, and doesn't appear to be a concern for the near future. Much ado about nothing, it seems.
-- Adam
I can't wait till hollywood belly-flops. By the time all is said in done I usually blow $35-40 to take the woman out just to a movie. I'd much rather rent the dvd and watch it on my home entertainment center. Its a win win situation: I save money and I can grope my girlfriend on my couch without offending the old people that would be sitting beside me at the theater!.
Is it just me, or does Mr. McCallum sound a little paranoid/delusional? If Episode III brings in less than half a billion in box office and 3 hundred million in merchandising tie-ins, I'd be surprised. Yet Rick and George "literally" have their "very lives" at stake. I guess they're just a few pirated DVDs away from living in a cardboard box.
Although DVD sales may hurt the box office, this cannot single-handedly put Hollywood out of business. If more people are buying DVD's, then that signals an increase in demand for DVD's and thus the equilibrium price will go up, meaning more money for Hollywood from DVD sales. And since Hollywood can put a lowerbound on both DVD prices and movie ticket prices, and they can use tools such as delaying the release of DVD's, they can still make a considerable amount of money.
Did this guy sprinkle cocaine on his corn flakes, before smoking crack this morning?
My karma is in a nose dive
Hollywood will go bust. Yeah, bite me. I'd rather watch the movie on my big screen at home anyway. The local theatre is run by kids who don't control the sound and the screen has holes in it.
This is like when I hear doctors complaining about the state of medicine and how little they are making. I feel really sorry for them. Some doctors are being paid as little as 100k a year! (sarcasm)
This guy is just sad that every movie he makes doesn't have "titanic" box office sales. Hollywood needs to make good films that don't cost hundreds of millions. One example, _K-19: Widiowmaker_ cost over $120 million and only grossed $80 mil. However, producer and star Harrison Ford got paid around $28 mil. On the other hand _Big Fat Greek Wedding_ only cost a little over $10 million, but has grossed over $150 mil so far.
The focus groups probably predicted _K-19_ to be a success. BFGW probably did't even have focus groups.
What bollocks. People will always want to go to the movies -- it's the experience they're interested in. And there's always this: "Want to go to a movie tonight?" vs "Want to come around to my place and watch a movie?" Going to a movie means a safe, neutral location.
Everyone knows the best films skip the theaters and go straight to video/DVD. For instance, the Guy Ritchie/Madonna epic, "Swept Away"...
It is actually kind of fun to see movies in public, rather than being at home all the time. Why do people go to sporting events rather than watching them at home for free with better views and real beer?
In the 50's and 60's they said TV will kill the film industry.
In the late 70's/early 80's they said the VCR will kill the film industry.
Now Rick McCallum is claiming that DVD will kill the film industry.
He claims that "single movie that can survive on box office gross alone". That may be true, but only because of natural competition. The total revenue for a movie in the day and age is theater release + home release. That TOTAL revenue is what pays salaries and production costs. What, did he think the DVD was going to be just pure profit? Actors aren't making 20 million just based on theater release.
But it is unlikely that theaters are going away anytime soon. Why? Because the studios control the supply and demand for movies (for the most part). You pay $8.00 to go to a movie because you can't see it on tape, even if you had a movie quality home theater. And it is going to be decades before >50% of the public has movie quality home theaters anyway. They release the movie on DVD only after noone is seeing it in the theaters anymore.
Now piracy may be an issue and that is one of the points he seems to be making. However, in order to be all that widespread everyone would need T1 lines to their houses and the total bandwidth of the Internet would have to be tripled. Most people will still be on dialup in 3 years, so mass use of a Napster-clone is unlikely to be feasible. Unless people are willing to stay online for 2 weeks to download a movie.
Brian Ellenberger
The trailers are usually the best part of the movie... heh.
Perhaps if you can't afford to hire 9 figure salaried actors to do pap, we'll get better movies like My Dinner with Andre
((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x))) http://www.endpointcomputing.com a scientific approach to custom computing.
...doesn't McCallum like he McSeesum
This is the same sh*t they said about shopping malls when online shopping was the new thing.
:)
These guys don't realize the fundamental difference between the movies and a DVD. The social experience! Why do you think shopping malls are still crowded even though we have the ability to virtually buy anything we want while taking a dump in your house?!
Likewise, the movies will always be a place to meet chicks, hug your girlfriend when they cry, and movie popcorn just tastes much better.
Just my 2 cents, and all of you better agree
It's like saying TV ruined the Movie industry of the 1930's. Seems the lines I see outside the theaters are contrary to McCallum's view that people would prefer to see things on a tiny screen without much detail.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I'll belive this the day we're invaded by flying diapers from outer space.! As far as being a region2 person the general lower quality of R2 dvds and less extra material.(check the audio on the R2 and R1 dvd of LOTR its HORRIBLE!!) delayed releasedates etc, and that movies hit the cinema here often months after the USA, is the NUMBER ONE reason for dlling movies from the internet, I for one am sick and tired of being discriminated against just because I dont live in the land of PATRIOT/DMCA acts, dumbass powerhungry world leaders wich support the death penalty and claim to belive in god..and more double standards than the rest of the world combined!! The movie and music industry in its present form deserves everything they get, and more.
The Theater industry will not die, not a chance, I love both, going to the movies and watching them at home on TV with a DVD player. At the movies you get Huge screen, great sound, here 100 opinions of eah scean, race eat as much of your free refill popcorn as you can so when the cart guy comes in half way threw the movie you can get a fresh bag, No clean up after, Night out, worth 3 days of no nagging. At home you get Your chair, Beer, seeing all of the movie and hearing it cause no one is talking, pausing for washroom break, Hamburgers and fries, foot rest, clean up, nagging that you should have spent the night "talking" /*listening to bitching*/ .
How can either of thouse die??
Oh and as a young teen the movies also provide a place in the dark. ;-)
...for a competitive industry. Take a micro-economics course and they'll tell you all about it. In a very competitive industry in the long run no one makes large profits because they all get competed away.
While the movie industry isn't perfectly competitive, it sure isn't anything resembling a monopoly. (despite the MPAA cartel on distribution, that's a different kettle of fish than the studios...) It doesn't really surprise me that a lot of studios are having trouble making money because they have little sustainable competitive advantage. Sure they make money (in the short run) on some hit films, but that isn't a sustainable revenue stream in most cases. Even the most successful movies revenue streams (theater + video + merchandising) taper off over time. So they have to keep inventing new movies to make money which means the industry is very competitive. It's very hard to make money in a very competitive industry.
Then we're screwed. Literally, our very lives are at stake now. George and I are just praying that we can finish 'Episode III' in time, before it's all over."
Maybe triumph could cover the funeral.
Most movie theaters have postage stamp size screens these days, with mediocre sound and uncomfortable seats. Compared to that, a $20,000 home theater wins hands down, and most days just sitting in bed watching a movie on a regular TV is a winner.
Nothing at home however can beat the experience of watching a film in Panavision on a giant screen, with bone rattling sound. So perhaps we'll see a revival of the big screen--big as in big. Good riddance to the Multiplex!
Nah, studio executives aren't that smart. Who cares what movie goers want. Maybe they can just buy an amendment to the Disney welfare act, and collect a Multiplex survival tax from all people with functioning eyeballs.
I agree, the box office is doomed
communists are at it again!
'A lie if repeated often enough, becomes the truth.' - Goebbels
And don't get me started on piracy; movie "piracy" isn't even a dent in their damn sales...
Bunch of theiving fucking liars...
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
As soon as they finish making Evil Dead 4 :-) .
:-)
That's right, shop smart. Shop s-mart. YOU GOT THAT!
Raimi and Co. are hinting about it in the directors cut to AoD. Turn on the
commentary and you'll see what I mean. I can only hope
Peter
www.alphalinux.org
When TV came out (circa 1950s), people from the movie studios claimed it would be the death of the big screen cinema. They adapted and survived and made more money than before.
When VCRs came out (circa 1980), people from the movie studios claimed it would be the death of the big screen cinema. They adapted and survived and made more money than before.
When so-called piracy came out (circa 1980s), people from the movie studios claimed it would be the death of the big screen cinema. They adapted and survived and made more money than before.
Now that DVDs and overly expensive home theaters are out, someone from the movie studios is claiming it will be the death of the big screen cinema.
These people really have no clue what they're talking about, do they?
Come on, people. Yeah, cinemas are grossly overpriced, but people keep going to them in droves. There's a very heavy social aspect there that no one seems to realize. Your family isn't "going out together" if you rent a movie (or stream it from a server) onto your own 30" screen. It's not really a date with your girlfriend if you're not paying for her rip-off slime popcorn at a theater.
Yeah, I'm sure this guy is speaking for himself, not for the company. That doesn't make him any less of a short-sighted dork for saying it.
I have full faith and confidence in the ability of American business to figure out how to make a buck no matter what the technology is.
--GrouchoMarx
Card-carrying member of the EFF, FSF, and ACLU. Are you?
Well, they should still make it and not disappoint the people anticipating another B-movie, and to bring production closure to a story everyone can fill in. There are still some surprises that could find their way into the movie.
In retrospect, Lucas could have done what New Line did with The Lord of the Rings trilogy--film them at once, and release them sporadically. But he seems to have wanted the latest and greatest special effects and as many computer-generated characters (they're non-union) as he could get and still keep his second attempt at a triennial release schedule. Now the technology he wanted to exploit has the potential to bite him in the bankroll.
In further retrospect, he really should have done I-III and VII-IX while the theatre was the best place to see the films. But he hadn't figured out where he wanted the stories to go by that time. Oh, well. It's his loss, and a small one in comparison to the huge gains he took on the original trilogy.
The Seventh Rule: Take others more seriously than yourself, particularly when you are leading them.
and who exactly releases the movies on DVD?
If Hollywood thought that the DVD business was cutting into their market then they just have to release the DVD version at a later date, simple...
Gimme a break! This is just a doomsayer trying to get people to go to the theaters to get their numbers up (read profit).
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
And they're not making money from DVD sales? I'm sorry, what does it cost... $.05 per disc? Probably less? The movie makers will continue to make money irregardless. And if the movie theatres can't stay open well that's just too bad. They should have figured out a way to make us want to come and put up with their ridiculous prices and all the annoying patrons that you have to sit with. I'm sorry, I'm still paying, I'm not going to feel sorry for them.
the last time I went to the movies for "Crouching tiger hidden dragon" (yeah, I just don't go. I dvd. In fact, I'm so far out of the loop that cable tv keeps showing me new movies!)
They had stadium style seating. It had padding. I think I even remember some love seats.
It was a lot more comfortable than I remember ever being at a movie. The additional choices in food is another attempt at a better experience.
However the sticky floors and 10+ previews remain.
If I want to watch previews, I'll watch E! It's far more sassier.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
The only thing i need is a baby crying, a woman talking on her cell phone, and teenage kids kicking the back of my couch to make it a true movie-going experience.
Yes, my girlfriend is a BitchX
Of course, you're going to have violate the DMCA to break the access controls at some point in the future if you want to skip over the adds and the FBI warning. At least you can turn the volume down and do something else for a few minutes.
That little tidbit is the reason why I've cut my movie-going in half.
Thanks to the theatres hiking up the prices to go see a movie in the theatre is the real reason! Right now it is $13.50 to go see a movie at our theatres here on the West Coast. Why not wait for the DVD in 5 months when I can just buy the movie for $10 more?
:D
This is the REAL problem. Cut the cost of theatre ticket prices and maybe more people will go back to the theatres, rather than retreat to their PC systems and/or home theatres.
I don't have a home theatre setup, but a TV with DVD is fine by me.
People like to Go Out. As strange as it seems to us normal folk, going out to the movies is a pleasant experience for a large number of people. Somehow you're a loser if you stay home and watch the same movie that you could see at a theater. People like to make phone calls, dress up, go to the movies, go to dinner.
The box office isn't going away anytime soon. That guy is a fool to even say it; look at the damn box office gross figures.
And im talking in the first week. Lets see Spider man, StarWars, That mike myers movie, MIB 2 (i think). With Spider man alone making over 300 million in the first month. Yeah DVDs are killing the Box office. And all these movies being trading are sure hurting it too.
Revelation 666
And the 2.5 seal was broken and a lo of THX was heard in the land. There the angel of death began to distribute movies and music for free via the interenet and flea markets. Then the great knight of Capitalism Jackus Valentius stood and proclaimed, "I told you VHS was going to destroy us." There all of the actors and support people let out a great sound of pain.
Go to the movies still has its merits.
:)
- you can see the movie before TV and friends ruin the plot by telling you too much
- the sound system is much better (then most of us have)
- the screen is much bigger (than most of us have)
- the new theaters with big seats with headrests that rock are very comfortable
Who buys popcorn anyway? It's just a ploy to make us buy more drinks. I always sneak in some food I bought at 7-11.
Is that against the DMCA or the implied EULA I agree to when purchasing tickets?
I hate it when some teensies are eating popcorn from loud paperbags. I hate the candy in the sellofan plastic. I hate the friggin breaks. And the cell phones (Get some jammers!). And lousy projectors. (Brighter in the middle, uneven focus) And the bad sound.
The newest cinemas are better, but they still suffer from the paperbag problem.
Bar owners claim that grocery stores selling alcohol is cut into their profits. They were quoted as saying "No one will go out to drink alcohol at inflated prices if they can get drink at home"
Sigh...
--Joey
About 3 years ago in Canada we had a projectionists' union strike. It didn't end well. The frequency of fuckups in my moviegoing experience has at least tripled. They are constantly threading the film up - especially first releases - with the wrong lens (i.e. anamorphic vs. standard). Film breaks are more common, and apparently unrepairable now.
They run innumerable ads before movies now. When I hear the voice say 'and now a word from our sponsor...' I feel like standing up and spouting off for 10 minutes because I am their goddam sponsor.
The popcorn prices are laughable. The soda/pop prices are fucking astronomical.
Mobile phones. Laser pointers. Hell, GameBoys.
The waits have gotten longer.
First-run movies often get cycled 24-7 so the prints fall apart faster. Which means you need to see it earlier (see previous point).
I liked the theatre experience before; there's a certain crowd-vibe that is really enjoyable, sometimes even saving you from a bad film (the complete derision shown in the last Godzilla remake was spectacular. I've never seen a whole movie openly, loudly mocked by the entire audience before. And it was fun.)
These days though... being able to control the lighting and sound perfectly, being able to pause to go to the can, eating my own sensibly-priced junk food... like most, I make a judgement call when a movie comes out. If I'm dying to see it, I'll go. Those movies are rare these days.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
yes, yes, Star Wars box-office revenue is in decline and Rick flys off the handle and blames it all on the evil DVD.
Hey Rick, get a clue pal. Have you considered the possibility that people are avoiding your films because they suck?
Many other films, which I will not utter here, have done quite well...
Jealous?
Maybe I should live in a city that doesn't have 10 million entertainment-focused people?
There is no gravity...the earth just sucks.
Exactly -- But bear baiting will be around forever!
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
...when they STOP showing commercials to a captive audience before the movie. The excuse that the commercials are buffering increasing ticket prices is, IMO, bunk. Tickets here in Cinci have risen about 20% in the last couple of years. I used to go to about 10 movies a year, now it's down to about 3 and those are *matinees*.
It's already been said here, but here's my deal:
I haven't seen a movie in a theater in about 4 years, and I've seen a total of 7 in the theater in the last 10 years. I hate movie theaters (filthy, distractions, etc etc even at big premieres in Westwood). I'd tolerate how much the theaters suck (as I have 7 times in the past 10 years) if movies were worth watching in the first place. They very very rarely are. I haven't seen LOTR, Episode II, or any of the other "must see" movies of the last few years, and guess what? I don't feel like I'm missing out.
this is getting old and so are you
blog
being obsoleted.
You must see a lot of movies for your dvd player, sound system and display to cost less than the theater. I still go to the theater because I can see a LOT of movies for seven dollars each to cover the cost of even a simple home theater setup.
Just my $7.02
Actually, a couple of theaters in the east bay area where I live are addressing just these issues and doing a gangbusters job of it. The Parkway theater is a small brewpub/theater environment that carefully crafts their movie schedule to theme nights and provides special nights for things like people with small children and they do boffo business at $5.00 a ticket.
The Paramount Theater, in Oakland, CA provides a great old-time experience, including prize giva-aways, live organ music and a ton of other fun extras, again for a low ticket price, and they are packed for every show I have atteneded there.
Theaters that keep cramming in more seats and charging higher ticket prices for the same sub-standard experience SHOULD start to die, but specialty houses that cater to their clientelle will be able to keep picking up the slack and hopefully spread out from their hardcore urban niche to the rest of the country. Which for me would be a good thing.
And the death of the blockbuster would just be icing on the cake for me.
7. What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.
So far no one has mentioned the obvious... Movies now a days generally suck. Every year there will be a few real good ones, but overall the studios are releasing crap. Who want's to see Free Willy part 9, Collateral Crap, Ice noplot Age, Pokemon 4, Stuart Little 2, Triple crap... I haven't seen a ton of new movies because my past few years have been really bad experiences with them. More examples is the batman series. 1 was great. 2 was alright, the rest just sucked.
There have been really good movies though too. Black Hawk Down, Minority Report, Trasnpoter, Bourne Identity, to name a few. But in general, no one wants to see scream 7 or half the crud they toss out. I think they studios need to re-think what they are releasing and also reduce the salerys from $20 million per paycheck/movie for a star, to maybe $5 million. Just my thoughts.
but going out to the movies is getting to be too damned expensive. I refuse to pay $8 or more to see a show in the evening. I haven't gone to an evening show in years. Matinee prices are also creeping up, and if they go up much more I'll have to start cutting down the frequency at which I go to movies.
And the candy and snack prices are outrageous! I never buy food from a movie theatre. If snacks were reasonably priced, I might buy something, but at 300% of the cost of what you would pay elsewhere, I pass.
Renting videotapes at $2 or $3 give me much more entertainment value for my dollar. Or else I go to my local library, where they rent movies on videotape for free!
So the movie industry isn't making money off of all those DVD sales? If they aren't, they are doing something really wrong. If they are, well, it shouldn't be the end of the movie industry then. Perhaps just a rearanging of priorities.
Science may someday discover what faith has always known.
I don't mind the trailers... I like trailers.
What I _do_ mind are the commercials. There were four or five commercials in front of the last movie I saw, and only one trailer!
It all sounds like the standard LucsaFilm BS. However there is some truth in people not going as much. I don't know about you, but the movies I usually want to see are limited release. So I need to drive an hour and a half to Hollywood, then the theater charges $9.75. The only way I can justify paying that is that I am a film student, and I can only hope that people will come and do the same for my movies when I release them. If theaters charged $7.00 a movie, I'd be a little more likely to pay it, and if they charged $5.00 a movie I would definately go more than twice as much.
Maybe if they actually employed an A/V guy to ya know, clean the projectors, put them in focus and actually directed at the screen, replaced blown speakers, turned down the god damn subwoofer a little bit and some other sound adjustments, I might go again...'til then my home system is just plain better.
"and that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years."
And this would be a bad thing?
Americans are becoming fat, stupid and lazy because they sit around having simulated experiences instead of getting outdoors and having real experiences. Corporate thinking is about replacing the real with the artificial. You can't sell real. You can sell artificial.
So I say to hell with Hollywood and let's all get real!
A statement like this is pure balls coming from a guy working for a company that's put out two mediocre offerings in the last couple of years that made major bucks because people are in love with their franchise.
