“The problem is if you steal
a car, and you get caught, you go to jail. If you steal intellectual property,
people don’t do anything to you.” said Avi Lerner, Producer of ‘The Expendables
3’ and chairman of Millennium Films. “Unless the American government will make
this a very clear punishment in the laws, nothing will change. The people will
still steal,” he continued on to say. (Johnson) The idea does raise the simple
question, why does this distinction seem to exist within our government? For
example, ‘The Expendables 3’ lost $250 million in revenue because of over 10
million illegal downloads and streams, but no one was found guilty of these
crimes. (Johnson) Lerner, as well as many others in the film and entertainment
industry aim to spark a change.
Film piracy refers to the act
of stealing, copying, and distributing movies and other types of film. (Kuzdjafilmlopasellen)
This same problem has had a huge effect on the music industry, as well as
television, and now film. The music industry in particular has been hurting.
According to Forbes, out of ages 12 and up in 2013, 48% of Americans have
downloaded, streamed, or shared music content. Television was high as well, at
46%, although these numbers were heavily skewed by streaming specifically
(rather than downloading or sharing). Films ranked third at 25%, followed by
computer software, books, and video games. (Catalano) In terms of the film
industry, DVD sales have taken a hit and now people worry that going to see a
movie at the theaters is a dying tradition. Down the line, this could even
effect whether or not movies are produced in the first place (if companies don’t
think they will get the return on investment, they will start making less
movies).
So you might ask, what is
being done about this problem? Not much according to most film advocators.
Piracy seems to hit a sort of gray area with downloaders and streamers. Search
engines like Google, Bing, and others don’t advertise an illegal movie site as
ILLEGAL when internet users enter it. (Kemp) In fact if you search something simple
like, “Watch American Sniper online for free,” a list of streaming options is
at your fingertips in seconds. Advertising agencies are also at fault (I know
not surprising right). A lot of ad agencies finance most of these sites annual
revenue illegitimately. A study by Digital Citizens Alliance found that almost
600 illegal sharing sites had a collective annual revenue of $227 million. (Chandna)
Although these websites say all this revenue comes from streaming, it’s
estimated that a large portion comes from ads. Digital Citizens Alliance
assessed that each site gained as much as $100 thousand from ads each year.
(Chandna)
So what are some solutions?
Lerner had the strategy of sending out legal letters asking for settlements
with owners of IP addresses that downloaded the movie. The Producers of ‘Dallas
Buyers Club’ went with a similar strategy. (Johnson) The Industry Trust in
London decided to educate younger demographics of 11 to 12 years old. They
appealed to right and wrong for the industry, rather than illegal or legal. Using
Muppet-like characters, they tried to display that if enough people don’t watch
the movie in theaters, the next movie may not have “awesome” special effects
(or there may not even be a next one). (Kemp) PricewaterhouseCoopers reported
that movie theater attendance took a dive in 2014, and survey participants
pointed out the rising cost of movie ticket prices. (Siegal) Perhaps the next
step for the film industry is to work on lowering prices again. PwC also said
that “87% of participants in its survey said they would be willing to pay $20 a
month to watch unlimited movies at home.” (Siegal) If that were to happen,
especially with new movies, I think the price would be more like $40 or $50 a
month, but this could be another option for the film industry.
Something has to change,
because not only have many movies suffered from illegal downloads, but the
pride of the industry are the most heavily pirated of all. Studies by Irdeto as
well as other companies show that once a movie is nominated for an Oscar, the
percentage of downloads it has skyrockets. John Paul Titlow, a writer for Fast
Company, jokes that ‘American Sniper’ may have only won one Oscar, but it also
won the Oscar for the most illegally downloaded movie this year. The movie
grossed $350 million at the box office, but with 1.3 million downloads, it
missed out on a potential $25 million more. Looking at a list of ‘American
Sniper,’ ‘The Imitation Game,’ ‘Wild,’ ‘Selma,’ ‘Still Alice,’ and ‘Whiplash,’
over $40 million was lost. Other movies like ‘Birdman’ and ‘Boyhood’ topped the
charts as well. The US ranked second among Oscar movie downloads this year,
falling short only to Russia. (Titlow)
Works Cited:
Catalano, Michele. Music Piracy: Major Studies Conflicted Over Recording Industry Impact. Forbes. Date Visited: March 15, 2015. Web.
Chandna, Pulkit. This pirated movie brought to you by Pampers. techhive.com. Date Visited: March
15, 2015. Web.
Cunningham, Todd and Brent Lang. Box Office: 2014 Will Likely Be Down, Because Not All Sequels Are Equals. The Wrap 2. Jan. 2014. Web.
