How do you feel about movies and piracy?

I do not believe piracy is a good thing; it is theft. But, I also believe the movie companies bring some of it down on their own heads with their practices. 1) They release the films in different countries on different dates. People know the movie has already been released and want to see it so they do what they have to to be the "first" in their area to see the movie. If a movie was released the same day worldwide, it would eliminate this reason. 2) Cost - Going to a theater has become very expensive for a lot of people. Matinee's help but don't solve the cost issue. We used to go once a month; then it was several times a year; and now we may be able to go to the theater once a year. So if you can't afford to go, you either buy a pirated copy or wait for the official release on DVD. 3) DVD releases - Even though they are released several moths later; the initial cost is still high. Plus, the DVD release often coincides with the release on the premium cable/satelite channels. Pirated copies cost less and the cost of the "official version" won't drop to a reasonable level for another year or two. Cost is a major factor in piracy. It costs pennies to burn the DVD once it has been recorded and on-line it is free (or almost free) to download. Movie companies need to reduce the cost and release it to the theaters on the same day. It would not eliminate piracy but it would reduce it.

People mistakenly believe that it's ok to "steal" movies and music on P2P sites because it's there. They think movie stars and rock stars don't get hurt by this because they are rich. The truth is, the people that get hurt are sound engineers, set designers, camera operators, and the multitude of "little guys" that make movies and records happen and DON'T get paid big bucks for it. Those are the folks who don't get paid when LEGALLY COPYRIGHTED material is "shared" on P2P sites. Aside from the fact that is DOES hurt people, it is illegal.

Actually, I don't think there's anything wrong with piracy - though I don't practise it. :P You wanna talk about movies - then I want to ask you to do some research about the profits movie companies and actors/actresses are earning. The amount, I assure you, is obscene. They may claim to be earning less, but no matter how much lesser their incomes are affected, the figure is still no joke. Enough to feed the poorest nations for many years...

I actually don't support piracy as I think it does harm the film industry as such. It would be difficult for movie houses to make movies on the long run without money. But, piracy has had a good effect in keeping the film houses in check in terms of price and money. When it became so apparent that the cost of making a CD or DVD is so less, the cost charged by the movie companies suddenly started to seem absurd. To combat piracy they had to price their movies right. So though I feel piracy is bad on the long run, in the short run it has helped in keeping the movie industry in check. Cheers! Ram

yes i'm supportable 4r u in this point.......

I first got the internet when I was 13 years old and back then it was a huge amazement for me. After a few weeks I figured out I could download certain thinks that I wasn't supposed to and I guess it just escalated from there. However, and this may sound like I have double standards, as a film student I think it's wrong to download MOVIES. That ends that discussion. On the flipside, I don't see anything wrong with me download television shows. For example, in 2002, New Zealand has to wait FOURTEEN MONTHS for Charmed's 4th season to air on national television. That's how bad it can get. I'm sick and tired of waiting so long, so ever since then i've been downloading TV shows through torrent, because I am an active member in online TV forums and I need to be up to date with episodes. The only negative I can see from that is that New Zealand's TV ratings will theoretically go down, but then i'm not even in a neilsen household so it doesn't matter anyway. Anybody have any thoughts?

I agree with you, it's a bad thing. It makes it harder for filmmakers and actors and other film people to get work. Movies won't go out of business, but what I think will happen is that it will be harder for smaller, more creative, more independent films to get made. To make up for revenue lost to piracy, movie studios will focus their efforts more on big blockbuster films that they can heavily market and make money on.

I do not feel exactly as you feel.Sometimes I enjoy downloading movies from Ares,Limewire.But even I believe that piracy should be controlled.But sometimes I feel that if piracy is not there then how would I watch my favourite movies,because I cannot afford the ticket rates in the malls,and I watch movies only in the malls when I collect money.

I don't think you should be too concern about piracy... As long as Hollywood can afford to pay 25 million per movie to their top actors... things cannot be too bad. No one can justify making 25 millions for working part time for 3 months. Anyone would be very happy to make one million for 3 months work. The reason they get 25 millions... is because they know the movie will make 100 million at the box office. That's even before they release the DVD. Pirate DVDs are in the same league as pirate software for computers. The people who use pirate copies are the people who cannot afford the real thing. And if they cannot afford it... it makes no difference if they have a pirate copy or not... as they would have never bought it anyway. People who have money cannot be bothered with making pirate copies... so they still buy the real thing and nothing changes. Piracy is actually a good thing... as it close the gap between the rich and the poor. There are more poor people than rich people in the world... and if it was not for piracy... the poor people could not afford the software for their computer... nor could they afford to watch movies at home on their DVD player.

i see piracy as a livellyhood for many involve in the business

I think the prices caused the piracy. If the ticket prices are cheaper so that people with or without family can afford to go to the movies or buy the CD's I don't think there will be a big issue of piracy. Because if they can afford it, there will be no use of piracy. Don't you think so ????