If moviegoers were really content to wait for the dvd release why were so many people standing in line? If moviegoers were really into stealing movies and watching them at home, how did these films do so well -- especially given that the demographic they cater to is, on average, likely to be more tech savvy than the demographic catered to on the average?
It's hard to feel sorry for folks who want to squelch all news about their product, get oodles of money for doing a half-assed job and then whine when somebody nicks a penny from the collection plate.
1. Can't happen soon enough.
2. I don't believe it for a second.
Or use Free DVD playing software. ogle works well, and I can zoom right by that FBI warning.
--
I post links to stuff here
Can someone tell me which movies these are? I have three DVD players (my laptop, an Oritron and my Playstation 2 w/DVD software & remote) and I've yet to encounter these mandatory trailers. Is it just my DVD players or am I not renting the right movies with these trailers?
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
... is the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Everything else really doesn't have the value-add to make it worth driving out to a mega-plex to be surrounded by the same people you see on Cops and Girls Gone Wild.
--
The trailers are awesome, although the trend toward commercials sucks.
My wife and I go to the same, megasuperduper stadium-seating theater every time. We even drive extra miles for it. The seats are comfy, no obstructed views, and the food is actually much, much better than it used to be in theaters (ice cream, nachos, free soda and popcorn refills -- where were those?).
All told, it's probably a cheaper experience than dining a tier above fast food, plus we get to watch a movie.
If we stayed home, rented a DVD and ordered a pizza it'd be about the same money. I just wish that there was a pizza+movie delivery service.
It costs about $8-9 USD for a ticket for one person. If a couple is going, that's $16-18 just to get in the door, and there are a rather large number of DVDs that sell for that price (including new releases.)
Anyone with kids is hopelessly punished by the ticket prices, not to mention the confectionary stand. (Suuuure you can convince the kids to skip that $2 medium drink and those $3.50 candies!)
And for what? To have your feet stick to the floor? To listen to the idiot with the cell phone, or the couple/group that spend more time talking than watching? Perhaps for the joy of screaming "Focus! Focus!" when the monkey upstairs in the projection booth lets everything go fuzzy?
As to "going bankrupt", maybe Hollywood's big money directors and stars will be forced to do what many of us in the tech industry did last year -- take a pay cut in order to keep working. I realize 10-15% cuts for them amount to a few million dollars a year in some cases, but they can afford it far better than "normal" people can.
And if I hear another MPAA or RIAA exec trying to justify the prices as being necessary to cover the costs of producing the "failures", I think I'm going to puke. No other industry I know of tries to justify their costs by pointing to perpetual mis-management, poor marketing, and poor salary negotiation skills. It's called "ROI" people, and if you can't grasp that basic concept and deal with it you should be out of business!
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Is this guy SERIOUS? I mean...cut me some slack. So this guy and Lucas haven't made any money at all from the toys, action figures, costumes, DVDs, laser discs, box office, books etc., etc.,??
I do understand that the DVD experience is becoming better by the day, but come on, who doesn't like going to the movies if they are actually made well??
another $10 for two sodas and some popcorn, can you really blame me if I just spend $15 and can watch the DVD over and over? I live in a cheaper part of the country so I can imagine that other people have to pay more for their movies and popcorn at the theater... bugger off rich movie people.
...putting in for Valenti's job when he retires?
For instance, I used to go to movies a lot. I used to have a main stream movie theaters close to me. That theater is now closed and I have to go much farther to another theater where i have to pay for parking, where they have several concesion stands but even on busy weekends they only have one open, usually with only two staff, to serve the entire 30 screens, and where they clean up the during the credits. And don't get me started on the five minutes of unrelated product commericals. I never had these problems at my old theater.
Going to a movie is no longer a pleasent experience, and it has nothing to do with cell phones, or people talking, or babies. It has to do with the number of screens and the number of seats that is necceary to show a main stream movie. Movie going should not be something that has to be scheduled, planned, and carried out in a careful operation. It is supposed to be fun.
So, I mostly go to the occasional art flick where I can drop in, buy a ticket, and enjoy the show without having the experience ruined by excessive lines, cleaning staff, or overt commercials.
And, in time, I may get a home theater, and more DVDs. Of course, if the DVDs continue to become increasing draconian, I may just abandon the whole movie going expereince
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
the last few DVDs I bought have this 5 minute mandatory intro on them that plays before it gets to the main menu. The skip buttons are disabled during this thing
Can you list the DVDs that you bought that have this? Are they all from the same studio? Are they ex-rentals?
I'd like to avoid buying DVDs that have this "feature".
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered movie community when LucasFilms confirmed that theatre market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all moviegoers. Coming on the heels of a recent box office survey which plainly states that AoTC has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. Box offices are collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Moviegoers comprehensive audience test.
You don't need to be a Ebert to predict Star Wars future. The hand writing is on the wall: Star Wars faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Star Wars because Star Wars is dying. Things are looking very bad for Star Wars. As many of us are already aware, Star Wars continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.
LucasFilm is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core producers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time producers as Stanley Kubrick only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: Star Wars is dying.
Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.
Box Office leader George Lucas states that there are 7000 watchers of Star Wars. How many users of Star Wars are there? Let's see. The number of Star Trek versus Star Wars posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 Star Wars users. Episode I posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of Star Wars posts. Therefore there are about 700 watchers of Episode I. A recent article put Empire Strikes Back at about 80 percent of the Star Wars market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 Empire Strikes Back watchers. This is consistent with the number of Empire Strikes Back Usenet posts.
Due to the troubles of Lucas Ranch, abysmal sales and so on, TPM went out of business and was taken over by AoTC who sell another troubled film. Now AoTC is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
All major surveys show that Star Wars has steadily declined in market share. Star Wars is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Star Wars is to survive at all it will be among cult film dilettante dabblers. Star Wars continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Star Wars is dead.
Fact: Star Wars is dying
First, nothing begins if not opening
If they can't make money making movies, then *stop making movies*!!! Nobody's forcing you at gunpoint to pay all these actors and support personel to work on stuff that will bankrupt you.
If DVD releases reduce your box office take, then *don't release on DVD so soon*!!! Nobody's forcing you to sell your content in a home-enjoyable format, let alone at small price that will bankrupt you.
Since I presume that they will continue to do both of the above, I will have to assume one of the following:
- you are telling the truth and will drive yourself knowingly into bankruptcy (in other words, you're an idiot),
- you are lying (in other words, you're an asshole).
Take your pick.
Look at the tomato! Isn't it sad? He can't dance! Poor tomato!
Then again, I'm ten minutes late for pretty much everything, so that's one more worm the early birds have to eat.
What's interesting about trailers: Go to the local GooglePlex and see a guyflick. Watch the trailer for the new Summer Blockbuster. Now go across the hall to the chickflick and watch the trailers. Usually the Summer Blockbuster will be there, but with a very, very different take. Where did all the car chases go? Why are all these characters actually talking to each other instead of firing guns? You'd never know it was the same movie.
This is not my sandwich.
I always feel sorry when I hear about how these people who make 100mil *might* have to take a 1mil paycut. Sounds rough. You might have to put less up your nose.
More creative entertainment expected in about 3 years.
My movie was crap and pailed in comparision at the box office to spiderman. I invested all this money on the making of my film and I am jealous cause everybody else did better...even My Big Fat Greek Wedding (still in top 5 after 26 weeks came out at same time star wars did) beat my sad movie in % of $ made vs % used to make...
What you get when you have a little slow man who has to use a cane to walk...and suddenly he can move fast as all get out and make my movie make crap...so I will doom the whole industry because I don't know how to produce a movie...
anyways that is my 2 cents that my movie made....
... that maybe they need to start looking at creating better storylines instead of focusing on overpriced retarded predictable "special effects" movies?
I mean, I like special effects as much as the next guy, but I won't spend $10 on a 2 1/2 hour movie where I know that:
1. The bad guy is going to die horribly either by the main character or by his own creation.
2. There's only one really pretty girl in the enitre movie and obviously she's going to end up with the main hero.
If there isn't a girl, it'll end up being a kid that'll have one parent to generate some sympathy (Disney's really well known for doing this - how many cartoons has Disney had where the kid has had both parents throughout the entire movie?)
3. In action movies, they always have some special minor move or device which they downplay at first but will end up leading to the villan's ultimate downfall.
4. A victim that dies (usually in the beginning or middle) always does something that gets them killed that absolutely no one in their right mind would do unless they had tapioca for brains.
5. Many times, as a variant to the last statement, it's the hero's friend that gets threatened, hurt or killed, then the hero (with some special skill or military history) has to go on and get revenge on the Big Bad Guy.
Another thing that happens a lot is where the girl or friend of the hero gets taken hostage at the end - and the hero has to make a choice to save the world or save the girl - which he'll end up doing both, and killing the enemy, which goes back to point 1.
These clearly aren't all of the commonalities, but you get the picture...
I think that the main problem here is that you have an oversaturation of the same old storylines without any real innovation. I can't tell you how many movies I've seen where I can figure out the plot and the ending within the first 15 minutes of the film. I just can't bring myself to watch this unmitigated crud anymore.
Both the movie and the music recording studios are using formulas for creating absolute junk that will cater to the lowest possible denominator of the masses. And they wonder why they're hurting... sheesh.
is being paid 7% of the gross earnings of Red Dragon as his salary. So, in essence, he has the potential to make a huge sum of money. Not to mention the fact that he is being paid based on the movies gross. Perhaps if the Hollywood studios would ratchet back actor salaries or use fixed salaries, they would break even or even earn a decent profit. But I'm not privy to their books so I could be way off base there... ~Soukyan
They are putting themselves out of business.
http://www.askthevoid.com
3 years is too long! Why not 2 years, or even 1?
They won't go out of business in three years or three hundred years.
They might suffer from the home theater. But I will never be able to replace an 80 foot screen for great visual effects.
As for the money -- they get too damn much as it is.
For each of us here complaining about things like crying babies, cell phones ringing, etc., there are 10 other people that for some sick reason love waiting in line for hours and jamming into a packed theater with hundreds of other masochists on opening nights.
Seems many people just want to see the stuff when it comes out; few have the patience to wait for the home video release. Even fewer have home theater systems (or can afford them), which is why I will continue to go to the theater (but a few weeks after release and at matinees only).
9. Food prices. I can get a whole meal at JMU with a meal punch for the price I would pay for a drink ($3.50) at the local theatre.
10. Inane local advertising in the theatre. I did not come to see advertising
11. Lack of leg room for those of us that are >5 feet tall
12. Turning the AC down so low that my gf has to look like a fsckin eskimo to keep from walking out a deep shade of blue
Hey, this whole "Internet" thing has gotten WAAAAAAAY out of hand. Just shut the whole thing down so we can return to the good ol' ways. It's nuttin' but one big humongous copy machine, that's all!
The main problem with Hollywood is they are no longer willing to take risks on creative projects, instead the rely on Franchise films with "proven actors" who can draw in the crowds. If the movie is not a francise film it must have a cookie cutter plot that is similar to another film that was a financial success.
the animation is all crappy anyways." as predicted by Eric Cartman.
The parent claimed he had never heard a cell phone in a theater before, and said he thought it was an urban legend.
The reason why sales are dropping is not because I can purchase the DVD 6 months later, it's because society has finally woken (is that a word?) up and realized: DAMN! 95% of the movies friggin SUCK! I don't watch movies I watch FILMS! Films are great stories told on the big screen. I think the last great commercial "film" I've seen was "O' Brother Where art though". Everything else that's been out has sucked. MAtrix was cool too and I suspect the next time I'll be in the theater will be for the sequels. Spider-Man? Please! Scorpion King? Laughable! Gotta run, something good's coming on the IFC channel....
As an added benefit, there'd be no cuts of sex or violence made "for the sake of the children@."
Of course, sound system is kind of a relative thing. I have speakers and a receiver that do Dolby 5.1 +SUB (for the price of about 15 movie viewing w/me and my gf). Even with my middle-bottom of the line speakers the sound is very high quality and I can make it *louder* than the theatre's with the same quality. In fact it *IS* better because you can really hear some of the extra cool effects. It makes my room feel very alive. LOTR when the horses are running, you can really hear them running across my room. In the theatre the effects are there but more mute due to the huge space of the theatre.
:)
The screen is bigger but you sit further away. Same reason a display embeded on the backside of glasses seems so big, you get *much* closer. And with component video the colors are much more vibrant than the Theatre (plus you don't get the artifacts if you don't have digital projector in your theatre). And.. my recliner or couch with my GF are both infinitely more comfortable and intimate than any theatre seating.
All that said, I still go to the theatre because it gets me out of my apartment
Jeremy
please just give up now.
Find small privately owned theatres (which are usually much smaller, more intimate, and in most cases much more charming) and pay $3-4 less to see 2nd run movies. I love the theatre experience and I can only stand the smaller ones now. Find one around your town.
MY tickets are up to... oh, wait. I have younger siblings who get paid minimum wage at the movie theater. I never pay to see a movie in the theater. OTOH, I always pay FULL PRICE for the drinks/popcorn/candy, even when my sister is working at the counter. This means that if I want to take my wife to a "free" movie, I still end up paying $10 for us to share a bag of popcorn and get one drink each. As someone mentioned above, they don't make squat on the tickets, but they make a killing on the junk food. Since the seat I am sitting in would be empty otherwise, it costs them basically nothing to let me into the theater for free and then milk the wallet when I get hungry.
Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
What? I'm supposed to work?
Sorry I got my education to avoid really working.
I just do some interesting stuff for a few hours a day, help people with problems, and generally have a good time.
To all you people out there who haven't chosen a carreer, do what you want, don't chase the dollar. Most of your waking life is at work, work at something you enjoy.
What I don't understand is why no one has ever filed a suit against theaters, especially the big ones like AMC and Showcase for price gouging at the consession stands.
Since they say you can't bring in your own stuff, forcing someone who say, is hypoglycemic or has a bunch of kids who will make noise unless they have something to shove into their mouths to pay those prices to keep their blood surgar up is tantamount to extortion.
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
The intro for X-Men is pretty damn long.
Ah yes, Monday night baby brigade at the Parkway is a blast. No one looks at you funny if your kid is crying (although mostly mine sleeps), and there are couches to sit on instead of chairs if you get in early enough. And the pizzas are priced reasonably as well. On the other hand $5/seat is on the high end for B run theaters, but I'm never aware that they are late in the run anyway since I never get out to the first run theaters.
--
BitTorrent in C -- LibBT
http://www.sf.net/projects/libbt
I think this sort of thing is due to the fact that it's no longer PC to carry loaded weapons. You'd think twice about interrupting the movie for 500 people if you were standing next to someone else's silhouette outlined in bullet holes.
He also mentions, of course, that DVD piracy and movie "sharing" groups will only speed up the cycle, and that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years." GOOD!
Maybe a certain kind of film will do better on DVD in the home than the theatre but I don't see it killing the industry. If you have kids try telling them they need to wait 5 months for the DVD release of Harry Potter. Not gonna happen. Sometimes people just need a place to go, the movies is one of those places.
'Same speed C but faster'
There are theaters in my area that feature "crying rooms", where parents with crying babies can sit and still watch the movie.
It's a nice feature. Too bad nobody uses it.
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo
what a silly article. it's an interview all about one man's opinion that DVDs hurt the box office because people don't go see movies four or five times like they used to. the journalist is completely uncritical of McCallum's ideas.
How many movies do inspire people to go see a movie four or five times in the theatre? Personally I saw Army of Darkness six times (mostly at the local second run). Closest runner ups are Star Wars, Fellowship of the Ring, and The Empire Strikes Back at three or four times. Other movies just aren't the kind of movie to go see several times.
Also, this is McCallum talking. None of my Star Wars geek friends went to see AotC more than three times. It just wasn't worth it. Most of them did go see Spider-Man three or four times. I think it says something. Make a good, entertaining movie, people will come.
He also raises the point that Hollywood can't survive on box office receipts. Hollywood needs to look at how much they spend on movies then. Use fewer expensive effects, spend less on marketing, pay actors less, stop flooding the market with crap. People still go to see movies in the the theater. Make movies to fit the money coming in.
Of course none of this matters. The rental market is a perfectly valid market, and back in the 80s McCallum's way of thinking went the way of the dodo. Hollywood thought the rental market would kill the box office. Nope, all it's done is add a repeat market.
You don't need to spend big bucks to make a good movie.
Clerks, Blair Witch, My big fat Greek Wedding- all low low low budget flicks that made many times their initial investment.
But the Hollywood mentality is that you need to spend millions and millions on marketing, paying a premium to get big names to star in, and in Lucas' case, spend the GDP of several small countries on special effects. Why? Because the movies themselves are too lame to stand on their own.
If things change and you can't recoup the $500 million you spent on the picture because people don't want to pay $20 per ticket to see it in theaters, then you need to adjust, not whine. Piracy has affected Tapes, CDs, computer games, and VHS for years. DVDs are only resistant because of their sheer size, but other industries
can survive despite piracy, so can the movie industry
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What the fsck is the point of that show? Are they running some kind of experiment to find out just how much crap they have to stick in the commercial breaks before people finally give up on watching the movie?
Are they trying to spread a 90 minute movie into a three hour time slot? That would make sense, but why don't they just run pure ads in the 15 minute ad breaks they have to put in as filler? That way the ad companies pay the production costs and you can cut the cost per minute of ads to make up for the increased volume.
--
E_NOSIG
They said the SAME thing about video tapes. Ironically, shortly after the VCR was introduced the studios profits skyrocketed.
The most important thing for the movie industry is that teenagers still need an excuse to get out of the house and go make out. Teenagers can't stay home and do it - that might be a little sick with Mom and Dad there. So they go watch crappy movies, then go get their rocks off. This will continue to happen.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
This is why you set up a linux box with ogle/videolan and use that as your DVD player. No FBI warning garbage, no macrovision, no regions, no disabled buttons, etc. Just the movie.
I read one comment in another thread where the guy was so annoyed that whenever he bought a DVD, he ripped it, removed all the crap, and then reburned it.
Hollywood accounting is designed so that movies just barely break even. If any movie makes a 'net profit', then they have to pay money to people who have 'net points' royalties. It is similar to the contracts that musicians sign with music studios.
Most of the money for a movie goes to affiliated companies that make huge profits for the moneymen while the accounting ledgers for the movie itself rack up negative numbers.
The producer claims that studios are 'barely making it.' Using what measurement critia?
Studios are primarily financial factories, they only happen to make movies as a side effect of their operations.
If you sign up as an actor in a major movie, your compensation 'deal' is not done as a percentage of sales, or even as pure fixed fee. It is most often done as a 'share' AFTER studio expenses are tallied. The problem with this is that everything the studio does can be considered an expense. The practical result is that even though hundreds of individuals benefit handsomely for selling services at top dollar to the studio, the studio can claim that it made no money on a particular movie because it's expenses happened to equal its income.
The actual costs to make a film in LA are enormous, not because of the logistics involved (although those can be considerable for big budget flicks) but because Screen Actors Guild wages are so damned high.
I live in Colorado, my neighbor across the street was the stunt guy who was thrown into a sack, kicking and screaming, in that Wild Wild West debacle. No lines, and his face never actually appeared in the movie... his SAG pay for half a day: $5000.
Beats pumping gas, doesn't it?
Scientists said that, in a study of teenage boys nationwide, the old "Yawn Play" works just as well on the Living Room couch, thus reducing the need to take a girl to the theater in order to make their move. Not to mention it skips the middleman and they don't have to wait to get home to "get it on." And the $20 they save on each date (at $10 a seat) is enough to buy most of their favorite movies once they reach DVD retailer shelves.
