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Despite Piracy Claims, North American Box Office Hits Record $11.4 Billion In 2016 (variety.com)
Slashdot reader rudy_wayne writes: Despite constant claims of losing billions of dollars to "piracy", the North American box office closed out 2016 with $11.4 billion in ticket sales. That marks a new record for the industry, bypassing the previous record of $11.1 billion that was established in 2015.
Disney had four of the top five highest-grossing films, including "Finding Dory," the year's top film with $486.3 million. "When holdovers are taken into account, Disney had six of the year's ten highest-grossing releases, a group that includes Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which debuted in 2015," reports Variety. Other top films include Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($408.2 million), Captain America: Civil War ($408.1 million), The Secret Life of Pets ($368.4 million), and The Jungle Book ($364 million).
Disney "controlled more than a quarter of the domestic market share despite releasing fewer films than any of the major studios," according to the article, which notes that the record was achieved despite the absence of big releases in several major movie franchises partly through higher ticket prices (and possibly also inflation).
Disney had four of the top five highest-grossing films, including "Finding Dory," the year's top film with $486.3 million. "When holdovers are taken into account, Disney had six of the year's ten highest-grossing releases, a group that includes Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which debuted in 2015," reports Variety. Other top films include Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($408.2 million), Captain America: Civil War ($408.1 million), The Secret Life of Pets ($368.4 million), and The Jungle Book ($364 million).
Disney "controlled more than a quarter of the domestic market share despite releasing fewer films than any of the major studios," according to the article, which notes that the record was achieved despite the absence of big releases in several major movie franchises partly through higher ticket prices (and possibly also inflation).
Just because the entertainment industry is making record breaking money doesn't mean that they are also not losing alot to piracy. The "despite" term in the Slashdot headline is inaccurate and clearly shows a leech slant.
There's a valid reason for this headline. This industry doesn't merely try and claim they're being damaged from piracy; they try and claim how they're being destroyed by piracy, which is total bullshit and does nothing more than justify the millions spent by this industry maintaining a legal army of jackbooted thugs to go on piracy witch hunts.
They're not hurting, and as a result, exactly zero A-list actors have had to take a pay cut in the last few decades because of it. And if I want to get up early on a Saturday morning to see a opening-weekend movie, I can still pay less than ten bucks for it, so piracy isn't even impacting ticket prices.
Gone are the days of struggling to find revenue in this industry even when making shitty movies, because there's always going to be a large enough consumer base for monopolies of mindless entertainment.