James Cameron: Theater Experience Key To Containing Piracy (torrentfreak.com)

Director James Cameron says that the key to containing movie piracy is preserving the theater experience as something special. He made the remarks when reporters asked him about his views on Sean Parker's upcoming streaming service Screening Room which will reportedly allow users to watch a new movie on the same day as its theatre release. From a TorrentFreak article: Cameron believes that having first-run movies in the home will stop people heading off to the cinema, the place where filmmakers can really showcase their art and take the fight to piracy. "The biggest hedge against piracy is still the sanctity of the viewing experience in a movie theater -- when it comes to movies," he says. "With The Walking Dead or something like that, that's not what you're selling, but if we're talking about movies and theatrical exhibition, keeping it great, making it a special experience, is still the biggest hedge against [piracy]." Interestingly, Cameron also says that even if piracy somehow became legal and download speeds were drastically improved, viewing content outside the theatrical setting would still come up short. "You're still watching [movies] on a small platform, and it's not that social experience," he explains.

Comments

The Theater Experience

[Anonymous Coward]

How will screaming kids, sticky floors and overpriced snacks help them stop piracy?

Re:The Theater Experience

[Calydor]

Not to mention cell phones beeping and flashing everywhere.

Re:The Theater Experience

[Calydor]

So let me get this straight.

I complain about people showing an absolute disregard for the comfort, expense and attention of the people around them, and you call ME the anti social one?

Re:The Theater Experience

[Deadstick]

This. Attributes of my den:
Comfortable seat.
No loudmouths.
Feet don't stick to the floor.
Pause button.
Clean bathroom.
Fast-forward button for the trailers.
Movie starts whenever I damn well please.
Food at grocery store prices.
Liquor.
If the movie turns out to be crap, I can abandon it without spoiling my wife's enjoyment.
Attributes of a theater:
Big screen.

Re:The Theater Experience

[Man On Pink Corner]

No shit. You think James Cameron has to put up with any of those things when he goes out to the movies?

His comments bring an entirely new degree of reality to the phrase "out of touch."

Re:The Theater Experience

[Anonymous Coward]

+1 ^^^^---- this

At home I have access to any concessions I want. Steak and eggs? No problem.
I completely control the environment--no kids? Check. No flashing cell phone lights? Check.
Plus, I can *pause* if I need to for any reason.
THX? Dolby DTS/Master Audio/uncompressed PCM? IOW amazing sound? Check.
If I wait to buy the blu-ray, then I also save money--I save my ticket money and put that towards a disc I can watch as many times as I want, with as many people as I want--for a single one-time cost.

There is no way a theater can compete with even a mid-range home theater on all of those points above.
The *only* things going for the theater experience are:
- earliest access (get to see it before the media puts f-ing spoilers in their headlines)
- seats more people
- wow factor of a bigger screen? (arguable as a win or not)

For me to consider streaming they need to *buffer* *more*. Not a measly 10 seconds. Buffer 5 minutes. More even. Fill that damn hard drive up or load it up with ram/whatever. just *never* *ever* *interrupt* delivery. *And* let me pause and seek in any direction w/reasonably good granularity. This is why physical discs and local files win for me over streaming. When you hit a scene that has something hard to understand and need to rewind and listen closer it really blows when the seek controls just jump all over on you.

Theater Owners take notes

[nehumanuscrede]

We've been telling the industry for years what's wrong with the " Theater Experience " but none of you seem to listen.
If you want folks to start going to the theaters again, you're going to need to step up your game or find yourself going extinct in the not too distant future.

You need to set your rules, and enforce them.

Folks chatting / texting on their damn smartphones mid show ? They need to go. Manager up and boot their ass from the theater.
The five year old heathen Mom or Dad brought with them who is running up and down the isles screaming mid show ? They need to go. Like ten minutes ago.
The employee who cranks the theater audio system up 10db past the threshold of pain ? Yeah, they need to go.
The nearsighted one who can't seem to understand what the f*ck focus even is ? They need to go.

Clean the damn place.
Most theaters are downright disgusting with the amount of trash and general filth you expect me to tolerate while in your facility.
I feel like I need a round of immunization boosters or a Biohazard suit when folks ask if I want to go out to the show.

Fix your damn gear.
That annoying ass ground hum coming from one of your speakers ? FIX IT.
The distortion coming from another speaker because of +10db guy above ? FIX IT.

Seriously, you're going to have to put in a SUPREME EFFORT to keep me from waiting for the home release. I have total control over everything mentioned
above when I wait and watch it at home.

The theater owners and employees I rely upon to ensure a positive theater going experience have failed miserably over the past decade or two.

Read that again. MISERABLY.

If you industry types don't get your shit together you may as well shut the lights off now and call it a day.
We won't miss you.