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
"Seen at CNN, this article interviews Rick McCallum, longtime producer at LucasFilms will be responsible for the downfall of the movie industry..."
Is what I read at first, and I thought to myself, "Self, CNN: +1 (Insightful)"
Then I reread it.
At any rate, modern Hollywood is in many ways the bastard child of George Lucas. All of the wildly over-hyped 200 bajillion dollar "event movies" with their associated marketing tie-ins, and advertising budgets larger than the film's budget and action figures have been the downfall of *HOLLYWOOD*.
And just so we get this straight: Hollywood (usually) != good films. But Hollywood == the *current* US box office, in most markets.
My logic here is that the average american moviegoer has realized that "spectacle" films usually suck. Higher budgets = higher ticket prices and the same tripe playing on 100 screens in a single market. [insert witty stuff about the ripple effect down to the $8 tub of popcorn here]
Major studio pressure and their marketing dollars are the reason that I routinely have to take weekend road trips of 200 miles (or 1200 to NYC, as the case may be) to see Igby Goes Down, Chunhyang, Gods & Monsters, Henry Fool, Amelie, Metropolis or an actual worthwhile film in the theatre, because cinemas in Jacksonville, FL (technically a 3rd-tier city) rarely get anything indie or foreign any more, and when they do it's of the "feel-good-$nationality-wedding" variety. And those are NOT obscure films.
Lucasfilm (and Hollywood by emulating the Star Wars franchise for their big-money films) have dug their own grave. That strategy worked for 25 years. I've been hoping for at least 10 that the American consumer would get wise to it so I could get indie and foreign films in my market again.
So to Mr. McCallum: my deepest regrets that you only cleared $45 million on your opening weekend of Episode II.
Since this obviously wasn't satisfactory enough, do us all a favor and not even bother with Episode 3. I left the theatre after both your last two films feeling violated like a parking meter. Fool me twice, shame on me.
You're not getting me a third time.
Do yourself a favor and rent Amelie. It's a big-budget (for the French) film with heart, soul, style, 3 dimensional characters and a fucking story.
Compare that to anything coming out of the big studios and tell me with a straight face that DVD is what's killing the box office, besides the fact that most (sane) people won't fly to NYC for a weekend just to see a good film and will wait for video.
For Christ's sake, Warcraft III had better effects, character and story than Episode II. And that's a *VIDEO GAME* with a fraction of LDL's budget.
To coin a phrase: "Burn, Hollywood, burn..."
in two different situations.
Situation #1 a good or sort of good movie is in the Movies 10. It's one of those theatres that shows movies that aren't quite out on DVD yet, and for cheap. 50 cents for a Wednesday Matinee! holy crap! I sometimes go to see shitty movies for that low low price.
I also go to see big movies when they come out at Tinsletown. Sure it's like 8 bucks to see LotR on opening night, but the experience of being there and everyone of your friends and aquaintances from all over town showing up in the same place can't be beat.
Other than that the movies aren't worth it. I like previews before a movie, but I don't like Coca-Cola ads. If I was going to drink something I would have bought it BEFORE the movie started.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
But I wish there existed a pizza+movie+BEER delivery service!
Hey, there is only one Return and it's not of the King, it's of the Jedi.
Just like Microsoft is doomed because Linux gives you a better experience for no money.
Just like Evian and Dasani are doomed because people can get water that's just as good out of their own tap.
People are stupid. They'll continue to do whatever the TV tells them to do.
I actually don't mind the trailers usually... the thing that ticks me off is the 3 or 4 COMMERCIALS that they throw in before the trailers. Especially when it's the same 3 or 4 annoying commercials for 6 months straight!
I'm just anticipating that one of these times I'm going to show up for some action-packed movie but have to sit through commercials for some feminine hygiene product!
I would just show up a few minutes (10?) after the posted start time of the show, but instead I'm one of those crazy people that actually shows up early to get a good seat...
...though I find the experience much superior to any home theater setup. Enormous screen...rockin sound...home just can't compare.
The people are the problem.
Though I have never seen anybody answer a cell phone in a theater, folks have plenty of non-technologically augmented annoying habits:
Brats. People with kids feel they have a God given right to annoy the hell out of everybody else because they chose to reproduce. If your kid can't be quiet, he shouldn't be in the theater or a nice restauraunt, for that matter. Train them at HOME to respond to voice control, THEN take them out.
Coughers. I know being sick isn't their fault, but why not wait until that cold clears up instead of destroying the immersive experience for everybody and infecting the county?
Small Bladders/big drinks. Updownupdownupdownupdown....
Explainers. During Lord of the Rings, I actually told the guy next to me, who was explaining all the bits from the book that weren't in the movie, to Shut the FUCK up. I was so peeved I was hoping for a fistfight, but he just looked at me like I'd killed his puppy or something (though he did shut up). Movie experienced ruined for me...and I had been really enjoying it until he started up.
Korn Nuts. Noisy wrapper, noisy to eat, and STINKEY. Why do they SELL stuff like that?
The article, and the data in the article don't say that the Movie Industry is going to be hurt but that the theater industry is hurting because no one will go to the theater any more. Studios, which will produce DVDs, etc. just as happily, should have no particular problems - except if they own theaters
Well, if Hollywood goes away, won't it be interesting to see what fills the niche? After all, something/someone will see the niche and find a way to make a living from it...
The cost of a movie ticket has increased dramatically over the last ten years, beating the consumer price index (used to measure inflation) be a considerable amount. One thing that theater owners and Hollywood is going to have to realize is that the market will no longer bear the $12 per ticket pricetag for often poorly made entertainment.
:)
DVDs do provide a higher quality medium for distrubtion of movies than conventional VHS tapes, but thy do not replace the experience of going to the movies. Many people (myself included) enjoy an evening at the movie theatre, but I am unwilling to pay the exorbatant price tag for it. This is quite similar to the way I feel about golf. Great game. Not for $100.00 per afternoon. (Besides, why would anyone want to spend $100 to get pissed off, I can do that for free at home
In any event, I think that movies will be alive and well far into the future... as public demand for the physical theatre wains, prices will drop, actors salaries will go down, and people will return to the movies again.
--Dave
I would cut my movie going in half but 0/2 is still 0.
Mind you, I don't even have a TV. I watch DVD's on my laptop.
The home theater experience will NEVER compare to going to the movie theater. Unless you set up stadium seating in your living room and invite 150 of your best friends over to watch a film on your 480-inch projection TV with surround sound and all the popcorn you can pop, you will never be able to duplicate the experience.
Think about it -- why was The Blair Witch Project so popular? Because when you're inside a dark movie theater watching those kids stumble around in the deep woods in the dead of night, you're completely immersed. You're as scared as they are, because you don't know what's out there waiting for them. This is why Blair Witch is a dog on home video -- the very thing that gave you that adrenaline rush of fear just isn't there.
Theaters aren't going anywhere, and neither are movies. If Big Hollywood ends up collapsing underneath the weight of its own stupidity, we'll just see more films with more reasonable budgets. Like Memento, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Barbershop. All cost less than $12 million to make. Imagine that.
Visit me on the web at Permanent4.com.
Going out to a movie isn't just about watching a movie, it's about going out.
People with access to swimming pools still go to the beach.
People can cook at home and yet they still go out to eat.
People listen to CDs and yet they still go to concerts.
You can get drunk at home, but amazingly bars are still in business.
It's pathetic that this guy is in the movie business but he doesn't grasp what movies are all about.
Give what up?
If he's talking about theateres, he may have a point, but certain films wanting 110% of the boxoffice for the first 3 weeks of the film does as much damage... (I believe that was the case for StarWars episode 1)
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
I wish Rick McCallum would just go away. He is George's #1 YES man. He is the real reason why the new Star Wars movies suck. He is the Phantom Menace.
With a young family (a 2yr old and an infant) my wife and I seldom go out. Sometimes we will go see a movie but only if we *really* want to see it, otherwise we'll rent the DVD or get it on DirecTV.
I do enjoy the theatre experience, maybe because I haven't spent money on building a huge home theatre. To get me there they are going to have to make something better than the new Star Wars episodes or Lord of the Rings though.
Brian Macy
I wish for once that all the things that these Hollywood people say would acutally turn out to be true... I mean seriously, its all i hear from the media giants... how BAD thier industry is, and how they are going to be out of business in the next couple years. I think that this would be the best thing... at least we would have some movies worth going to see in the theatre, but no one stops to think that maybe the reason sales have dropped off is because what they are making is utter crap. As an aspiring film maker myself, i have had a horrible time getting to any resources, and its because of these monolithic overpowered conglomerates producing shit that everyone thinks is good. but thats just my opinion, although i could be right :)
sig is broken try again tomorrow
The movie industry
* Deserves our money
* Is a font of creativity and artistry
* Is the victim of amoral customer base
* Produces 1 good film in 20
* Is far, far beyone the Whiny Little Bitch stage
* Can shrivel up and die for all I care
* Hasn't gotten any of MY money since "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Turtles In Time"
* Should put CowboyNeal in Starwars 3
What a problem to have! I wonder what the people in 3rd world countries think about our lush lives.
-516
"they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years."
Good. Any way we could speed it up? This is capitalism, folks. If the consumer decides you have an inferior product or service, you get the axe. No special exceptions if you're a mushminded no-morals multi-millionare in rehab.
In Japan, the cost for me to go to see a movie is 1800 yen. About $16.50...to see a movie...at matinee hours.
The theater experience is not, but it ain't that nice. Gimme DVD any day.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
What's the difference, experience-wise, between watching a movie in a theatre and renting/buying one?
Going to a theatre is immersive. There are (ideally - screaming children and cells aside) no distractions at a movie. You're completely involved with what's going on on-screen. Same thing happens in a play - they darken the theatre for a reason, and it's not to see the actors better.
Watching a movie in your typical living-room is completely different. You know you're watching a movie, you don't become as involved in it.
I think $10 for a movie is ludicrous (I grew up with a $4 second-run moviehouse on the corner of my street). I can't really afford it, but I go anyway. Why? Because it's a change of scenery, it's a night out, it's not sitting in my living-room. And because, for any given movie, I have a better shot of enjoying it in the theatre's immersive environment.
Triv
And theaters couldn't make enough money to support the cost of movies, all movies moved to dvd, and all of the theaters shut down - who cares? New business models start all of the time out of economy changes. You just start marketing your dvds in place of the regular big-screen advertisements.
Big deal.
Yeah, no shit.
I grew up with "previews" so I have not thought much about them. I actually like previews (as long as there are not too many) because they are generally geared towards the kind of audience that is seeing this particular movie. But when I saw the same sort of tripe that I typically see on tv I flipped! I was like, "This is a COMMERCIAL!" And it was. I saw it on tv a few weeks later.
WTF is up with that?
As my father lik@(munch munch)...
Mostly on the south or east sides of SA tho :)
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
Let's see... 2 movie tix at $12-13 each to see a movie once, or $25 for a DVD that I can watch as much as I want. Combine that with the home comfort factor and you've got a nobrainer.
Not only have I given up watching movies in the theatre, I have given up renting at chain stores. Their inventory prices have gone down, yet their rental prices keep going up. Try asking a kid at Blockbuster about a movie that isn't on the "New Releases" wall and I'll give you a buck if you get back anything besides a blank stare. Support your local cult/indie/art video rental shop - quality selection and knowledgable service.
The video distribution system is the same as the radio - big promotional money is spent to clog the shelves/airwaves (yet everyone still pretends that payola is a thing of the past). Blockbuster gets their videos practically for free (and in copius volumes) while your local small-time player buys 2 copies at $30 each and needs to rent them both 6 times just to break even. Its a shame, considering which one of those actually cares about movies.
We've gotta get back to respecting the artist and the art instead of raping something for profit. Isn't that what the whole open source thing is all about?
Claiming that it's the consumer's fault they're in trouble is bullshit. The can easily save their own asses.
1. Stop charging more than the DVD costs for two people to see the movie in the theatre. And I don't mean raise DVD prices either. There is no reason it should cost more than 10$ for two people to see a movie, or more than 8 for that matter.
2. Stop paying Julia Roberts and Arnold Schwartzniger 40 million to be in a movie. Easy.
3. Make movies worth seeing and not these overhyped pieces of garbage like the last two star wars have been. In most cases a movie CAN wait, I've got better things to do.
For now I'm more than happy to watch DVD's on my 53" widescreen in the privacy of my own house. I don't have to worry about people moving past me because they bought the 72oz soda, or a bawling child. If Hollywood doesn't like that, fix their problems, don't make it out like this is my fault.
Box Office Says Star Wars is Doomed
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
I don't know about you, but the last few DVDs I bought have this 5 minute mandatory intro on them that plays before it gets to the main menu.
I too have NOT seen this behavior. What DVDs do it? I own about 40 DVDs and none of them do this. I find I can either press the "next track" button or fast forward through them.
In the event I saw the behavior you are desciribing, I'd boycott whatever studio did it. Not out of principal, just out of annoyance.
1) Movie going is more than just the movie, it's an *experience*... sometimes even shitty movies can be fun to watch with the right people. I'll never forget watching The Matrix on opening night in the AMC Mercado and the hearing *entire* audience cheer watching Trinity pull gravity defying stunts.
2) Home theatres have seperate purposes from the megaplexes. I would love to watch a single movie over and over at home, but for new films, I would much rather see them on the big screen.
3) EP1 and EP2 both sucked, IMHO. Perhaps that's why lucasfilms is feeling a bit of a pinch?
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
The Hollywood McCallum sees falling apart in the next few years has a history of reinventing itself when it is supposed to fall apart. Back when VCRs were supposed to kill Hollywood, the industry reinvented itself by evolving away from the monolithic studios that maintained all their own facilities. The big studios are still there in name, but now they are mostly holding companies. Typically a big studio will create a small, temporary company that produces a single film by hiring a network of specialized subcontracters.
My guess is that as digital filmmaking gets better and cheaper Hollywood will reinvent itself again in the digital age. We will see 100% synthetic films, made without sets or locations, with actors used for voices only. Whether that will shrink overall costs enough to keep theatrical films viable who knows, but I doubt Hollywood will just roll over and die.
film at 11. ;)
I frequently boo loudly when those commercials come one. No one seems to mind, in fact, people tend to join in the booing. Try it, it's fun.
XML causes global warming.
The last few times I've been to the movies I wasn't happy.
The sound sucks. Either it's a drama and the volume is way to loud, or it's an action film and the volume is way too low.
Ticket prices have skyrocketed. I am NOT paying $9-12 to see a movie. I'll go on Tuesday when it's $5-6, but who goes on a Tuesday??
Crappy movies: movies have sucked. The only movies I'm planning to see in the future are LOTR:TTT, Star Wars Episode 3 and the last Lord of the Rings.
What else is there? There's so much crap, and the really good movies you don't even hear about until they're on DVD.
Add 'projectionists' playing movies at the wrong aspect ratio for the first 5 minutes, distorted sounds, horrible picture and you begin to wonder why you should make the effort.
Give me a better product at a better price and stop whining!
I seem to remember most of the ones I've encountered as Universal Pictures' DVDs. I haven't found a way to get past that irritating intro, but I'll have to try the Stop, then Play again trick mentioned above.
I really wish they'd just see that technology opens up new revenue streams faster than it closes them down.
Palladium is the only way of ensuring such things happen, especially with broadband.
People could always swap tapes in person, but now high-speed internet connections exist in every home, and the ability to copy the latest forms of media between two places is completely unprecedented due to its unrestricted nature.
I just wish that there was a pizza+movie delivery service.
.com boom.
There was. They just expanded too quickly and died off with the rest of the mismanaged
Even the good ideas got whacked.
As my father lik@(munch munch)...
With moves costing $12+ why not try a real theater. (The kind with people performing on stage). If your in Calgary, Canada there's an improv show every Friday and Saturday. It only cost $8 bucks, and it's never the same show! I'd wager the average show is much better then the crud Hollywood puts out.
Hollywood is only interested in safe lowest common detonator movies. Check out your local theater scene for the good stuff.
Best news I've heard all year!
The cost of movies today are actually going down because of technology. The thing that kills movies is the cost of marketing them. A movie may make 120 million at the box office but cost 50 million to promote. That leaves 70 million of which the box office takes half. The 35 million left is put towards the 80 million in production costs. Now the studio is 45 million in the hole. The video sales will cost 25 million to promote (the box office already created awareness) and will bring in 75 million over the couse of a year. This leaves a profit of 5 million for an average "good" film.
You can't sell as many DVDs if you don't have a big movie opening (in general).
You can't rush quality, but you can fake it.
All of the posts here talk about the exorbitant prices required to see a movie in a theater and a comparably high price at places like Blockbuster Video. I'd reccommend that you just shop around a bit.
I've never lived in a city where there wasn't a $1.50 / $2.00 theater. And if you just go across the street to the 'discount video dealer' (you know... the one with the saloon doors), you can get rentals for around 2 bucks. Heck, my library has an impressive selection of DVD rentals for free.
Of course, this behavior only lends credence to the article's argument of Hollywood bankruptcy. However, it's the dumb shmucks out there that pay $30 bucks for a movie outing that let Hollywood get so greedy.
Consumers need to show that they demand value from the things they pay for.
Hollywood going under? That brings a tear to my eye. Really, it does.
Holy crap, batman! Will Hollywood actually have to find NEW ways of making money now? Will they finally have to (gasp!) become innovative and develop a new business model! The horror!
(I wonder if Hollywood could even DO that at this point...)
No more free lunch, I guess.
-- Jim
There have been movies with so many trailers that I've actually forgotten just what the hell I was there to see. Easily 20 minutes worth of trailers.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
I sure hope that happens, as amature/indie wathever moviemakers would get bigger audiences. :)
Altough I don't belive it will happen!
yeah right. I'm guessing his only source of evidence is "OMG!! Look! Episode II made only $15 gagillion dollars! That's like a couple gagillion less than Episode I!!! The movie industry must be dying!!!!!"
I'll ALWAYS pay $7.00 to leave my house and sit in a dark room where I can forget about the outside world for 2 hours.
Disney Studios 2nd Quarter:
Revenue: up 2% to $1.6 billion
Income: Down to $27 million from $164
AOL/TimeWarner 2nd Quarter:
Filmed Entertainment Revenue: $2.386 billion
Filmed Entertainment Earnings: $328 million
Vivendi Universal 2nd Quarter:
Vivendi Universal Entertainment Revenue: $1.744 billion
Vivendi Universal Entertainment Income: $364 million
Viacom 2nd Quarter:
Entertainment Group Revenue: $920 million
Entertainment Group Income: $109 million
Business is still VERY good in the film industry. I find it hard to believe we'd go from a....$7.5 billion dollar a QUARTER market to nothing in anything resembeling 3 years. This is just media fodder for the IP case and the DRM initiatives under way.
I had always heard that aftermarket sales of VHS and DVD sales to consumers as well as video store rentals generaly create more money for the studios then the initial boxoffice release did.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
I go to the movie theather at least once every two weeks, I have a 50" HDTV and I buy lots of DVD movies. Two of my friends do the same.
How are we contributing the the downfall of the movie industry?
They wouldn't be saying these things...
The reality of the situtation being that the storylines in Movies is seriously lacking these days....
I see probably 20+ movies a year, I honestly like the big screen expirence, its the only way to see some movies, and if they showed ep4,5,6 continuously at some theater year round, I'd probably go see them 4 or 5 times a year at the theater just for the hell of it...I watch them in my house that many times a year, and I know the expirence on screen is much better...
ep1 and 2 the storylines are weak, they are not of anywhere near the same caliber as 4,5,6...
