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The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

torrentfreak.com

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Re: The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

#51
post #41
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whilst I begrudged paying £16 (~$26 US) for me and the girlfriend Does this mean that you only had to pay $13 per person? In Sweden, a single ticket sells for $20.

It does, yeah (although doesn't include the price of 3D glasses). This was at an out of London cinema, thankfully. In the center of town you can easily pay $20+ pp. Are you paying that right across Sweden? If so, how awful :-(

$20/£12.20 was for the 3D version (where you can borrow glasses - do you have to buy yours?). I checked, and in smaller towns the price seems to be $17.50. The 2D version (which isn't available everywhere) is only $16/£10. That's actually not much more expensive than the UWest London prices reported by mseebach.

Re: The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

#52
post #17

For me it usually comes down to the 'is it worth it?' Avengers was worth it - you knew it was going to be great in 3D, explosions, cinema sound, Iron Man, etc. Whilst I begrudged paying £16 (~$26 US) for me and the girlfriend (before even thinking about drinks / popcorn) we were always going to see it in the cinema. Compare that to a film that doesn't excite me (or most of the general population), and all of a sudden…

> you knew it was going to be great in 3D Quick off-topic question. Is the 3d version worth it here? Usually most 3d films is 3d just because, but make no real good use of it. But being 3d just adds an extra unnecessary eye strain. This is why I watched the Avengers on 2d. But is this one of those rare movies (like avatar) where the 3d version is actually better? If so, I might go back and watch it again.

Um, to be honest, if you saw it in 2D I wouldn't bother going again. FWIW, I enjoy a 3D movie but I don't think anything here was ground breaking or epic. There were a couple of good 'that piece of whatever is coming straight at me' moments, but nothing major.

That said, if you're a fan of 3D, haven't seen it and are deciding whether to see it in 3D or 2D, I'd still recommend it with the silly glasses.

Re: The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

#53
post #41
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whilst I begrudged paying £16 (~$26 US) for me and the girlfriend Does this mean that you only had to pay $13 per person? In Sweden, a single ticket sells for $20.

It does, yeah (although doesn't include the price of 3D glasses). This was at an out of London cinema, thankfully. In the center of town you can easily pay $20+ pp. Are you paying that right across Sweden? If so, how awful :-(

Glasses cost about 80p per person. You also pay extra for the privilege of seeing something in 3D, but prices for everything are generally cheaper outside of London.

Re: The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

#54
I believe pirating does affect ticket sales but really only for the lower budget/less anticipated movies. I tend to bucket all the movies I want to watch into 3 categories: go the movies, dollar theater, and download. The less I truly want to see the movie the lower down the bucket list it goes.

So yeah a movie like the Avengers which for me and probably most others will definitely be in the top bucket won't be affected much by pirating. Can't say the same for say Madagascar 3.

Re: The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

#55
post #21

that there is a detrimental effect on international box office figures. The researchers attribute this impact to the wide release gaps Damn right. It makes sense that if you release a film in Europe 6 months after the USA that there will be more piracy in Europe. Why should we have to wait? There is a simple solution: Release films at the same time/day. This is an example of piracy making things better for the consum…

There's actually logistical reasons why that's potentially difficult, (having actors show up at premiers for example). I think considering that "overseas piracy" is the big stated concern for Hollywood (less people downloading cam-rips, more people selling DVD's on corners), their strategy of actually launching the movie outside the U.S. first made sense. I suspect we'll see more of that for tent-pole type films.

I doubt there's a single soul outside the film industry who gives the slightest damn about whether the actors are at the first showing of a film in their country/continent/whatever.

Re: The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

#56
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If you enjoy the cinema you are going to watch a film like this at the cinema" If you enjoy 'cinema' you would probably rather pluck your eyes out than watch a film like this anywhere in anyway

To each their own. I enjoy a large assortment of films. The Avengers and Batman Begins - or 12 Monkeys and The Usual Suspects - or The Triplettes of Bellville and The Lives of Others - or 12 Angry Men and The Seventh Seal. Hardly fair to say that someone who would 'enjoy' 'cinema' would 'rather pluck their eyes out' than 'watch' a 'film' like this 'anywhere'. Interestingly, you used the term 'Film' to describe The Av…

I think it's going to be a while until even the most pretentiousness arts majors talk about how "they just adore bytes"

Will movie directors shout "fclose()" at the end of scene I wonder?

Re: The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

#57
post #36
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly do not qualify for "have the background" but I do have some information. One part is cost of reproduction; it's rumored to cost $1,500 for each reproduced film reel set. The current work (that I know about) is the move towards digital distribution. http://singularityhub.com/2012/04/27/movie-theaters-ramp-up-... Another part is translation. Though language barriers have been decreasing during the last two…

My local indie theater recently ran a substantial (for them) fundraising campaign to upgrade to digital. They claimed that within a year or two, the major studios were going digital only and any theater without digital would be completely shut out. I didn't verify this, but I have no reason to doubt them.

Fox just announced officially that they will cease all 35mm print distribution within 2 years.

Re: The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

#58
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you would see complaints from retailers on DVD sales declining.

I think that's a reality that DVD retailers need to embrace sooner rather than later.

They've already embraced it. Major retailers devote much less floor space to DVD than they did in the past. The entire industry is well aware DVD is on the downslope.

Re: The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

#59

Torrentfreak's articles seem to get better and better. They note the ways in which piracy is hurting films (foreign sales) and show some numbers indicating that in the US it doesn't appear to be hurting sales much at all. While obviously torrentfreak can't ever be considered objective in regards to piracy, they seem to be getting closer each time. Back on topic then, Does anyone have the background necessary to know…

I am perplexed by your comment about overseas release dates. There has been an absolutely massive compression in release dates in the past 5 years. Most obvious blockbusters are now globally released, and the spread for smaller films has also been contracting. Avengers was released overseas prior to the US release. A film like The Descendants was released 4 weeks early in NY/LA, and then foreign releases were only 6…

I'm taking that info from the article. It was proposed as one of the reasons that piracy over seas is so prolific.

Re: The Avengers: Why Pirates Failed To Prevent A Box Office Record

#60
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If you enjoy the cinema you are going to watch a film like this at the cinema" If you enjoy 'cinema' you would probably rather pluck your eyes out than watch a film like this anywhere in anyway

To each their own. I enjoy a large assortment of films. The Avengers and Batman Begins - or 12 Monkeys and The Usual Suspects - or The Triplettes of Bellville and The Lives of Others - or 12 Angry Men and The Seventh Seal. Hardly fair to say that someone who would 'enjoy' 'cinema' would 'rather pluck their eyes out' than 'watch' a 'film' like this 'anywhere'. Interestingly, you used the term 'Film' to describe The Av…

Avengers was shot on Alexa at 2K resolution. It's digital through and through, though there's a few 35mm prints screening out there.

I saw some clamoring to see it on 35mm, which is a little ridiculous in this case.

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