Johnson, Ted. 'Expendables 3' Producer, We Want to Go After 10 Million Who Illegally Downloaded Movie. Variety. Date Visited: March 15, 2015. Web.
Kemp, Stuart. UK Piracy Fight Aims at Educating a Younger Demographic. The Hollywood Reporter. Date Visited: March 15, 2015. Web.
Kuzdjafilmlopasellen. Film Piracy Explained. http://www.kuzdjafilmlopasellen.org/. Date Visited: March 15, 2015. Web.
Siegal, Jacob. Study reveals why we’ve stopped going to the movie theater. BGR.com. Date Visited: March 15, 2015. Web.
Titlow, John Paul. And the Awards For the Most Illegally Downloaded Oscar Movies Go to... Fast Company. Date Visited: March 15, 2015. Web.
Michael began his blog powerfully with a quote that displays why stealing is such a bad thing. Although downloading music or a movie to your laptop may seem less harmful compared to stealing a car, both are considered stealing because the owner is being cheated. However, people still believe that stealing movies is okay because there are yet to be real consequences. If someone is caught stealing a car, they will go to jail. If someone is interrupted by downloading a movie, they will be prompted to pay for it. The two types of punishments just don’t seem to add up. However, Avi Lerner, the producer of the Expendables 3, wants to go after the 10 million people who illegally downloaded the movie, because that would have been 250 million dollars in revenue that was lost (Johnson). Lerner’s motives to go after the people who illegally downloaded his movie are greater than just to gain more money; his goal is to send a message that stealing is wrong. It is unfortunate that stealing intellectual property, such as movies and music has no real consequence. According to Lerner, people will continue to steal unless the American Government steps in and takes action. However, it is known that President Obama has greater issues to worry about before laws can be passed about illegal movie downloads (Johnson).
ReplyDeleteSo what is being done about this issue? The way Lerner wants to attack the thieves of his movie, is to send out legal documents to those with IP addresses in which the movie was downloaded. 550,000 letters were sent out in hopes that these people would see the cruelty behind their illegal downloading habits. The producers of Dallas Buyer’s club began doing the same thing and they will continue until a change is seen (Johnson). Personally, I don’t see this issue changing anytime soon before it just gets worse. I think that the more advanced our technology and downloading websites become, the larger the number of illegal downloads will increase. “The film’s initial numbers are the worst in series history” (Lang).
This leads me to wonder how these movies can still earn revenue for having been viewed whether in theaters or illegally online. 10 million people are a lot of viewership, and I don’t think that large portion should be ignored. Each download should count for something, even if it is something not as tangible as money. For example, it should show the producers and film industry what types of movies people are downloading vs. actually going to the theaters to see. This could give producers more insight on what to include in their movies to make it more appealing to theaters.
Although less Americans are going to the movie theaters because the convenience of downloading a movie onto their computer is becoming more readily available, people in China are actually going to the movie theaters more now. According to Entertainment Weekly, China’s monthly box-office topped the U.S. market for the first time (LeBeck). This is all due to the rapid construction of movie theaters and addiction of new screens compared to 2008. Their movie industry is thriving now compared to ours, which at this point just seems phony.
Works Cited
Johnson, Ted. 'Expendables 3' Producer, We Want to Go After 10 Million Who Illegally Downloaded Movie. Variety. Date Visited: March 15, 2015. Web.
LeBeck, Jeff. "China Monthly Box Office Tops U.S. for First Time." Entertainment Weekly. 2 March 2015. Web
Lang, Brent. "‘Expendables 3′ Flops: Is Piracy to Blame?" Variety 17 Aug. 2014. Web.
Danielle Morin
ReplyDeleteAs Michael stated in his blog, piracy is on the rise. The article on the movie “The Expendables 3” shocks with numbers. The movie fell short of projections by nearly $10 million. The fact that it was leaked and viewed by 2.2 million illustrates what an impact piracy can have (Lang). Less money for the company can lead to a decrease of special effects, movies produced and so on as Michael briefly explained in his post. We know for a fact piracy and illegal downloads have a heavy impact, and we saw this first with the music industry. In a class last semester about song and music we took a class poll: how many students had illegally downloaded music? I was surprised to see that everyone in class besides two students had done so. I’m guessing it would be similar for movies. Like Michael stated the accessibility is so easily obtained that its not a big deal to Google a movie you’d like to view. Even walking into the nail salon, I always see a pirated movie playing on the screens to entertain customers. In order to make progress on this problem and change the acceptance of this illegal act, people need to be held accountable for their actions. Teaching younger generations that it is wrong to do so would be a good start. The article by Brent Lang states that Lionsgate has a lawsuit against ten anonymous people who have supposedly shared the digital copy of the Expendables 3 with piracy sites (Lang). I like Michael’s point of how search engines do not say these sites are illegal. Perhaps some sort of partnership could come about that would exchange advertisement in pre-movie commercials for the search engines acknowledging that these downloads are in fact against the law.
