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'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

variety.com

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Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#151

Post by GeekyBear »

lmm wrote: post #121
redwall_hp wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has been running the iTunes Store without "pulling the rug" for about as many years as Steam has existed. Hell, they ditched DRM on music in that time period too and will sell you lossless ALAC as well as MP4 audio. (They obviously weren't able to talk Hollywood into that.) Steam is DRM that ensures the capability to pull rugs.

> Apple has been running the iTunes Store without "pulling the rug" for about as many years as Steam has existed. Maybe. It's not been a very prominent line of business for them, and even then I can recall a couple of significant dramas over that time - didn't they merge two different kinds of libraries and cause confusion? The unremovable U2 album is also a cause for concern, not because an extra album is bad but be…

> The unremovable U2 album is also a cause for concern

Open the settings and uncheck "automatically download purchased music that isn't on the device".

Fixed.

> movies require another level of trust

When Apple paid the studios extra to alliw them to upgrade previously purchased 480p movies to HD, I'd say they earned it.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#152

Post by righthand »

extra88 wrote: post #58
righthand wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if you use the app you’re only streaming from Apple servers. That Apple server copy can be revoked at any time. And 60% is not 100%, my point stands you need an expensive device just to purchase and watch it. Probably multiple expensive devices if you want to actually watch it on your TV. When can I download my movie onto my Linux laptop and play it through an HDMI cable?

You're moving goalposts and ignoring what I wrote. An Apple TV box is not expensive and you can use even cheaper streaming devices to buy and watch instead.

No you’re ignoring the criteria for why someone would want Steam for Movies. It’s not for the pleasant thought that they can stream movies from Apple and download it when they want through specific hardware. People back up their games from Steam and actually do own a copy of the installer and game files. That is a huge difference.

The DRM in Steam is not one of ownership. It’s one of needing a Steam account to buy and access those installer and game files.

“You can just stream your movies from proprietary device through apple tv app” isnt Steam for Movies in the spirit of the idea. What you have described is no different than having a streaming only subscription where you dont own the files and can’t access a copy of it offline. However you are correct that if you don’t care then you probably never wanted to own a copy of the files in the first place.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#153

Post by righthand »

radley wrote: post #69
righthand wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if you use the app you’re only streaming from Apple servers. That Apple server copy can be revoked at any time. And 60% is not 100%, my point stands you need an expensive device just to purchase and watch it. Probably multiple expensive devices if you want to actually watch it on your TV. When can I download my movie onto my Linux laptop and play it through an HDMI cable?

> When can I download my movie onto my Linux laptop and play it through an HDMI cable? Probably because the Linux market is too small to support an iTunes for Linux. By my understanding, the Linux market prefers free, open source, community effort. So essentially the real question is: why aren't you making movies yourself and sharing them free with your Linux peers?

I actually have made movies and they are all available to download online for free. Not the gotcha you think. And also totally unrelated to the idea of Steam for Movies.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#154

Post by righthand »

arusahni wrote: post #57
righthand wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if you use the app you’re only streaming from Apple servers. That Apple server copy can be revoked at any time. And 60% is not 100%, my point stands you need an expensive device just to purchase and watch it. Probably multiple expensive devices if you want to actually watch it on your TV. When can I download my movie onto my Linux laptop and play it through an HDMI cable?

A "Steam for Movies" service (as expressed in an ancestor comment) is basically that, though. One doesn't own their Steam games.

You can download a copy of the installers and game files on steam. Steam allows you to install on any hard drive or device that runs Steam. Streaming apps download and store data in drm encrypted formats and by and large do not allow you to keep copies of that data for your own use.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#155

Post by tinyplanets »

peteforde wrote: post #85
cheschire wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must be the weirdo for not wanting to feel unsettled like that. Doesn’t reality have enough unsettling stuff? Why pile onto that? Give me comedy. Oh how I miss the 90 minute comedy movie.