Why did Titanic have such a titanic draw, storyline...it may have been the biggest chick flick of all time, but the storyline and its universal apeal is what got it there....
The last move with a decent story I saw was LOTR:FotR last year, and this years movies other that ep2 which I did like but not on the same level as 4,5,6 have been total crap...I can't wait for LOTR:TT...I ma hoping that the new Trek Film will be worth my cash as well...
My girlfreind and I wanted to see a movie last week, but we looked and there just wasn't anything playing worth our time...
The studios(and George Lucas Especially) need to learn that movie fans have expectations, and do what they can to live up to them....there were hundreds of rumors about the ep1,2,3 arc that have been flying around for years, and even hints about that time period in various Star Wars source material, basically none of that has been lived up too so far and Lucas only has approx 2.5 hours to give us what we have waited for our whole lives...
1. We should have seen ALOT more of the Clone Wars already, not just the beginning....
2. Anakin should already be much further down the path to being Vader
3. The republic should be in much worse strights
4. The Emperor should have already arisin
5. We should have alot more information on Jango/Boba Fett's Backgroud
6. We should know Tons more about the sith
7. The Rebellion should already be forming
8. We should have already run into Tarkin
9. We should know alot more about bail Organa
Just my laundry list, but its one I have discussed many times with other fans.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
Anyone notice how this is similar to what's going on right now with the video games industry? I mean, the current generation of consoles we have now can easily render the stuff we find in the arcades. This is a problem for many arcade-owners and developers alike--because since the games at home are just as good graphically, it's less of a reason for Joe Gamer to go to the arcade. (Of course, developers are getting more clever with this by using special controllers, etc.) So, like with DVDs and the theaters, people have less of a reason to leave their houses.
I can see the commercials now...
a DLP projector: $10,000.00
a THX-Ultra2 receiver: $4,200.00
a 7.1 set of THX-Ultra speakers: $10,700.00
Never having to go to the movies again: priceless
Note: Unfortunately, but this stuff is still a bit out of my price-range, and I'd also prefer to see movies in 720p or 1080i.
To shoot anyone not playing in a paintball game.
That's what real guns are for.
paintball
I can catch an afternoon matinee on a weekday for $4, easily smuggle a Coke and a couple of candy bars in and enjoy Hollywood trash with next to NOBODY in the theater.
That, amigos, is golden.
At the same time, catching a movie in the evening is a nightmare. When I saw Castaway in theaters, the opening scene shows the protagonist as a Federal Express worker yet doesn't show Hanks himself until five minutes into the movie... Some 80 year old, obnoxious SOB started yelling and demanding that he be directed to the proper theater and that he gets refund. Once he figured out that he was, in fact, in the right theater, the craziness didn't end... people letting their kids run wild, cell phones ringing, conversations in full force, etc.... The lunatics come out at night. Hence, the Latin root "Luna". The problem with cinema is certainly not the form (Plato), but with the reality. Americans, as overweight, obnoxious and insolent pricks, don't know how to just settle down and shut up. Reality forces good customers and polite people into the afternoon on a weekday or into the cost of a home theater.
Laws are for people with no friends.
I seem to remember the trailer was a montage of various films, starting with The Grinch, which was basically shots from the movies set to some background music. I believe some ex-rentals do show a few trailers in the beginning. I do know the first few times I did this, I was madly pressing all the buttons on the remote to get it to stop.
You can get a cheap one for the price of a medium cost big screen TV. I can tell you a 10' wide screen (or whatever the wall size i'm using right now is) at 10 feet away is just as impressive as sitting in a theater. I have the additional advantage of lying down while watching movies and drinking beer.
Hmmm, holywood dies.
Gee, suddenly all kinds of independant films that have been ignored because they didn't fit a target audience, or because nobody in the theater distribution chain had ever heard of them start being shown.
Of course, the price will have to go up to maybe $7 or $8 to cover the cost... oh wait, it's already that high!
I guess this is bad news for the Baldwins...
wanna scare up more support for laws and crap your pushing? THE SKY IS FALLING THE SKY IS FALLING!
we dont get to see another adam sandler movie... GASP!
no more of the countless remakes of good movies that went bad after the third remake.
and more more Ajckie Chan Chris tucker flicks! OMFG We're all doomed
so fucking offtopic, it kills me.
In my city, Tacoma, Washington USA all of the major theaters have gone out of business. We have 2 independant theaters (Grand Tacoma and Blue Mouse) that are left.
The sound systems aren't as nice but the movies tend to be a little more interesting.
-Scott scott@surrealistic.org
Unfortunately, he's wrong of course. The amount of money moving around in the movie business is huge, if there are profit problems it is either due to to many studios killing each other's profit margins, too much power in the hands of actors when salaries are determined, or just general incompetence. I suspect it is a combination. What will happen is that the studios will eventually be forced to take action, either becoming more efficient, lowering salary costs, or having a few mergers. Anyway, I didn't see any evidence that the studios are actually in financial trouble, I suspect Rick is either fairly dumb or he assumes his audience is.
personal attacks hurt, especially when deserved
When VCR's came out, you had stereo at best (prolly over a mono speaker, in most cases). Then, we moved onto Dolby Prologic and home theatres got a little better. At least we had a rear channel. Now using DVD's, with DTS and DD, the experience at home can be every bit as engaging as the theatre.
Running DTS or DD (5.1) isn't possible with VCR. That's why its a little different now.
Lets see, at home I can have some friends over grill some steaks, watch a movie on my 65 HDTV, 2050 watts of 7 speaker DTS surround sitting on my own sofa. OR I could go the movie theater put up with 14-yo suburban "thugs" driving their mom's Camary, lines and $5 buckets of popcorn and sticky shoes. I think that choice is easy. Home wins everytime.
The commercials really do suck, but on occasion the previews are nice, especially when they turn out better than the movie itself : ) ... though I guess its my fault for going to that movie in the first place.
Trailers are usually the best deal in those 90-180 minutes. Let's do the math. Estimate amount of quality time in a movie (unfair for "Sixth Sense" with "The Cable Guy" still in print) over an $8 cost, with average length of 120 minutes.
15 minutes of decent movie / 120 minutes * $8 = $1 / min
Previews try to show the best parts (why go to the full-length feature?), so:
30 seconds of decent preview / 45 seconds * 1 min / 60 sec * $8 = 1 cent / min
Count 3 previews and you get an even better deal. In addition, you can feel good about bad movies, without paying an extra $8, because they showed you the only good 30 seconds!
Whoever disagrees with my 15-minute estimate should go see more movies. (No, he shouldn't.)
what is this? the once a day someone from the XXAA or whatever group with a chicken little scenario? All of these guys need to switch to boxers because their jockeys are cranked down a little too tight.
A hand up and a foot on every chest...
You should check out a 65" digital TV sometime. Sitting at about 10', its almost as perceivably large as a big screen. Seriously. Its so damn big, your eyes can't take in the whole screen.
I find it every bit as engaging as the actual theatre - without all the hassels mentioned above.
If they were really in trouble, I don't think the actors would be seeing those huge salaries. I don't think Lucasfilm would have all the high tech capabilities to make digital movies. And we would be seeing fewer films going to the box office. The real problem is that ticket sales are probably dropping off slightly for several reasons:
;) ). If fewer people are going to see movies these days, and the studios are making less money, they have only themselves to blame for making poor business decisions.
-The economy is in the shit can
-Hollywood isn't putting many interesting new films out, mostly just "safe" formula vehicles.
-If a movie sucks, no one is going to go see it.
-Ticket prices are way too high. There is a reason for this and it goes all the way back to the studios. See below:
The reason you have to pay so much for movie tickets is because the studios dictate how much a movie theater must pay to exhibit a film. If the movie stays in the theater for 3 or more months, then it makes a profit for the studios and the theater. The income from the ticket sales goes to cover the cost of exhibition for the first 3 months, then after that, to the movie theater itself. Since not all movies make the 3 months, movie theaters lose out on profits. That's why you're starting to see regular ads in front of movies (ads for cars, local businesses, soft drinks, etc...). The movie theaters don't have much say in what ads they can show (also dictated by the studios), but they do make a profit from the ads. Most of the time they make only enough money from the ticket sales to barely break even for exhibiting the film. This is also why you have to pay so much for consessions. That is the only way that movie theaters make most of their money without having to split it with the studios.
So... here's the run down: Fewer people are going to see movies because they are too expensive and many of them suck. The movies are too expensive to exhibit because the studios control the exhibition terms. The movies suck because the studios are trying to make sure they stay with the most guaranteed profit generating vehicles (The "best" of anything is usually not the most popular, and the most popular is usually not the "best": witness the *nixes vs. MS Windows
I still say that capitalism is failing for the same reasons that communism did: greed and fear. Just like the Ponzi scheme, there is only so much wealth/power to go around in any economic/political system. In the end, someone (ususally lower in the pyramid) has to suffer to put/keep someone else on top. Tradgedy of the commons... and all that jazz.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
In order to save Hollywood, I am going to organize a bake sale immediately.
>>Of course, his claim that "studios are barely breaking even" falls on deaf ears when I hear about 9-digit salaries for individual actors in a big-name film that's just some rehash of an old concept.
Really?! Who's pulling in $100,000,000 per role?! I know Tom Cruise has a big ego, but still, a hundred million bucks?! I should be so lucky!
Huxley
One thing is cleary true is that the theatre industry has overbuilt and has way too much capacity for the volume of viewers they are getting. Perhaps the problems theatre chains are having making money are what has Hollywood spooked.
Personally I don't think DVD's are going to put Hollywood out of business at all - they will just have a different way to deliver their product.
but some of us hide our former addictions from our wives. They don't appreciated tech humour.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
My research project is running out of money. And by that I mean, the $50,000 we managed to scrape together to start this research.
Some walking set of boobies makes $100,000,000 to read a couple lines from a script.
I'll read 1/2000th of a 2 hour movie script (Or roughly 3.6 seconds) if it'll get me another $50,000 (1/2000th of 100,000,000).
Yeah, Julia Roberts is such a Great Person!! She deserves every cent she makes!! She gets 2000 times more money than the average upper middle classer, because she works 2000 times harder!! She doesnt work 40 hours a week! She works 80000!!!!
Why stick up for big business?
Okay, let's do the math correctly. That should be 8 cents, not 1. Sorry.
...it's all going to fall into the ocean one of these days anyway.
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
Exactly. It's all about getting out with people. Who goes to movies alone? Nobody. It's no fun. Ever tried to watch a comedy in an empty theater? It's a profoundly unfunny experience, even if it's a good one. Same goes for most other genres, because the emotional stimulation movies provide is far more effective in a group for reasons anyone with a rudimentary understanding of group psychology should get. Frankly, most movies these days are total crap that's barely bearable WITH the audience (I'm lookin' at you, Lucas).
No home theater has ever (and probably never will) offer this human dimension. Frankly "home theater" is a complete misnomer. It helps if your family or friends are there, but even so it'll be a much more subdued experience. And when you're plunking down $$$$ for your massive set and watching lots of TV, how much time and money will have to spend on those?
P.S. Alamo Drafthouse, damn straight. Wish I had one in my town.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Special editions are really keen way to make a completely mediocre/bad film into cold hard cash. Throw in some cut scenes (it's left to the viewer to figure out why the rest of the movie wasn't cut as well), interviews with the "stars" telling us how great they and the movie are, maybe portions of the script if they're particularly vicious plus some "motion menus" and people will snap them up. Oh, don't leave out the cast and crew bios, especially of poor Mr. Lucas!
Tell Mr. Lucas all he needs to do is make a Howard the Duck - Special Edition DVD and he'll be on easy street. In fact, why not cut to the chase and release Star Wars Episode III direct to DVD?
--- What?
But how many parents pay attention to that?
Most of all of these problems boil down to simple rudeness and inconsideration. It wouldn't be so bad if theater managers would post basic rules for consideration and *enforce* them. I've hardly seen a movie in a theater since the people I was with complained four times about the shrieking and popcorn-throwing kiddies to no avail. The theater had already got its $5 matinee charge from all of us and really didn't care if anyone left early.
Great for them 'cause I've not been back & that had *nothing* to do with DVDs. I don't even have a home theater. A simple PC works fine.
This matches the rules for propaganda
Check the section on Fear
and VCR have been around for decades. So why is this an issue all of the sudden?
This is like those lame handouts that your teacher gave you in elementary school when you were done with the math test before everyone else.. Match up the appropriate A to B kiddies:
{BLANK A} is going to put {BLANK B} out of business within {X} years.
Possible A answers:
1. The Audio Cassette
2. The Compact Disc
3. Television
4. Beta Video
5. VHS Video
6. Napster
7. Public Libraries
Possible B answers:
1. Radio Industry
2. Movie Industry
3. Music Producers
4. Theatre Owners
5. Book Publishers
When are they going to learn? Embrace, extend, profit. It's just that simple.
Listen up: You're right! You have reason to be afraid, YES. Therefore read up, get some geeks on staff, and take advantage of the technology. Those that have have gotten ahead, while the bitcher/whiner/moaner/"it's not fair"ers have been passed by.
www.jackasscritics.com
The music industry has a real problem - their product line is mature. All the current genres have been mined out. Classical, rock, rap, house, hip-hop, and techno have basically been done. In each of those, the best work was done years ago. Only heavy promotion keeps the industry going at all. This is recognized within the industry, but nobody has yet devised the Next Big Thing.
Movies aren't stuck in that way. They have a different problem. Improving technology makes possible more production value per film. But now, audiences expect huge production values in every film, leading to budgets upwards of $100M for minor films.
Lucas and Co. are basically in the production-value business. In Episodes I and II, there's a new major set every 45 seconds. That drives costs through the roof. Lucasfilm can't get off the cost treadmill; other films now approach those levels. And that's all they've got. They certainly don't have acting or story to carry them. Visualize a reading of of Episode I or II on a bare stage. It would be painful, even with good actors. So Lucas has to spend the money.
What the movie industry really has is more competition between filmmakers than they'd like. Every mainstream film today needs a big budget. That's good for audiences, and lousy for their margins. So be it; that's capitalism.
His citing Titanic isn't a good example either. Titanic was a total aberation for movies. It made as much the next 12 weekends as it did it's first weekend (within 10-20%) instead of having the usual 30-50% drop off that most major movies do now. People just kept going back again and again, and you can't expect any movie to come close to what Titanic did. I just think they're blowing everything way out of proportion. Yes, I'm sure downloading movies hurts them some, but not that much (I know I'm not going to take the time).
how can you put any value on anything said by someone responsible for the utter crap that is star wars, episode x?
Pay the actors 5 figure salaries like the rest of us get paid, or even 6, but none of this 7 or 8 bullshit.
Hollywood just needs to take the words of one of their own creations to heart.
"Why have trillions when you can have billions?"
(yeah, yeah, yeah...I know it's lame but it's SUPPOSED to be funny.....)
"Evil will always triumph because good is dumb." -- Dark Helmet
First about the costs. "As the cost of going to the movies has escalated to $20 or so for a ticket, parking and popcorn,..."
I pay $5.70 for one ticket using one of the savers program (buy 10 coupons for $57 and use the tickets within 1 year -- fine by me). Popcorn isn't really to my taste or diet, and I just smuggle a can of coke in my jacket.
How about release dates: "the movie will be out on DVD in just four or five months".
Right, sometimes, if you're lucky. Often it is one or two years, though. And by then all of your friends will have seen the movie, and you'll feel like a dork.
And it goes on: "a purchase price of $12-$15".
Over here you get the movies from 1970 at that price, perhaps something newer but second hand. Let's be realistic and put a $30 price tag to new releases.
Overall, what do we get ? Superb movies experience for 20% of the price of the DVD, in a truely beautiful theatre with a screen so big you can just about see the edges and feel like inside the picture, and excellent sound. At home all I have is a stereo TV set, and neighbours on 4 sides. Obviously it's not quite the same.....
Don't get me wrong.. I love DVDs and own many, but going to the cinema is an alltogether different experience, at least for me. I am likely to go see a movie I really like several times in a row.
This is so much rubbish. Have they considered that part of the reason people aren't going to theaters for the same movie again and again is that they aren't making anything worth going again and again for? I like to watch some movies that I like to watch repeatedly, but they are(at least to me) the very best out there. For everything else, its boring after you've seen it once(or sometimes even during the first viewing) and most of the movies I truly love are older(Spiderman being the only recent exception....)
Another thing they have to remember is that even if the economicists say we are coming out of it(or even deny we were ever in it) we still have a lot or recession-type effects. I for one lost my main job to a layoff very recently. When the job market is bad, people save more, spend less. That means going to a movie only once, or not at all
after I work 8hrs a day I go home and work on developing new web hosting accts. After that I hack away on some C++ and OpenGL because I find graphics programming interesting. So you see I stopped going to movies and buying CD's for that matter(I am happy with Internet Radio) because well its boring to me.
A hand up and a foot on every chest...
Don't blame the theaters for ticket prices. They break even on admission. They make virtually all of their profits on food
Damn, well they make nothing out of me anymore then.
Cinema admission is about $8 here. Small popcorn is $4.50, a drink is another $2.50 easy. $15 to go see a movie is a pain in the ass, IMHO. But I enjoy it too much.. so..
I now bottle my own cola at home and hide it in my jacket pocket, and go buy a McDonald's hamburger before getting to the cinema so I feel full, and the candy stand doesn't interest me.
I save $7 per trip and I get better cola while I'm at it.
mogorific carpentry experiments
Well, let's assume that we say goodbye to Hollywood in like 3 years, a massive burndown, everything goes out of business.
;)
But then, someone WILL pop up and make a movie about the fall of hollywood.
So I guess it's just kinda recycling, not going out of business
Funny, I get a much better view of sports on tv too, but games still seem to sell out all the time.
meh.
...if DVD's are killing the business, and driving you to financial ruin, then STOP SELLING THEM. Seems like he must be a pretty bad businessman to not understand that if something is hurting your bottom line, you should stop doing it. Maybe he came from the dot-com school of business; sell things at a loss but make it up in volume...
A friend of mine manages a movie theater here in Las Vegas, Nevada. One night, I went to see a movie with my wife, and as I'm coming out, I see my friend and about 3 other managers chasing this little wanna be thug. Kid couldn't of been more than 10 years old. I stook around in the lobby to see what was going on, and about 10 minutes later, the managers come back in dragging this kid. Kid is just screaming obscenities, threating to beat people up that are 4 times his size, etc. My friend comes over to my wife and I and explains that an older woman(55+) had politely asked this kid to stop talking so loud and swearing in the theater, the kid has told her to fuck off, punched her, than ran. He probably would've gotten out of the place but my friend was slacking off and just happened to be in the same theater. So my friend books out, calls more managers, they chase the kid for about a block, tackle him, and bring him back. So the cops show up, and as this point I'm thinking the kid is going to break his exterior and just start crying. Of course, once the cops showed up he bitched out and started crying. The cops were nice enough to let us laugh at him.
About 2 months later I learned that the husband of the older lady ended up suing the mother of the child, a woman who was barely one rung above poverty on the financial latter. I don't whether to feel bad or good about that. I'll go with good, no sympathy for her, especially considering their are a great many number of inner-city mothers that raise respectable, well-behaved kids.
So that's my midly off-topic story, hope you were entertained.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
High quality special effects, in a decent movie of course, are the only thing they draw me to pay expensive theater prices. The only movie I'll be seeing in the theater for the rest of this year (and as much of next year as I can think of) is The Two Towers. For everything else, I can wait for a DVD release.