However a question I have goes to what other contributing factors are there, if there are any? The “Not all Sequels are Equals” explains, “According to estimates, roughly 1.26 billion consumers purchased cinema tickets in 2014, making it the lowest since 1.21 billion in 1995”(Ford). While it is obvious that piracy contributes to this low number what other factors are affecting it? We can see that certain trends are waning, such as sports, sword and sandal movies (Ford). The decreased interest from viewers can account for some of the low numbers we see. As well as the “sequel” decreases. No more “Iron Man”, “Harry Potter” and “Dark Knight” sequels this year, which will cause a blow. As we know, the “twosies” or more work well and have great selling track record with consumers (Cunningham).
The 2013 numbers in attendance to movies were down but it is hard to look at other contributing factors that may be playing into low box office debuts. Piracy has definitely highly impacted this, but can we say for sure the other factors have contributed? To a degree I think we can. However we cannot go further because 2014’s grosses were the highest ever! Part of it may be streaming services such as Netflix and the home movie entertainment experience. Many people now have a theater at their own home. Or perhaps it is a movie-to-movie basis, and some films are more likely to be pirated and viewed depending on when released, advertisement and so on.
Works Cited
Cunningham, Todd and Brent Lang. "Box Office: 2014 Will Likely Be Down, Because Not All Sequels Are Equals." The Wrap 2 Jan. 2014. Web.
Ford, Rebecca. "Box Office Winners and Losers of 2014." The Hollywood Reporter. 2 Jan. 2015. Web.
Lang, Brent. "‘Expendables 3′ Flops: Is Piracy to Blame?" Variety 17 Aug. 2014. Web.
For as long as I can remember, people have been stealing music, television and movies off of the Internet and that is a problem. I agree with Michael in the idea that we need to do our part to make a change in film piracy. We are the ones who are stealing it so we must make a change. I also found it very empowering how Michael began with a quote. Stealing physical property leads to jail time but intellectual property does not? That is just absolutely ridiculous. Both are stealing and need to be looked at the same way.
ReplyDeleteMichael stated, “According to Forbes, out of ages 12 and up in 2013, 48% of Americans have downloaded, streamed, or shared music content. Television was high as well, at 46%, although these numbers were heavily skewed by streaming specifically (rather than downloading or sharing). Films ranked third at 25%, followed by computer software, books, and video games. (Catalano)” I found these numbers to be surprisingly low. I thought categories such as music and television would have had higher numbers well over 50%. People are constantly stealing music and films and do not realize what it is doing to the industry. People do not understand the similarities to stealing film versus stealing the car.
According to Brent Lang, in his article ‘Expendabled 3’ Flops: Is Piracy to Blame, “Measuring the impact of piracy on box office is difficult and the data can be contradictory.” Lang also mentioned, “its such a crowded marketplace,” said Dergarabedian. “Even taking piracy out of the equation, it’s so much competitive than we thought it would be.” And the fact that ads play a big role in supporting these online piracy websites is awful! They are just hurting the industry even more to better themselves which is extremely immoral. The fact that piracy is competition too the movie industry is crazy to believe. This is a crime! How has it gone on for this long? Something big needs to be done to end this once and for all.
Moviegoers seem to have slowed down tremendously. For example, I use to always go to the movie theater as a kid but now, not so much. According to Rebecca Ford in her article Box Office Winners and Losers of 2014 from the Hollywood Reporter, “Revenue looks to have come in at $10.35 billion, down more than 5 percent from 2013's record $10.9 billion. Worse, attendance hit a two-decade low, with roughly 1.27 billion going to the movies, compared to 1.34 billion in 2013.” The fact that people don’t physically go to the movies anymore is upsetting, but makes sense. I know for my family, we rather wait for a movie to go on demand so we can watch it in the comfort of our home.