What I find unsettling is that large swathes of mainstream society seem to consistently tack towards safe, unchallenging pablum. Why watch Parasite when you could watch a Happy Gilmore sequel? I'm not saying this to be contrarian or give you a hard time. You should watch whatever makes you feel joy. However, you shouldn't be surprised that for a lot of people, music, movies, television and books (I kid, I kid) that d…

Amen to that!

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#156

Post by tinyplanets »

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #17

The what? Horror something? ....started on 4chan? Yeah, immediate aboutface here. And reading wiki articles about it that throw around words like "creepypasta" like that's widely understood? Liminal spaces I get. Reminds of Severance . And anyways, how is this worth going to a theater for? A24 has done well. Is 81M considered breaching 'mainstream'? Because these niche horror things being portrayed as part of the gre…

Severance was inspired by the backrooms (not the other way around). And why do people feel the need to yuck someone else's yum?

Backrooms for me was definitely a yum!

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#157

Post by righthand »

freejazz wrote: post #112
lmm wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you can run Steam on Linux. You don't have to worry about whether they're going to discontinue the cheap Steam Box you were relying on. And they have built up credibility from decades of not pulling the rug, in a way that Apple hasn't and probably can't.

> But you can run Steam on Linux And how many people run linux that this is even relevant?

The number of people doing it is irrelevant because the larger point was being able to download the movie on any platform. Steam on Linux is just a good example of supporting almost all platforms to distribute media.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#158

Post by legitster »

morgoo wrote: post #142
legitster wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this explanation is incomplete. There were still plenty of mid-size movies after the DVD era that still had profitable theatrical releases. The prototypical example to me is Baby Driver. Pre-Covid there was simply not enough major weekends to release a big movie. They end up competing with each other. Sure, Baby Driver made $300m on a $40m budget. But for pure profit maximization you are better off making a b…

But if you make 10 $40m movies and 2 of them make $300m you've spent less for more revenue and a lot more profit, and that's assuming the other 8 make exactly $0

But again, there are a limited number of money-making weekends in a year, and you're competing with other movies those weekends.

If you have only 4-5 good chances to make money in a year, you're going to maximize revenue over profitability.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#159

Post by extra88 »

righthand wrote: post #152
extra88 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're moving goalposts and ignoring what I wrote. An Apple TV box is not expensive and you can use even cheaper streaming devices to buy and watch instead.

No you’re ignoring the criteria for why someone would want Steam for Movies. It’s not for the pleasant thought that they can stream movies from Apple and download it when they want through specific hardware. People back up their games from Steam and actually do own a copy of the installer and game files. That is a huge difference. The DRM in Steam is not one of ownership. It’s one of needing a Steam account to buy an…

That's not what your original message was about and please don't invent quotes that are not what I wrote or anything like what I wrote. You wrote:

> The iTunes movie store is not friendly outside of the Apple ecosystem. Making the entire idea not really affordable since you need a expensive electronic device to utilize it sanely. Might as well find another way to get to it at that point.

I pointed out that buying a movie from Apple does not require an expensive device and does not require buying any hardware from the Apple ecosystem.

You ignored the facts and kept going on about having to buy expensive Apple hardware, which it isn't and you don't.

You moved the goalposts by requiring not only that purchases not require hardware that's expensive or from Apple, you added that it must not be revocable or streamed and must work on Linux.

I am not advocating for the iTunes store or any other source for buying media, I lost interest in owning TV or movies long ago, I was just providing factual information about what doing so requires.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#160

Post by the_real_cher »

atleastoptimal wrote: post #74
the_real_cher wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You idealize young people. There's talented people of all ages. I just want talented people to get money...in general.

I single out young people because they tend to be significantly undervalued with respect to their ability to contribute, especially in many industries which heavily gate on experience and connections.

People who dont live in San Francisco or New York are significantly undervalued with respect to their talent and ability to contribute in the tech industry. Same with women and black people.

Give talented people money period.

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