But that's just me.
Perhaps these fat bastards in the entertainment industry would get a more positive response (and cashflow) from me if they could release some better material... They keep trotting out rehashed, done-to-death piles of steaming crap with overpaid prima donna scumbags starring in them. What do they expect? Do they really think I'm going to shell out $9 to sit in sticky uncomfortable seats, watching 40 minutes of advertising, trying to ignore the uncivilized mass of cro mags in the audience... just to see the brilliant piece of film that is "Kung Pow- Enter the Fist"?!?!?! Here's an idea, you greedy pricks: GREENLIGHT SOME ORIGINAL STORIES !! Stop making these jerkoff lowest-common-denominator shitfests and make something worth all of the suffering we must endure to see it in the theater. As for DVD sales in particular... Aren't these same tapeworms making money selling those too? I hate to advocate violence toward anyone, but maybe it's time we sanction the savage beating of anyone this greedy and stupid. Sorry about that... I have two more hours at "work"... Time to switch to decaf... My apologies to any Cro Mags out there, I hate to insult you by comparing you to the drooling morons found in most theaters.
Someday a real rain is gonna come...
I mean isn't the point to go out so you then have some place to go back to? What would you do then if the only solution was to watch a movie at your house?
"Well that was great baby, say why don't we go up to the bedroom before we say goodni- "*KNEE TO GROIN* "Hmmm. That didn't work as well as I expected."
Or maybe they just add dates for each other afterwards with CGI over there?
What is music when you despise all sound?
Space the lame bastard instead!
Maybe someone here could help you FIX this problem if you could identify even one DVD by, you know, title, and the DVD player by, you know, model number.
are not at stake, asswipe. At least his isn't. If you were in Saudi right now, trying to make jihaddi goat porn, THEN your lives might be at stake. I would be willing to bet the closest this pompous jackass ever got to risking his life was the last time he stuck a bag on his head and attempted auto erotic asphyxiation.
Go to Afghanistan, shmuck. Oh wait, my bad, that's not for the rich.
Hunh! And all this time I've been wondering why Lucas only puts his crappy movies out on DVD. I guess this explains it.
Breakfast served all day!
(though I'm sure someone has come up with it already):
:)
"Any prediction that a particular industry is doomed to failure within 3-5 years is wrong"
Now I know that technically this can't be true, as industries do eventually fail (and must therefore have failed within 3-5 years of some point), but it's close enough
The commercials being added before the trailers was the last straw for me as well. Unless I know the movie is incredible and has effects & sound to deserve the big screen, there's no chance in hell you'll catch me in a movie theatre.
Damn right!
Down here (New Orleans) we had (almost) all of the public schools institute manditory uniforms - and the reasoning behind it was that it would save parents money since they wouldn't have to buy the designer closes that their children demanded of them.
Seems to me that if you need a school policy to be able to stand up to your children then you've got more serious problems there than spending too much money on clothes.
Sorry, not all of us bring our DVD player and DVD library to work with them.
LucasFilms may go out of business, but I predict a Lucas DVD company forming soon!!! Senor Lucas is no dummy. He may be a lousy director, story writer, awful at casting and wears silly socks, but he is no money dummy. :{)||
WAY too much Bruce Willis movies.
So what he's saying is that if Ep3 sucks, it can't possibly be because Lucas has lost his groove and is making schlock, it must be because of his cheating, stealing, low-down dirty fans.
The movie studios survived VHS, they'll survive DVD... IF they can make something worth watching. I still haven't seen Ep2, and I'm not going to until I can get it used at the used CD store.
Considering a movie, in this case Harry Potter, can make over $300 mil and industry total yearly record breaking and exponentially climbing revenues occur EVERY YEAR, including last year and perdictions for this year, I would have to say this is a sign of greed for which has little company.
..considering I know several people (including my OB/GYN, who has gotten calls to come deliver a baby while in a movie theatre) who turn their phone on vibrate during movies and leave the theater if it rings.
/. would be that irresponsible...)
NOTE to idiots who think that standing in the entrance of the theater is far enough away from the theater that no one can hear you: the sound from there is amplified! Go OUTSIDE the theatre! (not that anyone who reads
Denver Isuzu Suzuki
I completely disagree that anything will kill the box office. Here are some good things about it.
1) It's a night out. To single folks, that doesn't mean much, but when you get married and have kids you learn to appreciate "going to the movies" more than ever before.
2) The concessions are too expensive, but they're GOOD. Come on, admit it. Big ol' tub of popcorn ("Do you want butter on that?" "No thanks, just give me that same yellow swill you put on everybody else's")... a huge box of Raisinettes or a Crunch Bar. You're eating like there's no tomorrow and it doesn't matter. Popcorn all over your tummy by the end of the movie? Just stand up, brush it off, and walk out. Not your problem.
3) Let's not underestimate the value of being in a theater of other people who are excited about a movie. It makes the movie better. Two examples... the first is "Jurassic Park". I was at an overseas premier of "Jurassic Park" and it was so incredibly exciting because I was in a theater of people who were excited by it. The other example is "Meet the Parents", which not only was one of the funniest movies I had ever seen, but it seems like the absolute funniest movie I had ever seen because of the laughter around me.
4) Another thing that people complain about but secretly love are the trailers. First of all, they pad the beginning of the movie so you can be late and not miss the feature. Secondly, they're often entertaining. They're longer than what you see on TV and they really get you excited about the movie. If people hate trailers so much, why is it that you can boost your ticket sales if you tell people it will have a trailer of an eagerly-awaited movie?
5) Big screen and big sound. Yeah, I'm sure your home theater is really nice, and one of these days I'll finish my basement and mine will be really great, too. But it won't be the same as a movie theater. A screen two or three stories high, big-ass speakers all over the place, shaking a big room. Of course, once I finish the home theater, I'll probably feel guilty for going to the movies because of how much I spent on the home theater and that keep me home.
6) Finally, new release, new releases, new releases. Doesn't matter how good your home theater is when the next "Matrix" movie comes out. If you want to see it soon, you'll go to the theater. If you hate the theater that much and really want to watch it at home, you'll have to wait MANY months for that DVD to come out, maybe even a year or more.
So let's give the movie theater the credit it deserves. It's a fun night out. Way more expensive than it ought to be (and what's up with concession stands not taking credit cards?), but it's fun and I'll keep going.
RP
I have a home theater, including a large widescreen television, that if I move my chair a little closer to the TV feels like I am in the theater. But this will never come close to matching the experience of the Movie Theater. Yes, there are the occasional a$$holes who have no courtesy for fellow theater-goers (maybe jamming cellphones in the theater is a good idea!). But I still very much enjoy the going to the theater. Plus, for the most part most movies that I want to see - I don't have the patience to wait for them! I have spent many, many hours standing in lines for certain movies (which Rick has a hand in), and hope to continue this trend!
Let them die... I doubt anyone will really miss:
1- More bad remakes of good old movies.
2- More shitty action movies full of lame CG explosions.
3- More shitty teen comedy/horror movies.
4- More "Black" movies where all the black characters are just black actors playing out negative stereotypes.
5- More bad sequels to bad movies.
6- More churning books into expensive movies that are designed to make money from action figures.
The list goes on... fuck hollywood.
I prefer "Don't let the door hit ya where the Lord split ya."
Meanwhile, Hollywood continues to churn out pure crap. When they figure out it's the story that makes the movie, not the actor or special effects, then they might realize a new golden age.
The reason people are going the DVD+home theatre route is because they'd rather take the risk for three dollars renting at Blockbuster and getting a crappy movie, rather than spending the eight to ten dollars ticket price (plus Coke, popcorn, and jordan almonds, which brings it up to something like $20) only to walk out of the theatre saying "Well, it didn't suck completely." At least at home if it's completely un-watchable, they can switch channels and watch Animal Planet.
Besides, I'd be willing to bet there's a brisk sales in legitimate DVDs, if the numbers of people I see in the checkout lines at Best Buy is any barometer. I've seen people pony up three hundred dollars at a crack for a stack of DVDs. Just in my circle of friends we each spend around a hundred dollars a month on legitimate DVDs. Yeah, DVDs'll kill the movie industry, just like VHS did. McCallum is an obvious jackass.
Although I agree with pretty much everything else that's been said, I really like watching the trailers. I'd be happy with twenty-five minutes of them.
However, I can't stand other types of advertisements at the movies!
The biggest thing that a movie theatre has over watching a DVD hasn't really been mentioned so far. It has nothing to do with screen/sound quality, etc. It is the fact that DVDs come out at least five months after the movie is in theatre. For me, this is a big deal, since 90% of the time when I go to a big movie theatre, it is for a movie that I've been eagerly anticipating for months (at least) ahead of time. So waiting many months more just isn't an option.
Atheism is a religion to the same extent that not collecting stamps is a hobby.
perdictions?
damn keyboard...
*ahem*
But, to address Hollywood's point, piracy is illegal, as in against the law. It is stealing, regardless of the excuse. I listen to the constant droan from the 'net community that "if they weren't so expensive, we wouldn't have to steal." .... "have to" steal? Nobody makes you steal - and stealing that movie does not make it cheaper, it makes it more expensive.
Even if you go to best buy, you can routinely pick up DVDs of new movies for less than $20 on sale. Twenty bucks, and you can watch the movie as often as you want. For movies you don't like that much, pay the $4 to rent it. If you think it's too expensive, don't buy it and write a letter to the producers saying that you think they're too expensive. Movie prices aren't arbitrary, you know. The price of everything is based on what the marketeers think people are willing to pay. If you tell them you aren't willing to pay X, they'll surely make note of it.
All you're accomplishing by stealing is punishing us law-abiding citizens. What do you think inspired the DMCA? Do you really think that the DMCA would be a reality today if piracy (again, theft, as in stealing) weren't such a big problem? If someone were to steal your paycheck, you'd be furious. If someone were to steal your paycheck every time you got paid, you'd be out for blood.
Disclaimer: I don't work for the movie industry, the MPAA, RIAA, or anyone else that has any material involvement in cinematic entertainment.
I thought Betamax was going to "be responsible for the downfall of the movie industry". Or was that VHS?
THey must have been hanging around the RIAA people.
Monday Page 1: CD Sales booming, best year ever, most money ever made in one year by CD sales.
Tuesday Page 2: Online music trading killing CD sales. Artists starving.
I mean really -- I have seen 4 or 5 individual movies make more money in the last 3 or 4 years than the total money made by all movies 10 years ago. You go wait in line for Harry Potter or LOTR tickets in the next few months and then tell me that DVD's are killing the movie thaters....sheeeze...
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
While I will grant them that I feel my home theater experience is much better than going to the movie theater (better seats, comparable sound, cheaper food), I don't think theaters are about to dry up any time soon.
Despite having these capabilities, I still go to the movies damn near every weekend. Why? Because when it comes down to it, there's not many easy things you can do to occupy your time, and most people who are movie fans want to see a movie as soon as possible. Despite the theater experience becoming less fun due to poor audiences and greed, I still want to see new movies in the theater. True, movies can be pirated... but then you've effectively defeated the purpose of a home theater by feeding it poor quality sound and video.
Movie theaters aren't drying up, they're just a pack of greedy liars who will stop at nothing to suck as much money as they can out of the general public.
It may be that people didnt go see AoTC 5 times because it just wasnt that good. I know that when I saw it the 2nd time i found it boring. Once i had seen the CGI and knew what to expect the story itself was just not enough to keep me awake.
Something that is in demand shouldn't go out of buisness. The problem is that movie stars, producers, studios, etc... want to have their cake and eat it too. I'm sorry but people don't need to be making millions for acting in some half ass movie. My guess is that their spending habits are the real cause of their financial problems. Also, what about dynamical movie prices? Why should all movies cost the same? Do all 27" tvs cost the same? Do all size 10 shoes cost the same? When you produce 9 shitty fucking movies out of 10 and charge high prices for shitty movies, why go see it for quality movie prices? They have certainly dumbed down movies lately and this dumbing down is now common in all media these days. At first it's funny and cute but now it's just boring and stupid. Perhaps they need to focus on producing quality movies instead of putting a over payed actor in it, slapping on a few special effects, and calling it a movie. Wasn't the movie clerks, mallrats, etc... suppose to prove something about this? I enjoyed those low budget movies quite a bit. That's because there was some thought put into it. Another thing that pisses me off about going out to see movies has to be the rude people. People are rude as fuck these days. Babies, cell phones, etc.. are now common place while watching movies and that's just bullshit. Anyway, I think Hollywood going out of buisness would be a good thing. From the corpses would rise movies worth seeing. Oh, and the money actors, singers, etc... get for what they do is still just mind bending. What the fuck? There's no reason to get payed what they do. If they'd unspoil themselves, things would be much cheaper for the consumer. That my dear folks is steady output of my mind in raw form. No formatting, no organization, no manipulating, and no bullshiting. Pure thoughts. :)
Perhaps someone else will step up with original stories then.
This is the same company that wants to push for all-DVD quality films, complaining that the medium will bankrupt them??
The same company whose major summer film (along with SpiderMan and LOTR) grossed more than the GNP of several small countries (hundreds of millions of dollars together) just in theatrical release?
The same company whose advertising blitzes are in the $20 to $50 million dollar range, not counting tie-ins with McDonalds, etc?
The same company which still has yet to release (or just recently released) several of the biggest films of all time, forcing fans to develop the tactics LucasArts is complaining about if they ever want to see the films again?
Well boo fucking hoo.
I've only gone to 2 movies in the theater this year because none of these pandering McD's-tie-in bullshit special-fx films interest me. If the script was quality instead of crap, there was actual acting instead of an army of cgi clones, and an original thought now and again I'd be willing to dish out $50 for 2 hours entertainment. Hmm, maybe not.
But maybe when all the incumbent fat-cat assholes have gone bankrupt from mishandling their fortunes, we'll get to see some of the underground talent and concepts!
I'm not sure if anyone has made this point yet or not. But I think the movie industry is victim to sheer laziness. If they were to keep up with technology and were to be more open minded to new standards (I.E. Digital projection) I believe that would breathe new life into the "doomed" industry.
The only problem with this is the same problem that always occurs when you find a new way or trend of doing things.. More automation, less human interference. The houses that films are shipped to for mass distribution would defenetly feel this. From what I've read the new format can be sent to the establishments via a secure high speed connection. This leaves those people out of the picture.
Their love for the almighty buck and the movie industries procrastination is leading to their imploding demise. I believe that is the main reason for this "downfall" that Rick speaks of.
I'm starting to wonder if this situation is just an urban myth...
-no, it's not an urban myth, me and my girlfriend were watchin We Were Soldiers at a packed theatre, some guys phone went off 2 aisles behind us, he answered the phone and started a normal conversation he even said 'I'm in the theatre right now watching a movie'. So he continues to talk for another minute, then a redneck starts yelling 'Shut the hell up' about 5 times, the guy on the phone kept talking normally.
Finally the redneck got up and turned around and told him to shut off his 'fucking phone', so the guy calmly said goodbye and shut off the phone just like nothing happened. Everyone in the theatre was on the Redneck's side and he got applause.
what? mmmm, cluster of arms, legs, boobies, all soft and warm... boingggggg!
Yeah! They should also bring back corporal punishment, now that I'm out of school.
btw, if you think this is -1, Redundant, consider that the effect is cumulative.
sic transit gloria mundi
Did anyone else hear a little voice screaming "THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!" as they read this?
Seriously, every other month it's either the music industry or Hollywood going out of business within 3 years.
Or within 7 days if they watch some sucky cursed video.
The underlying reason is of course laziness and greed; which is the cause of the constant rehash of crap on TV and the silver screen. Greed is the driving force behind the sequels that are painfully obvious as attempts to make money first, tell story later. They never learn that FIRST you tell a story and then the money follows. (there are as always, exceptions).
The entertainment industry keeps overextending itself, while adding more middleman bloat. Its sorta like the rumor game, and in many ways. First, the idea/vision entropy as it goes up, down, side and back various chains of red tape and different hands. The end result can either produce crap that was originally good, or fail to be produced at all. The other aspect is that those in this chain go more by seniority (the corporate/government model) than competence. (you can put credentialism in there too, but not like other industries) That means that the higher you go up the more likely you get some empty headed suit that has been conditioned over the years to be just as he/she is and will not even think of changing.
The movie of hollywood could be called, "joining the paradigm... falling into the undapting and inefficient pit of bureacracy"
Not to mention product comercials before a movie you have paid for...
Not just commercials...commercials that are shot on video and blown up to 35mm so that even if they're vaguely creative or entertaining they still look like complete shit!
I actually kind of like the trailers, especially if they're funny. Aside from getting a chance to see what movies are coming up, they give the audience a chance to settle down and shut up, and provide a window of opportunity for latecomers to get in without missing the film or disrupting the audience.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Sometimes I go because of the trailers. Which in some cases are actually better than the movies..... The Mummy
Please, please, please God
I will miss those wonderful Hollywood film studios, after all I love their high quality output so much that I have not been to a film for months, On the other hand I go to the theatre regularly (as I actually get something worth the effort of going out for). Just think how dreaful it would be if I could see something as good on a screen.
Wow, if there's one thing you can't convince me of it's that George Lucas is worried about his financials.
Then again, if he is, I'd be glad to fork over $60 for the original, un-enhanced, un-mutiliated Star Wars Trilogy on DVD.
According to a recent article in the Washington Post, "In today's Hollywood, box office revenue makes up less than a quarter of a film's total take. The largest piece of a movie's money pie comes from sales and rentals of its DVDs." It goes on to note that while "Monster's Inc." grossed $255 million at the box office it is expected to generate $380 million+ from DVDs (DVD sales have already topped $140 million). Seems like hollywood will be running pretty strong even if box office sales do decline.
In general, it seems unlikely that an industry could destory itself economically when the products in competition both generate revenue for the same industry. Of course, it might have some effect on quality. The low overhead for DVD production relative to theater releases allow crappy films to generate profits. Something akin to what video did to the porn industry a la "Boogie Nights." Of course, this also means good things for indy films and pieces that appeal only a cross-section of society, which could yield some high quality pictures.
I mean, hey, if Episode III fails, they can always blame piracy!
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
Oh. I feel SO sorry for these poor, unfortunate Hollywood producers and studios! As a matter of fact, I believe their doom will bring down the entire world in an economic crisis worse in its consequences than any global nuclear war. As such, I believe the United States government should immediately raise our taxes by several exponents and give ALL of the tax revenues to the MPAA. This will allow poor children in El Salvador to have a warm meal every evening.
Oh, My God! The sky IS falling!
Then he told me he hadn't had a bite in a week.
So I bit him!
Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week...
That is all.
If you want to go to a megacorporate theater, hop on the bus and go to that giant Sony theater in Seattle. Tacoma's practically another suburb now anyway...
Going to a movie is about the drive, the standing in line, the expensive popcorn, the huge lines, sometimes it's about the cell phones. (Though not often in Minnesota where I live.) It's about finding just the right seat, and having a shared experience with other people. It's the theatre. It's about driving home and talking about the movie on the way there. It's about taking 30 minuites to decide to slide your arm around your date. It's about getting away from the kids for once. It's about a whole lot more than picture quality and sound. (If you want high picture quality--go to a play.)
Everyone knows renting a movie or buying one is cheaper than going with the family. When is this news-worthy?
Where can I buy a dvd player that does not listen to the disk telling me a cannot fast forward? That really pisses me off.