Although Americans have been stealing music, television and film for many years now, there is still a positive for the industry to look at. Entertainment Weekly writer, Jeff LeBeck, wrote in his article China Monthly Box Office Tops U.S. for First Time, “China’s movie business is thriving, and no one with an appreciation for numbers doubts that it will eventually eclipse the North American market.” So although our country is declining, China is growing. To show how much they appreciate movie going, they have been building tons of movie theaters across their country. This is a positive note, but still does not help the fact that we have been stealing this content. In the near future our country needs to figure out a new system that blocks stealing of media. Once this is done, the film, television, and music industries will absolutely soar.
-Taylor Roberts
Works Cited
Ford, Rebecca. "Box Office Winners and Losers of 2014." The Hollywood
Reporter. 2 Jan. 2015. Web.
Lang, Brent. "‘Expendables 3′ Flops: Is Piracy to Blame?" Variety 17 Aug. 2014.
Web.
LeBeck, Jeff. "China Monthly Box Office Tops U.S. for First Time."
Entertainment Weekly. 2 March 2015. Web.
I think back to when I first started using computers around 5th/6th grade and I remember how inexperienced I was compared to some of my other friends. When iPods were just starting to get big all my friends would talk about how they illegally downloaded music off LimeWire. I was never one to illegally download music and the reason is still clear, I just didn’t do it. But when it comes to movies and especially in recent years, I’ve watched more movies on my laptop screen or home television than I have in actual movie theatres. The main reason is because of how much ticket prices have gone up. When I’m home the nearest movie theatre is 5 minutes away but the cost of 1 single ticket has gone up to around $17.50. It used to be $10 and that’s acceptable, but to almost double in ticket price plus the cost of movie snacks makes it a very unappealing for anyone to attend the theatre anymore. According to Rebecca Ford, “There were plenty of empty seats at movie theaters in North America last year. According to estimates, roughly 1.26 billion consumers purchased cinema tickets in 2014, making it the lowest since 1.21 billion in 1995. Year-over-year, attendance is about 6 percent lower than 2013, when admissions clocked in at 1.34 billion” (Ford). Clearly it’s not just me that sees movie theatre prices as to high and it’s affecting multiple areas of the Film Industry. As a viewer who has not received any notification of consequences for downloading movies it pushes me to continue my habit because: 1) it’s free 2) it’s easy 3) it doesn’t take anymore time than just watching the movie. If I’m home and watching I can pause the movie and either go grab a free snack or even run to the bathroom. The benefits of watching a film from home or at a friend’s house are much better than those of viewing a movie in a legitimate movie theatre.
ReplyDeleteWhat baffled me is the growth rate of movies theaters being built in China. “China is currently experiencing explosive growth in the construction of movie theaters, with 15 new screens being added every day” (Lebeck). With all these screens being built and movies tailored to be viewed on the large screen such as Transformers, “The world's second biggest film market surged 36 percent in 2014, raking in $4.76 billion (29.6 billion yuan) at the box office. The moviegoing power of China helped boost Transformers: Age of Extinction, the only film to cross the $1 billion mark, to the No. 1 spot at the worldwide box office for the year. The film, which featured custom Chinese elements in that market, earned $320 million from China” (Ford).
Clearly there’s an epidemic in the US over illegally downloading movies but it the consequences for stealing a movie and stealing a car have are not quite equal. China’s rapid moviegoing growth is a positive sign for the film industry and once the US finds a way to stop the pirating of films and even music and TV we can only assume those industries’ will flourish once again.
Ford, Rebecca. "Box Office Winners and Losers of 2014." The Hollywood
Reporter. 2 Jan. 2015. Web.
LeBeck, Jeff. "China Monthly Box Office Tops U.S. for First Time."
Entertainment Weekly. 2 March 2015. Web.
Saleena Glowik
ReplyDeleteFilm piracy is such an interesting topic. It’s been around for years, and the only question I have is why can’t it be stopped? It baffles me that things on the Internet that are deemed illegal still exist. If I go to Google and type in the search bar “Watch Expendables 3 for free, about a dozen sketchy websites pop up. The famous one “Let me Watch this” has been popular amongst college students. I remember my freshman year it was what everyone was using to gain free access to movies. The only downside was the popups that occurred while you were using their site, but there were ways to get around it. Why can’t piracy be stopped from the obvious websites? Anyone can go into Google and find over a dozen illegal websites.
According to an article by Brent Lang, the thriller movie “Expendables 3” fell short of roughly $10 million. Is piracy to blame? It was said that the movie was leaked 3 weeks before the actual movie hi the box offices. The article raises an important point. Rentrak media analyst Paul Dergarabedian argues that people who downloaded the movie illegally may not have even wanted to pay to see it in theaters even if the movie wasn’t available online 3 weeks earlier (Lang). Free is free. It makes people want to see a movie even more. If the movie does not suit their taste, it would be just a waste of 2-3 hours, not a waste of money and lets face it, people really care about money (a little too much if you ask me).
