X-Men Origins: Wolverines Can’t Fight Piracy
, this is the link to a New York Times article about movie piracy. Look, this is really simple. The movie industry needs to learn from the music industry. Stop promoting movies in advance without giving the consumer immediate access. Let the crowd do your marketing. Some people will be more than willing to pay say $1.99 to download the movie to watch it one time. The low cost structure is working wonders on iTunes.
Studios can still release the movie in theaters and on DVD, just do it simultaneously. You can still do a limited VHS copy as well for the laggards if they are you target audience. (Hey, for the first time in world history five generation are living. Each is a niche and of course there are thousands if not millions of niches in within.) Most people want to be honest, give them a chance to do so. Each area is a niche and aggregating movie, DVD and online sales will at least be more than what they get when the movie is bootlegged. This is really a no brainer.
The arrogance and ignorance of studio executives is laughable as well.
Eric Garland, the chief executive of the file-sharing monitoring firm BigChampagne, called the widespread downloading of “Wolverine” a “one-of-a-kind case.” “We’ve never seen a high-profile film — a film of this budget, a tentpole movie with this box office potential — leak in any form this early,” he said.
From the aforelinked NY Times article
When American Gangsta came out in 2007, it experienced unprecedented bootlegging. I realize in Hollywood’s mind, it wasn’t an “A” list film, how could it be with Academy Award winners Denzel Washington AND Russell Crowe in the film? Yes, I’m being facetious.
We all have to be willing to learn from everybody. Nobody is beneath you anymore. To ignore a lesson, just because it wasn’t packaged a certain way is insanity. I guess that’s why so many other industries, news included are doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. When local news teases a story, it is googled and there is no need to watch. Weather can be gotten from weather.com. Traffic can be gained any number of ways. All industries need to be awake and relevant.
I digress, for the movie industry, there is still an audience and most are willing to pay. Give an audience limited choices increases dishonesty. Give the audience more choice and you are more likely to decrease dishonesty.
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