This is the kind of thing I have known when DVD had come out, but there is more to it than the article says. Who is going to watch it in big screen, knowing that the cinema version is hacked in half to pass artificially lowered rating label, overpriced, no interactive features, zero bonus documentry/games/eggs and can only be seen for a short period of time? If studios can't live with it, then it's better for them to die off instead of letting them to fund their clueless lawyers.
Is there someplace I can go to donate money to this cause:)
"May the door not hit you where the dog should have bit you."
The funny thing is, people have bemoaned the impending death of the box office since time immemorial. The first thing that was going to kill movies was television. And true, it did (along with the busting-up of the vertical monopolies held by movie studios) fundamentally change the movie-going experience, turning what had been a whole evening's worth of entertainment (newsreel, shorts, B movie, feature) into a single movie presentation. On the other hand, it also improved movie presentations dramatically, as the studios went to panoramic widescreen and more use of color to draw audiences back out of the home.
And then there was Valenti's prediction that VHS would kill movies. As you can see, it hasn't.
I don't think that DVDs necessarily mean the end of movies, either. Though if it means studios start to concentrate on quality, putting an end to the sort of crap movies that seem to dominate the box office these days, that could be a blessing. (No more Adam Sandler, please! No more Tom Green!) There are some films that you just have to see on the big screen, and I've been known to drive all the way from Springfield, Missouri to Kansas City to see films that may not make it down here. (I'm considering such an expedition to see Spirited Away, for instance, even though I've already seen it on a DIVX ripped from the Japanese DVD.) But I could be an exception to the general rule...
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
>>8. Just too many people in general
So which is it? People aren't going to movies anymore, or, the experience is undesirable because the theatres are crowded?
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Go ahead and cut your losses. Stop making the movies.
But you see, those who really love to make movies so much they'd do it without pay will continue. And the quality of movies will rise dramatically. And we'll be watching...from our home theaters.
But I think you're a bit off. RIAA is only stupid and greedy. It should read like this; --- Redmond, WA; You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Finally, a new movie idea!
--"The perfect example of the man of action is the suicide." - William Carlos Williams
My home theater -- as nice as it is (big screen, HDTV, Dolby Digital ES 7.1... no THX... yet), until I can install a dedicated (sound proofed, like my movies loud enough to _feel_ the sounds) -- is not the same as a cinema.
Sure, there are inconveniences in going out to see movies. But, for me, watching movies on a full screen, sound, and all, is worth the few bothers (rising ticket prices hardly withstanding).
Obviously, the movie industry can stop worrying about movie piracy, since the piracy crowd (i.e., us) doesn't pay for movie tickets.
:) )
I, for one, ENJOY having an excuse to turn my cellphone off and eat some butter-soaked popcorn. I do not WANT the ability to pause the movie.
Also, I have not yet purchased a 10' screen.
Come on now, you have to get out of your parents' basement once in a while... (Star Trek conventions and D&D parties don't count
That's $38 for my wife and I to go to a movie. *That's* why we don't go very often. When you compare that to $20 to BUY previously viewed DVD, you're getting seriously screwed at the cinema.
I suspect that these over-top-statements were made in order to needle movie theater owners to invest in the digital projectors that George Lucas and his buddies would like to have their movies shown with (since they are now shooting films in digital).
Hense the comparison to DVDs; the digital projector equivalent for the home which is widely accepted.
From what I have read, these digital projectors will make a significant difference in the movie theater experience and perhaps it does make long term sense for the theaters to upgrade. However, with all the crap that Hollywood is putting out now a days (including Star Wars) and theaters' tight margins, I would guess that there is a lot of resistence to upgrade. Hence these crazy statements from a movie producer to try and spur them on.
What a bunch of baloney!
No Hollywood in 3 years seems a little histrionic. It won't happen.
What will happen is that some producer will get a clue and and start selling DVD's online: Take orders for a big release and guarantee overnight delivery of the DVD one week before theater release. The buzz generated for a good flick ought to boost ticket sales. The DVD sales would complement and contribute to ticket sales. Result" more money.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Didn't we hear this about videos about 20 years ago? It's not DVD that's killing movies, it's the stupid studios. If using big stars kills budgets, then don't use them. There are thousands of unknowns who are far better actors than the big names anyway. Learn how to budget. Don't waste money. The daily catering isn't necessary on the set, is it? My father-in-law was a purchasing manager for Fox studios. The excess, waste, extravagance and beaurocracy is dusgusting, if half of his stories are true.
I don't know jack about economics. My only education on the subject was Econ 101 in school. They drew a little graph for us - the theoretical supply/demand curve. The goal, they explained was to find the sweet spot where the supply and demand curves crossed. That is where profit is maximized. Perhaps the studios haven't taken Econ 101 or perhaps they think that moviegoing is an inelastic market and the price of the movie won't affect demand. Perhaps they need to go back to school. For the $10 a pop (or more) we're paying these days, I'm mighty choosy about what I go to see.
Which leads me to the next point. Movies suck. They all suck. They're so over-Hollywoodized that I just can't stand going any more. And it's getting harder to find places to see indy films, as the smaller theaters get crushed by the megaplexes. Perhaps this has something to do with Hollywood's plight?
In any case, so long as movies continue to be made, people will see them in theaters. Not everyone has a home theater with THX and Dolby 5.1. And not everyone's home is quieter or less distracting than a theater. And some of us like to get out of the house once in a while. And I certainly don't have a 40 foot high screen in my living room. And I don't like to wait for good movies to appear on DVD - I want to see them right away. Maybe that's why McCallum's upset. They botched the last two Star Wars movies so badly that maybe they're afraid everyone's just going to wait for DVD next round. I know I will.
While you can't (affordably) duplicate the home theater yet, its just a matter of time. You can already duplicate the sound experience of most theaters, with DVD and surround technology being available for $500. It's just a matter of time before that 60 inch plasma screen comes down from $10K. I certainly agree that investing in public movie houses seems like a losing proposition in the USA. I don't expect public behavior to improve anytime soon...
The only thing I don't get about theater prices is why does it cost the same $8 to get into the $150M special effects laiden blockbuster as it costs to see the artsy snooze fest produced for $20M? If the theater doesn't make money on the showing, why don't they fill the seats by dropping the price on the poorly attended ones?
Sleep is for the Weak
I'm surprised it took some one at the studios this long to mention this.
I don't remember the last time I went to a theater to see a movie (except when using movie passes we've received as gifts).
First off, $8 for a ticket is simply too high. Two tickets roughly equals the cost of a DVD (it's actually more, but most people don't shop around as much as I do). Add in food and drinks, and you're looking at $30 for two people to go see a movie. I'll pass, thank you very much!
Besides, my popcorn tastes better than the theaters!
The dry fish swims alone.
to you home theatre buffs out there, as good as any home theatre experience can be (and there are many good systems out there), home theatre will never be the same as going to the theatre. The whole theatre experience is what I love. As nice as home theatres can be...my wife will never allow me to convert any room in our home into anything that will rival a good theatre. The experience of getting your ticket, getting the snacks and enjoying a film continues to bring me back. Especially on opening night for a Star Wars film. Yes, you pay too much for the popcorn, drinks, and candy. Yes, there are unruly people (btw - the silent mode on your cell phone if it rings near me during a movie is between my shoe and the floor), who should get an awesome home theatre and stay home. But its the theatre experience that I enjoy and makes my favorite movies that much better. IMHO.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Videos are killing the radio stars
P2P is crushing music sales
VCRs are hurting movie sales
Why is this claim anymore credible?
-B
Netflix
Ok, maybe that's one word...
Unlimited movies (I can have 3 out at a time), no late charges, postage paid return mailer, $20/month. Even cheaper if you can find a deal (I was offered a lower rate in exchange for agreeing to a specific period of membership).
I'm close to a Netflix distribution center so if drop off at USPS I'll get a new movie in 2-3 days.
Both the theaters and Blockbuster should be scared of Netflix.
Good riddence! Don't hesitate, file chapter 11 asap! There is more than enough consumer demand for a more consumer friendly hollywood company.
they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years.
They. That's right. THEY will be putting hollywood out of business, but when he says "THEY" he doesn't me us, or the file sharers, or the fans. What he really should be saying is "THEY", Hollywood themselves.
If you're in the automotive business, and business is doing lousy because of the economy, you cut costs. If you're a dot-com, before you go bust, you cut costs. If you're a doctor, HMO, Radio Station, Factory, Fast Food Joint, anybody in business, when business is lousy, you cut costs.
So why is it then, that when Hollywood feels the economic crunch, they blame everyone, raise their salaries, raise their costs, and then stick it to the fans with a higher ticket price?
If they were any other business, they would have folded by now. I kind of hope the big studios fold. Little studios will take over, for cheaper, with new and innovative ideas. We'll still have movies to watch, it just won't be the movies THEY make. Good riddance.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years
Considering the crap that Hollywood thinks is entertainment these days, I shall not shed a tear.
A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with. - Tennessee Williams
The Sixth Sense did this...
It would start with some lame add that wouldn't let you skip to the next track, fastforward, or hit the menu button. I think I even tried stopping and then hitting play and it just resumed where it was.
I watched the movie once and never again because of this even.
Take a pay cut, fuckers!
Yes, technology is going to make you obsolete, but only if you're unwilling to compromise. These days, with improving technology and amateur entertainment, people don't feel like shelling out a ridiculously huge sum of money to go see a movie in the theatres. The local theatres charge $13.95 CDN per movie here, and frankly, I just don't feel like paying that much when for the price of two admissions and a drink I can buy a DVD.
You're all just going to have to grow up and realize that you are being forced to relinquish some of your control over when and how we entertain ourselves. You do not need to be making 7-9 figure salaries; you're all just going to have to eventually settle for a paltry few hundred thousand dollars a year or suffer the consequences.
Take all the megamovieplexgargantua theaters, and instead of each minitheater being open to all, have them designated as:
Theater 1, The Playpen: Squalling babies allowed, offering counselling at a premium for idiots who take their 2 year olds in to see the latest rated R slasher flicks.
Theater 2, The Lame Room: For people who really don't care about watching the movie, and instead want to talk, make out, use their cel phones.
Theater 3, The Idiot Room: for people who want to do their own MST3K performance.
Theater 4, Paradise: For people who actually want to *gasp* watch the movie.
That way, they'll actually make MORE money, rather than driving away the folks who would normally want Theater 4!
Meanwhile, has anyone else noticed the irony that this is the same Lucasfilm that not only took upwards of 5 years originally to release their movies to tape/DVD, but supported the old "pay to watch" DIVX standard, refusing to release the original trilogy to DVD until it died?
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
I did the google search and went through the comments in this story (not all the way to 0, though) and didn't find anything.
... they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years.
Good.
I am quite civilized, and I should be brought a beer immediately. -- Bruce Sterling
I see the indie/foreign films that don't wind up on DVD. I go to a 2nd run theater where people are well behaved for the most part. Personally, I enjoy the audience reaction (if well behaved) over sitting at home (not to mention I don't have a home theater system because I wastch almost no TV).
yes, I watch about 10-15 movies a month for $20. And I have a decent home theater setup. So for most movies that is more than adequate. This alone negates the need to get to theater, better picture / sound. Now with HDTV & sorround sound setups, you can easily have these at home.
Sure I will go to theaters, when going out with friends or to see a nice movie like Matrix or LOTR. Otherwise, I am a happy home theater geek!.
As the cost of going to the movies has escalated to $20 or so for a ticket...
This guy is great!
"we raised ticket prices so much, it's like people don't want to give us all their money"
"I blame rental and retail prices"
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years.
This is the first good news I've heard on Slashdot this week!
Although I think he's being a little bit optimistic on how soon this will happen. Have a look on IMDB at how much money even the worst recent movies have made vs. their production cost.. That's a disgusting profit margin for any industry.
Protect our freedoms! Fight DMCA / CBDTPA / SDMI / SSSSA / Palladium / etc. Boycott Big Media!
6. Six or seven trailers before the show starts
They have actually started selling advertisements for common products (commercials!) for stuff like Volkswagen, Downy, etc in place of (or mixed in with) the trailers. And why not? They have a captive audience, chained in their seats by the small fortune they invested in an evening of enjoyment...
And with the stuff that Hollywood is squeezing out, you really get to see the gist of the movie in the trailer, and whats left beyond the trailer is not worth the $6 or $8 that you would have to pay.
There is an exception to this rule. Crowd participation movies like the Rocky Horror Picture Show are much better watched in a theater than at home...But then you're supposed to be yelling at the screen...
--Storm
Ok, so you aren't an MPAA or RIAA exec.... *g*
The problem with your R&D analogy is that the only R&D occurs with companies producing SFX, film stock, cameras, etc. The movies and albums themselves are "art" or "expression."
The MPAA and RIAA don't produce anything, but they speak on behalf of their industries, and are a means of referring to their members as a whole (The "A" at the end of the acronyms refers to "Association".)
They are bad at marketing. All they market is their biggest budget efforts, with little to no regard for quality. The only exception I can recall was "The Blair Witch Project", which was done on a very low budget compared to movies or records that usually get the push.
When is the last time you saw an ad for a movie that didn't have at least one multi-million dollar star involved? When was the last time you saw a band that didn't fit a top-40 profile for a non-major genre get promoted? How many times now have we found out that a "band" was actually a fraud that was lip-synching or so heavily processed that the singer in concert sounds nothing like the album?
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
It is through a sly business model that the movie industry is "technically" not price-fixing the movie tickets. But in fact, they are. Of your eight dollar tickets, only about $0.02 goes to the theater itself. Why do they charge eight bucks? Because if they charge any less, they wind up owing money to the movie distributor.
That's just what i was thinking.... most of the movies i've been to recently have been PACKED. And that's not only the blockbuster type movies... on a saturday night in a big city, just about every showing of every movie is packed.... i'm not believing they're not making money.
I hope they all just go away. Then maybe people will wake up and start new movie companies, this time with talented people. I just love how they like to try and place the blame elsewhere when they are the ones producing shitty content which people are increasingly having no respect for.
Can you really imagine going to the movies as a family without munchies? When I was a kid movies were a "treat" and usually included the mammoth family popcorn tub, drinks (sometimes shared), and a candy bar.
Now you can't get those family popcorn tubs, even though prices have skyrocketed. You can't get a standard size candy bar, only the oversize packs. You pay more for a 20oz watery soda with too much ice than for 2-3 large bottles at 7-11, much less a grocery store.
Despite that obscene gouging, I cannot imagine being so tight-fisted that I wouldn't buy the kids in the group the same as I got as a child. I'm not saying you need to give in to the whining for more candy when it's gone, but it just wouldn't be right to eliminate it. Even at home I usually nuke a bag of popcorn when I sit down to watch a flick on DVD!
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Right here.
Or there is the original movie theatre alternative: the drive-in! They are getting pretty hard to find, but the one near where I live is hands-down the best movie experience. It's reasonable as heck, too: $7 Canadian for a double feature. The screen is huge, the environment is controlled (window goes up, window goes down) and the sound system is as good as your stereo. I don't know exactly what the story is on the concession there, but believe it or not, they don't fleece you. I guess because you could bring in a trunkload of outside food, they provide a high-quality, reasonably priced menu. Try a large popcorn (and it's huge) for $2 Canadian. (Last time I checked, that's about a nickel in USD)
"Smart is sexy." -- D. Scully ("War of the Coprophages")
Office Space just missed its costs at theaters, and Jennifer Aniston back then was cheap.
So yes, some good movies miss their marks because they're good, but often overlooked.
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
Actually, I just read a very interesting message posted by a guy who did accounting for movie theaters.
He claims he has never once seen a theater that would have been profitable if it wasn't for selling concessions!
Apparently, Hollywood screws over the theaters pretty bad on their cost to show new films. (Typically, they do a 90/10 deal. Hollywood gets 90% of whatever a new movie earns in ticket sales, and the theater keeps the other 10%. After the film runs for so many weeks, the amount drops on a sliding scale. So after a few weeks, it might be 70/30 instead of 90/10 - but lots of people already saw the movie by then.)
Furthermore, Hollywood often forces the theaters to enter a contract guaranteeing they'll show the movie for no fewer than a set number of weeks. (That partially explains why so many of the mom and pop theaters, and maybe even some of the drive-thrus, have closed down. To offer a decent selection of movies all showing at once, you have to have a large number of screens.)
For old movies, they sometimes offer a deal where a theater can simply buy it, instead of renting it - and then can make 100% of the profit showing it whenever they like. This is rarely done, however. (Hollywood makes exceptions to this rule for perennial favorites like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", where a theater would obviously rather just buy it outright if they could.)
So what you really have is a business model of selling people food and drinks, not making money showing movies. That's why the stuff seems like such a rip-off.
and thought that the Star Wars producer felt that DVDs hurt his body odor.
The King is Dead!
Long Live the King!
personally, I wont be sheding any tears when hollywood hangs itself.
Chicago2600.net more than a lifestyle, its a survival trait.
Ay home, I can wath movies on a screen that it just as big as in the theater (not really, but im considerably closer), I can get cheap food and drinks, no one is on phones, the movie only costs a few bucks for many people and best of all my feet can be lifted of the floor withought all that goo sucking me down. Now, why do I want yo go to the theater again?
Doesn't "Hollywood" make money off of DVD distrubution? Why do they care if people see the movie in the theater or at home, as long as they pay for it? DVD may be kicking Cinemark in the nuts, but if people are buying tons of DVD's Hollywood should be ecstatic - cheaper distrubution than reels of film.
On another point... Even in a world of perfect DRM, DVDs will screw Hollywood. At a certain point, consumers are not going to watch remakes of old plots because they own a better version on a DVD which will be picture perfect for decades. What is Hollywood going to do then? Why would you watch the latest remake of a French comedy when you can watch the better, original version dubbed in English?
Imminent Death Of Movie Industry Predicted. No Film at 11.
> 6. Six or seven trailers before the show starts
Funny, I always make sure I am at the movie on time so I don't miss the trailers. I often catch a movie that I really want to see in the previews. Trailers do bug me on DVD/VHS, most of the time because they are trailers for some moldy movie that came out about the time of the rental and I have see a bazillion times. Boring.
And the most annoying thing of all, while I'm on the subject of DVDs, is *ANYTHING* on the DVD that I cannot skip over or fast-forward through when I spend hard earned money to buy the video. Why am I *forced* to watch the FBI warning every time I view the movie. Did you think I missed it the first time? How about other shit like production company ads? Fuck you, I'm the customer and I paid for a product - I expect it to be delivered in a satisfying manor.
Oh yeah, and why do people spell is T-H-E-A-T-R-E? Are we watching the movie at the olde plowe shoppe in colour at the local movie centre?
Nah, I don't believe their propoganda, and I'm entirely certain they are treating customers like crap, so I'll stick to my own personal boycott.
In the not-to-distant future, megaplex movie theaters will go the way of drive-in theaters: extinction. This is just another example of how society is becoming more and more fragmented, with leisure-time activities becoming less and less "social".
Do you see kids playing a pick-up game of baseball anymore? Nope, all youth sports is all in controlled, adult-supervised, "closed" environments. Movie watching is no different...
Chris
How many times have you gone to a movie and remarked "when that happened, the whole crowd laughed, yelled, groaned, etc."
Any truth to the rumour that movie theatres now employ professional laughers, yellers and groaners in the audience to convince fellow moviegoers that they're actually Having A Good Time?
when I hear about 9-digit salaries for individual actors in a big-name film
Yeah, a lot of movie actors make over $100,000,000 per movie. Some are even coming close to $1,000,000,000
Or were the original figures in yen?
I heard that Danny Glover will be getting $1.6 trillion for the next Lethal Weapon movie!