Now to answer one of my questions: Is piracy to blame? If the movie made their projected amount of money and 2.2 million people still downloaded it or accessed it illegally, I don’t think there would be a big fuss about the loss of money. Personally I don’t think piracy is to blame. I think it should be stopped yes but there are so many movies available online for me to watch for free even before the movie is out in theatres. It doesn’t interest me. I have access to Netflix where I can watch movies. I’m also the type of person who loves the move theatre experience. I would rather go to the movies and pay $10 to see the movie of my choice than to watch it at home, while probably exposing my laptop to many viruses after clicking many links and weird websites just to watch a movie for free.
Another reason why I don’t think piracy is to blame is the fact that not all sequels are going to do great and match this year’s grosses. As stated in Box Office: 2014 Will Likely Be Down, Because Not All Sequels Are Equals, there will be no “Avengers” “Harry Potter” or “Iron Man” movies, which are some of the most popular sequels (Cunningham and Lang). If sequels aren’t up to par like the three movies I just named, people are going to get bored of them. I’m not really a fan of sequels except for the “Harry Potter” movies and “The Hunger Games”. Most of the movies I see that are sequels usually are worse than the original film. But then again that’s my own opinion. Piracy can be stopped but it’s not the solution to all movie problems.
Works Cited
Cunningham, Todd and Lang, Brett. Box Office: 2014 Will Likely Be Down, Because Not All Sequels Are Equals. The Wrap 2. Jan. 2014. Web.
Lang, Brent. "‘Expendables 3′ Flops: Is Piracy to Blame?" Variety 17 Aug. 2014. Web.
In many respects film is becoming like digital music downloading in the early 2000s; many believe that the medium is something they are more entitled to and less willing to purchase. As Mike alluded to in his blog post and as many of this week’s writers have suggested, the rise in illegal movie downloading can be attributed to a combination of technological convenience and costs.
ReplyDeleteFirst cost seems to be a major deterrent for many potential movie goers. Rebecca Ford, in her article for the Hollywood Reporter, states that 2014 was a very poor for movie releases and that box office grosses were down five percent from 2013. Ford also suggested that the yearend could have been even worse had it not been for the surprising success of some films in the growing international market. Writers Cunningham and Lang, for The Wrap, also suggest that the presence of major film sequels from 2014’s film line up has also hurt grosses that year and that not all sequels attract major audiences.
This said, going to the theatres to see movies looks to be trending downward and is a major concern for major movie studios. However, I believe that a major cause for this trend would be ticket prices. According to a Deadline article by Joseph Lieberman, in a survey 53% of respondents stated that ticket price increases were a major reason why they stayed away from the theatres. I know from personal experience that many of peers and I feel the same way; the cost is simply too much unless the movie is very good. Going to see a movie in theaters is simply not as affordable as it used to be, especially for a family which is also paying for concessions.
This considered, the opportunity to stream a movie for free that one may have a causal interest in is very attractive. Audiences that stream illegally don’t have to worry about wasting money if the film isn’t any good they can simply bail on it at any time. Furthermore, as Mike stated in his blog, pirating films online is a mostly consequence-free crime that is not enforced against the consumer, for the most part. Audiences likely stream films illegally because they enjoy the perks of it being cost free and convenient.
As we have discussed in class throughout the semester, it is also apparent that many consumers are opting to use smaller screens such as laptops, tablets and even smartphones to stream video and TV. This tread may also continue to major movies as well and audiences may prefer to watch movies on their own time and without having to pay. I believe that this tread maybe be reflective in the films that are still most popular in theatres. According to the list provided by Box Office Mojo, nearly every top grossing film in 2014 was a action or superhero movie; films that generally rely on an experience that is heavy on special effects and use of sound. These films, I argue, are likely more attractive for moviegoers to see in theaters since a using a massive screen and sound quality is part of the experience of these movies. Others, where those elements are not as important, may convenience audiences to save money and simply watch the film at home.
References
Total Grosses of all Movies Released in 2014. (2015, January 1). Retrieved March 17, 2015, from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2014
Ford, R. (2015, January 12). Box Office Winners and Losers of 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
Leiberman, J. (2015, January 13). Movie Ticket Prices Are Too Damn High, 2014 Summer B.O. Collapse Study Finds. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
Cunningham, Todd and Brent Lang. Box Office: 2014 Will Likely Be Down, Because Not All Sequels Are Equals. The Wrap 2. Jan. 2014. Web.
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