I believe in "try before you buy". If you download a movie and it is worth seeing in the theaters or buying on DVD, then do so. Support good cinema, not all cinema. Plus, some of the best movies out there are the ones that just show in the small artsy theaters and are hard to find online. I'm much more willing to give my money to them, as they actually need it and need the support. The big studios and theater chains are doing just fine. Also, technology is moving in the direction of downloadable content, and the movie studios aren't really catching up with the times. Technology is changing, and they aren't changing the way they do business to keep up, so they share a lot of the blame for any losses they are having. If they start releasing movies simultaneously online and in the theaters, and charged, say, $5 to watch a movie online, they'd do even better.

Its actually getting to be quite and issue. Piracy. But if the increase in movie ticket prices are being aligned to the increase in piracy, I think that's wrong too. Vendors have been increasing ticket prices where I am. From $6 per ticket to $9.5 per tickets. thats a 50% increase. Its a small wonder why people shun the cinemas. Cost of making movies and such have increased to such a unbelievable figure, because of the movie makers own fault. They make 'stardom' a price that they could no longer afford. It seems that some of them have already started to wake up. Looking at the case of Tom Cruise. His contract ending and so forth. The lowering of ticket costs does not mean that people will start flocking back to cinemas. They should also be looking at more alternatives for people to watch movies from home and such. There have been quite a few new avenues that came with these few years.

yes piracy ruined the profit of hollywood as well as bolly wood it decreases its 60% of profit .......if pireted cds are not available in the market than we have to buy orginal cds and which increase the profit of industries and finallly we get a good picture quality provided by the industries

I have been involved with music for a while but I really think Piracy is something that you can not stop. The industry is going to have to find a way to work with it because they will not be able to stop what is happening with the internet. I truly believe it will be better. There are very talented artist, film producers, ect... that do not have the money to get their art out like someone who has sold their soul to a label. you can actually get to the people that like your product without all the posters in moms and pop stores, sending domo products out, all the publication and promotional cost is out of this world and there is no way to compeat with companies like universal. But if your product is good and you get your product to the people that have your interest you can make good money and it puts everyone on the same playing field. I think it is going to make it more personal and people will be able to watch and /or listen to what ever they want to. You will be able to sit down and watch what ever game you want to watch, movies from all over the world, listen to good national and local music that you like ect. Radio and tv is wac when what you want is not on. But I think the movie industry is not dumb. They are aligning them selves to make more money in the future than they are making now. They have to much money not to have an edge! So I do agree with you that it is not right but since they will not be able to stop it - They better join it!

one ticket to a movie costs 110pesos while a 3-in-1 pirated dvd of the latest movie is only 70 pesos. that 70peso copy could be watched by at least 20people who wants to be entertained. imagine all those twenty people going to the theater to watch that one movie, that would be amounting to 2200pesos. that amount of money could go a long way if used to pay for the groceries. those people who make pirated copies of movies maybe crooks but at least they can provide entertainment at a much cheaper cost. piracy is now very rampant but moviemakers can still pay their actors and actresses a lot than what a person with an 8-5 job earns. they should cut down the talent fees of the actors so that a more reasonable price of movie tickets and original copies of those movies can compete with the prices of pirated copies.

i don`t like piracy.... cause i really like watch original movie with best picture and sound piracy not good cause bad movie.... i see they copy to much so the picture and sounds very bad bad bad bad !!!

I am a big fan of movies and I like it to the extent of limit.But to some point I do feel that piracy is not beneficial.I am an engineering student and here in my university students download even latest movies for free.There are no. of sites which provide those movies.Since an ordinary consumer never think of director or producers' economic point of view.They only think of their own point of view.But they don't know that in long run its going to affect them too.If producers suffer financialy they will be unable to produce good movies and ultimately we will be in the loss.Also it harms the economicaly the country.

piracy is bad but i like to watch it in theatre

i think piracy is not good , but some extent it is good , bcoz we can get movies in cheap cost rather than high cost