I think you're all missing the fact that Hollywood won't die on the vine, they'll just call their pet congressmen and make sure that DVDs are only playable one time in a specially formatted RIAA controlled player. Then charge you for the your own popcorn that you made in YOUR microwave, because you ate it during the DVD playback, and you had to agree to this charge in the EULA when you opened the DVD case.
good! open up the market a bit and let others make better movies than the lowest-common-denominator shit that Hollywood churns out
Vivid DVD's do.
The parent claimed he had never heard a cell phone in a theater before, and said he thought it was an urban legend.
/rant
Out here in Southern California, a cell phone rings in a theatre more than 60% of the time. Some theatres flash a screen that says "please turn off all cell phones" before the movie starts.
I really hate going to the theatre now. I paid $18 for LOTR (Me and girlfriend) and it was 3 months after opening. The quality of the film was horrible after being played hundreds of times. The frames would skip as would the sound. Some parts were out of focus and had that annoying "film hair" dancing around. Oh yeah and the sound that seems to "waver" now and then as the projector speed adjusts itself.
Now compare that to watching the DVD in full digital sound at home with a flawless picture on a 60" big screen while naked. A quick shopping.yahoo.com search gives me a price of $13.99 + S&H. And if I were so inclined, get a "free evaluation" DVD divx rip which is nearly as good except for a half-way intermission between the 2 files. Reminds me of good old monster Laser Disks when you had to flip them.
If he's right, his sign will say "will produce for food."
char *mySig;
they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years."
He says this like it's a bad thing.
Sig is on vacation
How can the movie industry be doomed by the move from theatre to DVD? People still have to buy the DVD, the profits of which still go to the movie company, and just like with VHS, they don't realease the DVD until after the theatre run is done, so people still do end up seeing it in the theatres that don't feel like waiting.
And it's not true that the home experience is as good as the theatre when talking about the sorts of films LucasFilm works on (where effects are important). Now, it *IS* true for movies where the special effects aren't important, or aren't even there at all, like "soap opera flicks" as I call them.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
And, how much did you pay for that equipment? $250? $1000? Including a large enough TV and you're talking about spending in the multi-thousands.
I can STILL go to a movie for $7.50 (plus or minus a couple of bucks depending on what time, where, and how old I am). Pick the right time and I'm in the theater by myself. A little planning and I'm watching the movie months before you are and spoiling it. This will still be the case three years from now.
While ogle can ignore the mandatory advertisements (the no-fast-forward sections), the region code is often enforced in the hardware not the software, so using ogle doesn't help circumvent that. (You can change region codes, but the limit of 5 (I think) switches before you are locked out is not under ogle's control.)
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Although an actor's particular skill may also be some what of an objective opinion, I would actually place Guy Pierce on a much higher plane than even the remarkably likeable Tom Hanks. IMHO, Tom Hanks has a lot of on-screen charisma, and is a capabable actor, but Guy Pierce is just believeable because of his acting talent.
The first time I saw Guy Pierce was in the excellent Australian film "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (later ripped off by the embarrasingly poor American film "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything"). Guy Pierce plays an extravagant cross dresser (very animated, very gay), along with Hugo Weaving (who later played Agent Smith in The Matrix).
It was *amazing* to see Guy Pierce play a tough guy in LA Confidential and again in his superb role in Memento.
Ditto for Hugo Weaving, who I first saw as a gay crossdresser in Priscilla, then saw again as the cold, calculating Agent Smith in The Matrix.
I guess what I'm driving at is this: Tom Hanks, is incredibly likeable, a face everyone knows, and therefore commands a great salary. But, IMHO, millions of bucks doesn't necessarily buy great actors, it just buys a face that everyone recognizes and will hopefully fill the theatres those first few weekends.
There's more on this (and why American cinema, well really mainstream Hollywood flicks) have more or less consistently sucked in recent years:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hol(Sorry, the above link refuses to show up properly during preview, don't know why! There's a space in there that needs to not be there! Sorry, I'm ignorant, this the first time I'm using HTML tags)
There's plenty of interviews, some of them striking (yeah, Hollywood mongols themselves describing the changes). It used to be execs sat around discussing the script when deciding whether or not to green light a film. Nowadays, with the more corporate (investors! investors! investors!) culture and the death of American indie film distribution, the first question is finding a script that they can stick a well known star into. Big star = big bucks at the theatre. The script iself is discussed as a second phase! The big star is literally more important than the script. And it shows.Also, a lot of the big Hollywood stars have "brand name recognition", and therein lies their value to Hollywood. Whether or not they're incompetent, marginal, good or maybe even great actors doesn't really matter or enter into the salaries they command.
That's Hollywood for ya!There are plenty of times when my wife says, "I want to get out of the house. Let's go see a movie". This kind of thing doesn't seem all too uncommon in the area I live.
Malls close early. Clubs aren't quite for everyone and many times have $10+ entrance fees so you can pay too much for a drink. Movies fill in the gap nicely. Maybe that's why I see swarms of teens there on the weekend.
So go ahead and prophesize the end of the movie theater world. It just doesn't seem likely to happen.
Unless you are the slobbiest bitch on the planet, there is no way your bathroom compares to the stink-ridden piss and shit covered hell holes that the theatres offer up.
The last several movies I went too were ruined by the kiddies and idiots yacking away. I don't even consider going to movies that aren't at least R anymore.
I'm depending on my new home theater to make movies enjoyable again and I'll just learn to live with the difference in fidelity.
Rick McCallum - producer of a series of films that along with perhaps only a handful of other films - people actually queue up months in advance to see the thing in a theatre, claims the movie theatre is dead?
:) Better tell that to the guy in the tent round the local cineplex...
LOL
He's right of course - for the reasons everyone's citing on this thread.
Personally, it takes a lot to drag me into a movie theatre ( and yes Rick, don't worry - about the only thing that will make me put up with the smell of stale sweat, sticky floors, some dude with his knee in the back of my seat, the cellphones etc is the next Star Wars (and the next LOTR episode)).
And he IS right about DVD and home theatre - it fecking well IS better. The picture quality for a start, is abysmal in every thatre I've been in. You can go on all day about the resolution of a big projector screen versus DVD but the end result is - those back projector movie theatre screens suck - the colours are washed out, the scratches are unacceptable, and just where in the name of panaflex do those HAIRS come from ffs!!
Add to this the fact that you're always too damm close to the screen - close enough for the judder between frames to be noticable and close enough to have to move your head to follow the action, and close enough that the corners of the damm screen are darker than the middle. Yes - back projection sucks. My 32" TV may not have the same resolution, but each part is lit indiviudally, the phosphors have a bit of persistence, and I don't sit close enough to feel the static on my eyebrows.
At least the last time I went you could pay a bit more for a theatre with a bar and some decent chairs. You still can't SMOKE though.
To add insult to injury, our local pit "cineworld" or something - has some daft self advertising that ends with the phrase "see it your way". Do wot? If I was seeing it my way, I'd have to bring my own screen, a decent Beef Satay, some beers, a sofa, a big cigar and chuck everyone else out of the room. No wait - thats my house I'm thinking of - geez Rick - and you just realised this?
I went to to see clones in the theatre, but I won't have really seen it til I get the DVD on.
First of all this is a poorly written article. He says that people see movies less, and then states that the price of seeing movies has skyrocketed. Wouldn't this be a counteracting force? Besides, box office receipts are on the rise. Those stats are easily searched online. So whose ass is he picking these numbers from? And so what if everything "isn't a Titanic" success like he mentions. As if every movie needs to make over a billion dollars at the box office to succeed. Boo woo.
Besides, should a movies success really depend on people seeing it over and over again? Instead, go 5 times and see 5 different movies. You'll get more out of it... unless MTV has already rotted away your ability to remember.
I hope these big budget movies do become a titanic flop. I'm tired of big flicks that reek of Hollywood's baby formula. Let's see if I can give it to you. Handsome leading actor, flashes of cleavage, same plot as last years success, 2 or 3 catch phrases (oh, the water jug humour), the latest computer effects and of course the neatly wrapped happy ending (even though it looked as though it might not just end that way. Yes, it was close... ya right!). Then it's push on you over and over again through the lies of advertising. After a while you really do start to believe that you wanted to see it all along. Then they're disappointed when you don't see it twice.
Don't get me wrong. I love the theatres. No home entertainment system I've seen can compete with their colossal size. It's their content that sucks. That's why I've gotten off the blockbuster bandwagon. I've found a couple of independent theatres that serve up real entertainment. Where they count on brain power and style to entertain you rather than blowing all your money into special effects and advertising. Don't be fooled. Your money is a vote. If you use your movie money to see these movies than you are paying for all the advertising and effects as well.
In conclusion, let Hollywood go bankrupt and we'll all enjoy the resurgence of true art in the theatres again.
Down the crapper!
There, you happy now?
No. Even if you are playing a DVD that has a different region than your hardware, libdvdcss will do a cryptographic analysis which is usually successful and will still be able to play the DVD.
It's not hard to imagine a scenario where an AOL executive tells CNN to start running stories that support the media industry's demands for favorable treatment by Congress. CNN would claim that its "ethics" would never allow such a thing to occur, but cross-promotion is the whole reason AOL has formed its empire, and if it comes to a choice between the axe and "bending the ethics," I'm sure CNN will be quite flexible.
who's making these DVD's anyway? if the people who are making the dvd's saying it's gonna run them out of business, why don't they just stop making them?
either that, or they're just flat-out lying.
The movie industry calls for legislation to restrict release of DVDs.
==
'No publisher will ever pay you enough to successfully sue them' - Dave Sim
Of course, Michael Eisner may have to take a pay cut from 700 million dollars to 400 million dollars, but if Hollywood goes out of business we'll all be better people. We'll read more, watch more documentaries. We won't have to watch Spiderman 2, and lethal weapon 7.
Did you know commercial TV is going out of business too? I am so psyched! For example, that means no more 30 second attack ads influencing our elections, and that means that the corrupting influence of money will be minimized. We may have to pay for our TV, but we'll make up the difference elsewhere. Products shouldn't be as expensive without the TV advertising built into the price.
The music industry is doomed for real. The artists are fed up, the audience is fed up, and how long do you think it's goign to take for these disgruntled parties to find each other? New bands are already distributing their music via the internet. Someday soon, an established artist's conract is going to lapse, and he or she is going to do the same thing. What do you need a record company for, anyway? Promotion and distribution... all of which can be handled by the internet.
The sky is falling? Let it fall.
In most towns/areas the theaters are owned by one company. (In my area - Marcus) The last 3 times I went to a 'marcus' theatre:
/dork readers who whine about the DMCA are 1st in line for spider-man, you are getting the laws you deserve)
1) The movie was started 45 mins late (xfiles)
2) The movie had breaks in the film. And it broke in our showing, and there was no movie for 15 mins (avengers).
3) The movie shook the whole time. (Star wars)
So the experience is crap.
With the passing of the DMCA, I know the money I give the theatre gets passed to the people who PAID for the DMCA to get passed.
If revenues are down, good. Getting a crap experience and giving to money to people who turn around and spend it to have laws like the DMCA get passed is why they no longer get *MY* money.
(And if you
I've been 'working' for about 10 years now in business that fight to stay alive. We watch the bottom lines and we make cuts when times are tough. I've never heard these things come from the industry of film and music. I understand it's art and that some things that are wonderful to watch cost money. But the salaries that are handed to actors these days are more ridiculous then what sports players make. Entertainment employees have more wealth then most of the world. I think it's a horrible way to distribute power in our country (yes money = power) and I hope it does change. Actors shouldn't make nearly what they make, hell sports players shouldn't either. Want me to go see a movie, make it $5. And I don't mean just one movie, $5 means I get to watch as many movies as I want that day. If that means that the top actor only gets 6 figures then so be it. I watched the dot com bubble burst and all our salaries plummet and to be honest it was probobly a good thing. Too many useless VP's drawing exhorbent salaries just like what we see in the media industry. Let them expierence the economic slump like the rest of us and humble themselves.
Why is it automatically OUR fault when someone's previously successfull business starts to fail? That's business. When you find something that works you stick with it until it stops working. At that point you have to change. If you've invested to much in the old way to be able to adapt to new circumstances, someone new will come along and steal away your business. If the current Hollywood has to be brought to the ground for a new succesfull business model so be it. They stopped listening to consumers a long time ago.
If the studios would lengthen the time between releasing a movie to theatres and releasing it to DVD, then they could get more people into the theatre. Unfortunately, you need to train people to expect a 1+ year (or 2 year?) delay for your blockbusters before this is effective, as you want them to go see it while it is still in theatres.
It seems that these days they want to milk the movie in the theatre and rush it to DVD - if they weren't so anxious to release the DVDs and beat out the other studios, then maybe we'd go see them in theatres while they're fresh. But for now, I'll just wait the 4 months until it's on DVD.
I like to go to the SuperSaver here in phoenix. The tickets are $2.50 all day and the movies aren't much older than at the regular theatre.
it is getting easier and easier to rip dvd movies on you comp and they lose little quality. you can rip them so you can maintain the surround sound quality and the picture quality is not lost. i say get into this what with hard drive space becoming cheaper and dvd burners coming out piracy is the way to go. you say you pay $20 for a dvd, when if you got adsl you can get pre release dvdrip screeners before the movies are out at the movies for free
Well, of course, we heard this when the VCR became common.
But, this begs the question: Who releases the movies on DVD? The studios. Why, for money. So no that they apparently think they cannot have it both ways, it is the end of the movie business.
Whaaaah whaaaah whaaah. Shut the $*&*#! up, crybaby producer. If and when Hollywood folds, people will watch French films or stuff from Baliwood (sp) or China. Or maybe go bowling...
the future is here, it is just not evenly distributed - w. gibson
FA! People would have been flocking to the theaters to see the latest Star Wars flick for the 10th time over if said producer knew how produce a watchable film!
Make a white-disc copy of the DVD available cheap for anyone with a ticket stub from the movie. As soon as the movie is on the big screen the customer can buy it on DVD this way. That'd boost attendence and help stop piracy.
SW: Clones just sucked. That's why I didn't see it again and again like I had previous Star Wars movies.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
>You can change region codes, but the limit of 5 (I think) switches before you are locked out is not under ogle's control.
Buy an old DVD player.
My 6x Pioneer only support RPC-2 if you take off the jumpers.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Your nick is DickPhallus and you are talking about snuggling at home with a girlfriend?
:)
Riiiight...
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
I dunno, start with breathing.
"He also mentions, of course, that DVD piracy and movie "sharing" groups will only speed up the cycle, and that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years."
AWESOME!!!
"So after a few weeks, it might be 70/30 instead of 90/ 10 - but lots of people already saw the movie by then.)"
So, loyal slashdotters who want to see the movie on the big screen, but don't want to put more money than absolutely necessary in the MPAA's pocket should wait two or three weeks before seeing a movie.
Sounds good to me.
'course, that means giving up potential karma when you can't post spoilers about the newest flick. Steep price for some, but be brave!
null sig
http://www.cinebabies.com/
Special screening that provide change areas, stroller parking, and lowered sound levels.
I didn't read the 788 previous responses, so I am sure that you have heard this echoed many times before.
DVD will be the downfall of the local 666-plex theatre (evil but not directly religous connotation implied). The fact that I prefer to sit at home and watch something at my leisure (and my generally anti-social behavior enhanced by my many hours praying at the clickey keyboard god) significantly reduces my desire to pay the $12 soda and corn fee to enjoy the company of others in a darkroom with stickey floors.
So, you can be assured that I will buy the DVD and send my money directly to the movie company. But don't be fooled for a second. The movie company is getting a much better deal (cut out the costly middleman), and they will continue to offer those multi-million dollar deals to actors that make us love them that much more (after all...our appreciation for the actors salary has always exceded our appreciation of their talents).
I must go now. Mrs. Sarah, my sixth grade teacher is gringing at the run-on sentences, and my therapist (can't fool him...) will be sure to recognize me by this rant. No doubt he knows that I'm off my meds, and this will cost me more than the DVD for the Attack of the Clones for his next visit.
Where did I leave that bag of microwave popcorn?
See you at the movies,
(Couragious) Anonymous Coward
And when you think about posting on slashdot, please dont, and save us the agony. Seriously, this guy didn't get moderated up, and of course he wouldn't, so you're the one who made this a "racial" issue.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
I have an excellent home theatre system, but I have now vowed to see every IMAX hollywood-rerelease that comes out. After seeing Apollo 13 in IMAX I am convinced that this is the way to go. $12.50 (Cdn) seemed like a bargain. I can't wait to see AOTC. The movie industry lost me as a customer a few years ago, but now I'm back enjoying movies on the BIG screen again (a few anyways).
One thing this guy from Lucas films hasn't thought about, Digital theatres. I've seen some interesting stuff coming from the corridors at Kodak. They are considering new avenues for using the theatres in local communities.
Examples; A Live concert broadcast in local communities simultaneously, theatre productions broadcast on full screen movie cinemas, MTV Videos larger than life, hell even TV episodes (I personally like Star Trek Next Generation Re-Runs... how cool it would be to see those on full screen THX sound theatres).
I personally don't think this guy has thought through all the options movie theatres have in their hands. He's hitting the panic button like Hilary Rosen (the dictator chick at RIAA) did when Napster came out.
And here's some poetry for all the pessimists
John O'Brien's Australian classic
Said Hanrahan
So does Anonymous Coward have good karma?
Dissing new media is the content-maker's well-honed tradition. The piano-roll was going to kill music sales. The radio would devastate music, as would the audio tapes. G-d save us from the death of everyone after the television. And the VCR case had to go to the Supreme Court. Then the DAT, the CD and now the DVD.
In every case, savvy content people got bigger and bigger and bigger, wealthier and wealthier, precisely because of the new media, not in sprite of it.
Yes, theatres and hollywood had better get the message clearly -- they serve a marketplace, not the other way around. Those that get it will prosper, those that don't will fail.
Good, maybe now the movie theatres will start showing movies with decent scripts.
Excuse me? Exactly which industry is raking in the profits for the sales of these popular little discs?
I have two diferent brand DVD players at home, and I can press "menu/main menu/top menu" on both and skip the warnings as well.
Never fight naked, unless you're in prison...
CRAZY i say. Went to lord of the rings for the second time and guess what happened? Some random guy came into the theater and thew a full coke onto a man and his wife.
He was arrested.
My TV is only 57"! Waah!
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
He also mentions, of course, that DVD piracy and movie "sharing" groups will only speed up the cycle, and that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years."
I say...DIE,DIE,DIE!!! 15 million bucks a movie is way too much for anyone...they aren't doing that good of a job...and if movie theaters weren't charging 8 bucks a ticket (In Michigan of all places) people might consider it more.
Note: This is a joke.
This is exactly the reason DVDs are going to kill Hollywood and destroy our economy!
You Linux hackers have long been known to be the allies of Russians who hack US computers (like that criminal Dmitri), and are already trying to help Osama Bin Laden cricumvent Palladium!
Now you post instructions on how to download criminal software and circumvent the FBI warnings and the ads that our economy depends on for revenue. Not only that, but you disable Macrovision so that you can flood the market with bootlegs!
I've long suspected you Linux people were communists, but you're also terrorists out to destroy our economy! Why would any American Citizen oppose region encoding unless they wanted to disable them to watch DVD-recorded instructions from Saddam Houssein himself!
You're probably also Nazis considering all that RTFM gibberish you spout out!
Note: This has been a joke.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
I call Bullshit on Rick McCallum
Even better: a kid with a laser pointer, sitting in front of me, almost ruined LOTR (a movie I was dying to see!). I was ready to rip his throat with my bare teeth, but unfortunately, just as I was standing up, the theater manager entered and threatened the little dimwit with expulsion, which made him stop being a nuisance.
This kid's behavior is similar to defecating on a diner table. It deserves flogging (for the example) and castration (to prevent the idiot from spreading his defective genome).
So I am demanding that the MPAA dispatch security guards in every theater, armed with a whip and a pair of scissors. Since their are gonna do it anyway to prevent people from capturing the movie on camcorders, we honest filmgoers might as well get something out of it.
--
Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
Hey! Don't knock us cause we're testing population control. Someone has to do it.
I believe in nothing. I just have ideas.
For me the munchies are a tradition, but making it a "fun" meal and a movie is a good alternative I wouldn't have thought of.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Revolt in the Den: DVD Sends the VCR Packing to the Attic This NY Times articles (account needed) highlights the growth of the DVD industry and how its helped the movie industry. Dreamworks isn't complaining about its sales of Shrek DVDs and neither will Disney/Pixar with its Monsters Inc DVDs. Rick McCallum's apocryphal predictions are a shameless attempt by the movie industry to garner public concern and stricter legislation. If Lucasfilms is so concerned about it they shouldn't release the DVD. My 2 cents. -Diganta
Sixth Sense.
Too bad they're all gone, but consider...
You're in a car! No need to listen to the idiots sitting next to you unless you were fool enough to invite them along!
You can bring beer, food and drugs and have sex by yourself or with others, all without inconveniencing others or being inconvenienced yourself!
Tickets are (were) cheap, and you could also pack the skinny people in the trunk for further savings!
Of course, drive-thrus are a thing of the past. A shame really. Here is a piece of Americana that really made sense I think.
Perhaps a revival of some kind can be had, yes? As I recall, the only downside to the drive-thru experience were those crappy speakers they had you put in your car. Well, with today's technology, couldn't we do something better? Some kind of short-range FM transmission? Or maybe streaming MP3's via WiFi?
The picture would often be faded as well, but couldn't that be tackled by putting a really, really bright bulb in the projector?
It's the best of all worlds if you do it right.
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
People have less time on there hands but I doupt that fact was noticed by the movie industry before DVDs and movie downloads became an issue.
Some dump time consumming hobbys and focus on just one thing. For some thats the local theator. Some will catch a new flick a week on the one free day they have. Those people buy VCRs and rent movies but still go to the theator becouse it's better. Buy wide screen TVs but still go to the box office.
TV movie cable networks but theator is still better.
They'll buy everything but still visit theator. Avoid the lower quality theators. Then the home theator comes to match the box office experence. No more theator.
Then there are the movie goers who don't want to spend money on DVDs and home theators.
They aren't about quality but COST. They don't catch so many movies so the box office is cheaper even at $20 a pop.
But downloading is cheaper still.
I don't actually exist.
(The subject of this post is borrowed from a nearby restaurant, which has a habit of putting up little amusing jokes or sayings on its street sign. The other side of the sign currently says "I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.")
On looking at the article, which really isn't more detailed than the blurb given in Slashdot, the big thing that strikes me is that McCallum is generalizing. Some people don't watch movies much anymore, and some people pirate them...therefore, nobody watches movies anymore, and everybody pirates them. (Shades of Yogi Berra, who described New York City as being a place where nobody owns a car, but everybody drives.) I think the reality is going to be a bit less extreme. There are people who don't go to movies for the reasons given earlier in this thread; there are also people who find big-screen movies thrilling and fascinating regardless of the environmental problems. I know that the only reason I haven't been taking in more movies lately is that I only recently got a job and money to spend on it again.
Furthermore, using Titanic as a baseline for comparison is disingenuous at best...almost no movie can equal the success of Titanic. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime smash hits that achieves insane popularity due to combinations of factors that nobody can predict (or, oftimes, explain). Expecting all movies, or even a tenth of all movies to be Titanics is like expecting all fantasy novels to be Lord of the Rings, or all children's books to be Harry Potter. Sturgeon's Law still prevails.
(McCallum apparently has also not realized that, without new movies being made, there will be no new DVDs...so perhaps the problem could be self-correcting.)
Fortunately, being famous does not mean one is any more likely to be correct.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
This is just like the arcades that are dropping like flies. The ones working on the old business model, i.e. getting a whole bunch of machines together in a room and putting a sign out front, are all going out of business, whereas game centers that focus on the "arcade experience," by providing games in nice layouts with good food and ambience. I mean, why go to the Tilt at your local mall when you could go to Illusionz?
The same is true for movie theaters. Nobody really feels compelled to see a movie at a megaplex, except maybe as an easy first date. But there's no way in hell that I'm not lining up to see Lord of the Rings at the Cinerama. A balcony, a gargantuan screen with digital projection, and an acoustically engineered layout all make any HT buff's claims of superiority seem ridiculous. The same goes for the drafthouse theaters described in many of the threads here.
The theater experience is real, it's just that it's not available in most places, and that's why people aren't turning out like the industry wants them to.
So set the summbitch running, make the popcorn, take a whizz, then come in and backspace to the beginning of the movie.
Really? That's great news. I think I'm going to borrow a Japaneese DVD from a friend who collects anime to test it out - to see if it will play on
my US/Canada region player. (I'm not planning on using it for anime, but some European stuff would be nice, and this is the only quickly available test I have.)
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Blockbuster edits their rentals for content and doesn't put any sort of warning on the box that they're censoring stuff for you.
I don't need or desire a morality police to decided what I can or can not see.
Ted Danson is an actor?
Any sufficiently well-organized Government is indistinguishable from bullshit.
Now granted, my cost of entry was free (saw it at a friend's house) (yes, I lost an hour and a half of my life, kthxplzdrivethru) but Kung Pow was actually pretty funny in places. What was coolest about it was during the credits, they showed how they did all the digital compositing.
"It was at that moment The Chosen One learned a very important thing.....Iron Claws hurt like hell! Ouch!"
This is the third try at this post. It is hard to get my point across without being pendantic. So instead I will say it strait:
LucasFilms has always been the reluctant adopter of new distribution methods. I think it is because they fear it but thats hearsay as I could not know myself.
I further believe ( all this being heresay) that this is a symptom that all the major content providers share, LucasFilms just being the more vocal/self rightous of the bunch. Right along with Metallica on the mp3 thing. It is a common premiss of the music industry, broadcast television providers, cable TV networks, and others that consumer targeted devices effectively defeat their bussiness model. It is all permeating, from the mediocre sitcom actor to the head of a given major network, to the media distribution companies. mp3, tivo, p2p, DVD recorders. They think that if werent for them damned hackers (it used to be the damned pirates) they would be somehow richer.
They are tripping over themselves to be the one to speak out against content replication mechanisms and those entities that develop them. They have always hade the ear ( at least in my lifetime ) of the government through money. The poor person who figures out how to crack the next obscuring mechanism of mass media will get 20 years hard time, out in 10... if he agrees to speak against doing wrong in regards to said media distribution methods.
Or, I could be wrong. The courts once ruled that the consumer had the right to record for home use, granted this dealt with Betamax/VHS type recordings, maybe they will eventually do so again, but I think not. Things move to fast these days for a real verdict to be forthcomming. Its going to be a bunch of non-commital rulings against the individual, eroding the rights of the individual.
What a wonderfull world it could/should be if everyone saw it the way I do. But then again, it could suck, so ignore me.
heh who am I kidding, its about proffit proffit, and then only after, proffit.
I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
...who let George Lucas turn Star Wars into the thing it is today?
I trust him about as far as I can throw a bantha.
Without using the Force.
--Blair
If the movie is worth seeing on the big screen ie "The Two Towers", I'll go. If not I'll either rent or buy it on DVD. The n month wait doesn't change anything.
In fact, the studios lose money, as n months later they've lost the benefit of all that hyping they did for the release. I'll probably have forgotten all about it by then.
So, is this just a racket to protect an outdated business model? Is there any *good* reason for it, as in good for the consumer? Why can't I have the choice?
Most of the blockbuster films aren't even worth the hard disk space I use to rip them to! :)
Seriously though. They won't be missed.
Independent film... yay!
Besides, I do not understand... I've spent more money on film with the advent of DVDs than I have spent in the total time prior.
Maybe there just pissing people off so that people say screw you. I'm not going to waste my cash on yer stupid movie. Remember it was George Lucas who's lawyers a few years ago sent all these threating letters all over the planet to ISP's saying that they expect them to police there content and if you don't well yer in trouble. Remember? That pissed people off. Lot's of people said that's the last Star Wars I'm ever going to see. Like the movie wasn't even out yet. They shot themselves in the foot !
Um, LOTR:FOTR seemed to do OK at the box office. Why? Because the script wasn't churned out by a 16 year old wannabe working in some seedy Hollywood basement for $6/hr. GIGO.
I just saw Beverly Hills Cop the other day on cable for the bazillionth time. Laughed my ass off, like I do every time. Why? Because it was well written, and well acted, IMO. Compare it to, say, a recent Adam Sandler 'comedy', or that gawd-awful Dana Carvey flick. Which would you rather watch?
Wake up, Hollywood! People don't go to the same movie twice because your movies suck. Heck, I don't even go to movies once, and the only reason I can figure that other people go at all is because they're too lazy to figure out something else to do on Saturday night.
This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
Having just read through 100's of heavily moderated comments I have yet to see one person ask this question:
If cinemas are so much better than DVDs, how come they don't release the DVD at the same time it comes out in the cinema? This way people get to choose.
Hey, they could even buy the DVD on the way out from the cinema if they liked the film so much..
Surely any industry which relies on this level of controlled marketing is never going to survive in the longer term.
Q.
Damn, and people thought I'm strange for making bets on when the movie actually starts. (I'm doing best w/ 12 minutes after the posted time for the movie to start, but I've noticed that sometimes the day the movies come out, there's only about 9-10 minutes of crap).
Oh...and before you make bets, make sure everyone agrees on the clock that you're using. I normally use my cell phone, as keeps better time than wrist watches.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
If I wasn't breathing, how could I type this?
Of course it is probably a better solution to find the appropriate hacked firmware patch for your DVD drive (if it exists) so all regions will be allowed.
If worst comes to worst, the outrageous salaries paid to top-billed actors in movies will decline allowing more cost effective movies to be produced. If anything, actors should be paid a moderate salary followed by a percentage of the profits of the movie. If the movie isn't successful then tough luck, if it is then everyone is happy.
As for the piracy issue, most DVDs are bought through large consumer outlet stores like Sam Goody, MediaPlay, Walmart, etc. I have yet to hear that any of these chains is selling pirated DVDs. Pirated DVDs are being bought by people who would rather not own the movie than pay for buying a legitimate DVD. And if piracy were ever to become that big of a deal, then in the age of the ubiquitous Internet, all DVD players will have a modem that would be used to connect to the movie studios server to download a decryption key to decode the movie for playback.
" ... and that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years"
:) We've put up with 20 years of crap from the movie industry, they've time and time again insulted our intelligence, they destroyed what going to a movie was about (perhaps fueling the imagination, inspiring emotions, and telling a new and interesting story instead of retelling the same crap over and over again..), and now they are suprised to see their business falling apart?
Three Years eh... God Bless America, capitalism does work
To quote THE philsopher Homer, WOOHOO! (Wait the other Homer, DOH!; aww crap, never mind)
Wow if piracy (now offically Civil Disobediance according to Cringley) is that effective as a tool of capitalism maybe we can avoid the Orwellian Society after all. Now the Fordian society is another issue but over all I find this to be pretty good news.
Note to Businesses: THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
Oh, and you are still paying, what $20/$30 per DVD?
In the United States, because the copyright owner controls only the first sale of an audiovisual work, we have something called "DVD rentals." Sure, rental discs get all scratched up, but last time I rented a DVD that was unplayable ("Disney's Pinocchio" that died during "Give a Little Whistle"), I got a free rental.
Compared to how much for the cinema? (Don't know about US prices, but in .uk it's about £5 ~= $7.50).
That's about right, unless the movie starts before 18:00, in which case you get a $2 or so discount.
So what if a few skip the initial $7.50 preview....
Skipping the previews is a violation of the DMCA, which the UK had before the USA (section 296 of the UK's Copyright Act)
Will I retire or break 10K?
Perhaps if they put some effort into writing coherent and interesting stories and getting good performances out of the actors then people wouldn't mind spending a few bucks to see the film. Hire real writers. Hire real directors.
LotR did it right, Episode 2 did not. People went to see LotR again and again. People went to see Episode 2 once and then told all their friends who hadn't yet seen it to wait for it on DVD. (So i guess you could say that DVD rentals are a factor - if you're a dumbass!)
They can try to blame piracy and DVDs and anything else, but the real blame is on Lucas himself and the crowd of yes-men with which he surrounds himself.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
how many [DVD Video titles from] other regions include Japanese subtitling or dubbing???
Does it matter? A lot of Japanese people know quite a bit of English. The "It's so easy, happy go lucky, we are the world oh, we did it" in the "Yatta" video (and the Flash video) wasn't an accident.
How many carry Japanese films, which are mostly crap and barely even sell in Japan
Another anime hater. Or does anime really sell better in the USA than in Japan?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Tell him he's legally stolen them now
Candy isn't worth $20. Isn't there a law stating that you can't bring a lawsuit in the United States for amounts in question less than $20? Or am I misreading that amendment?
Will I retire or break 10K?
FBI warning? Oh yeah, I remember those. How come none of my DIVX encodes have that?...
You get those when you watch a movie at home on DVD. I know I can hit Menu, then "Play Movie", but why should I have to do that to skip commercials for other movies I'm probably not even slightly interested in?
Absurdity: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion. -- Ambrose Bierce
I can only hope he is right.
That the 'Hollywood' machine will be shut down in three years. And much like the RIAA, they will come up with a million excuses, and a million people to blame, other than themselves.
So long as they continue to make horrible movies with huge cost over runs, and then market them down your throat, they have no one to blame but themselves.
And they've done quite well pushing DVD in the home market as it is. They thought it was a great idea, to release the film to cinema and have you pay to see it once or twice there. Then release it to VHS/DVD so you could pay to rent it once or twice, then pay to buy it. Of course you will want to buy it because there are special directors cut, unreleased footage, stupid starlet naked scenes in the home DVD. Then a year after you purchase that, they will release another special letterbox edition with even more missing scenes, blah blah blah.
The good news of course is that people are finally getting smart enough to skip out on the cinema experience, since it has become an expensive and unpleasant one. I saw two movies at the cinema in the last year. Lord of The Rings and Attack Of The Clones. One of those was actually a pleasant experience, because it was a great movie. The other was a prime example of how Hollywood has no one to blame but themselves. Ripping off the past is not the path to a bright future.
Why does Rick even care about the current state of theaters in the first place? Is he just sowing the seeds of smack talking now so that Uncle George and his digital projection system can ride in as the Savior Of Modern Cinema? Paul Allen saved Seattle's Cinerama, so stranger things have happened...
On the "theaters suck!" topic, I already know of a solution for this. In Portland (Oregon) we call it McMenamin's (brothers that own brewpubs all over Portland, a couple of hotel/lodge places, and 4 theatres). They recently upped their rates by one third, though. ONE THIRD! It's three bucks now. And you can have beer or pizza or regular movie candy (junior mints, etc) if that's what you want. It rocks because the seats are comfy, you can drink beer, and they show second run or older movies (willy wonka, MP/Holy Grail, Wizard of Oz, etc) on the weekends, so either nobody wants to see a second run movie (I think Spiderman is playing this week) which makes the crowds nice, or you know that the 2:30 pm showing of Lilo & Stitch this saturday is where all the kids are going to be so you can be sure to avoid it. They're pretty good about the cell phone reminders too, the crowds there seem pretty on top of things. They aren't going broke or they wouldn't keep opening new ones, so they must be doing something right.
In a perfect world, Yoko woulda jumped in front of John.
The first good news I have heard all week.
What I object to are the commercials for normal products, you know beers, aftershaves etc. The point of commercials on television is to pay for the programming. Many might even say that the programs only exist to pad out the commercials. Either way, they have no place in a movie that everyone in the room has paid for.
If you want to have commercials in movies, stop charging people to watch them. And for the love of God, stop product placement, it's soooo bad.
Movie trivia: Ghostbusters was produced by Columbia, who were (at the time) owned by Coke. All their movies from then have prominent coke products in them. In the scene where Venkman and Dana open the fridge, they were forced to put a can of Coke in there. Hence the line "look at all the junk food", putting Coke down. Genius!
You NE residents can continue losing population and congressional representation.
I guess people vote with their feet when they move AWAY.
'The Blockbuster' referred to in the grand-parent is a type of movie, usually a big-budget summer action movie.
"Hot lesbian witches! It's fucking genius!"
I just wish that there was a pizza+movie delivery service.
You could wait for one firm to offer what you want, or you could follow the Unix philosophy and turn several small tools into more than the sum of their parts. That is, get pizza from Papa John's, Domino's, Pizza Hut, or something, and get movies from Netflix.
Will I retire or break 10K?
funny, EVERY dvd that I have has that FBI warning on it that you cannot skip past with a DVD player.
The drive-in we go to by our house (the oddly named McHenry Indoor-Outdoor Theater) is pretty cool. The part that sucks is, well, it's northern Illinois. Sometimes it's 90 degrees at movie time, and, well, *humid*. There is no advantage to having the windows open. So you have to run the AC. Or, if it's cool enough, you need to bring a good supply of bug spray. But it is a great place to take small children. If they fall asleep, you can put them back in their carseats...
I'm glad there are still a few drive-ins.
So you really can't "waste" 2 hours of your life watching a movie without having to get drunk or stuffed?
If eating and drinking are your two main concerns when you go to a theatre, I have an advice for you: go to a restaurant instead. You have more choice of food, it's better lit, and you don't have that annoying movie in the backgrond.
Personally, I think that even popcorn should be banned from theatres. It's hard enough to enjoy a film surrounded by the sound of 100 people munching, but the smell makes it completely unbearable.
So I guess you and I agree on one point: food is one of the main reasons not to go to a theatre.
RMN
~~~
My friend Frazier, a tall skinny brit with a bad attitude, and I were on an outing to the theater one evening - to see "Unforgiven" - the Clint Eastwood bad-ass western....at "Mann's Chinese Theater" in Hollywood. Frazier had a huge 32oz. Dr. Pepper.
The guy in front of us spent the whole moving laughing slowly and loudly - at all the wrong places in the movie. When it was a sad scene, or the middle of the action scene, the fat bastard would burst out "HA!.....HA!....HA!....."
Finally Frazier had had enough - so he jumped up over the row of seats between us and the fat guy, and spiked his Dr.P. on the guy's head. It exploded all over the guy, soaking him to his wide-ass underwear. Frazier screamed in his face "SHUT UP DAMMIT! SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!"
Someone in the back of the theater shouted "It's about damn time!" and the entire audience cheered.
Frazier ran back to his seat, hands clasped over his head like the winner of a prize-fight.
The fat guy sat there shivering for the rest of the movie and didn't make a sound.
Subjectline troll
He thought of Musashi, the Sword Saint, standing in his garden more than
three hundred years ago. "What is the 'Body of a rock'?" he was asked.
In answer, Musashi summoned a pupil of his and bid him kill himself by
slashing his abdomen with a knife. Just as the pupil was about to comply,
the Master stayed his hand, saying, "That is the 'Body of a rock'."
-- Eric Van Lustbader
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