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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

#21

Post by rmc »

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 consumer, and this sort of market-correcting piracy should be encouraged.

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

#22

Post by vibrunazo »

iamben wrote: 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.

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

#23

Post by nextparadigms »

bobsy wrote: post #19

A thing to note is that it was a CAM recording of the film that was leaked. I have only ever watched one cam recording of a movie before. I think it was 'The Illusionist.' I was at a friends house, he slapped it on. The color saturation was wrong, the sound was like mono and the camera appeared slightly off so the very top or bottom of the screen was cut off. It wasn't completely unwatchable but it spoiled the movie.…

Imagine how much money they could make if they released a 1080p HD version online, globally, 4 weeks at most after the launch in cinemas, and for a price of $5.

That may or may not kill the cinemas in the long term, depending on how hard they fight to become more competitive and unique compared to watching the movie at home, but it would definitely not hurt the studios and movie makers. If anything, they stand to make a lot more money on average for every released movie.

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

#24

Post by m0nastic »

vibrunazo wrote: post #22
iamben wrote: 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.

I saw it in 3D yesterday (begrudgingly, as I hate 3D, but the theater I went to only showed it in 3D). The 3D is used to pretty good effect for the most part (ie: it's not 20 minutes of normal footage and then a gratuitous 3D shot of something being waved at you), and I found that about an hour into the movie, I didn't notice it.

What I thought was odd was that there were things in 3D that were just part of the background (like there was literally a scene or two where the railing on a walkway was jutting out in 3D).

If you've already seen it in 2D, I really don't think you missed out; but if you liked the movie (and I thought it was very very good) and were going to see it again anyway, the 3D doesn't ruin the experience.

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

#25

Post by m0nastic »

rmc wrote: 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.

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

#26

Post by ljf »

rmc wrote: 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…

It's a hangover from the 'old days' where those lower down the release date list got 'hand me down' film reels.

Reels are one of the last major costs for film distributors, and even in the face of piracy they would rather cut costs there, than put there risk onto their own shoulders and produce more reels. They are scared of being stuck with a flop movie, and many theatres in the UK and elsewhere outside of the USofA won't commit to buying reels without seeing USA box-office turnout first. The delay is here, and until we have digital projecting, I'm not sure how it will be solved

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

#27

Post by juliano_q »

vibrunazo wrote: post #22
iamben wrote: 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.

I also watched on 2D because 3D movies give me headaches, but several friends told me that the 3D stuff there is almost avatar-like good. I am tempted to watch it again.

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

#28

Post by jcampbell1 »

tseabrooks wrote: post #4

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 weeks after the US release. That is insanely fast for a movie that could potentially have never made it out of NY/LA.

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

#29

Post by jcr »

tseabrooks wrote: post #4

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 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 decades, they still exist, and most people prefer to watch movies in their native language, or at least have subtitles in a language they know well.

Various "fan groups" release subtitled versions of their favorite anime, and at least to some degree, this addresses the time delay of translation. More importantly, the entertainment industry has been slowly learning from the fan subbing groups. A good example would be the partnership between entertainment companies (read: investors) and groups like CrunchyRoll which does and distributes officially sanctioned, subtitled (re)releases a short time after the programs have originally aired.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/

Though the former could easily be considered just cost cutting, the latter is undoubtedly due to pressure from alternate distribution channels.

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

#30

Post by mike-cardwell »

bobsy wrote: post #19

A thing to note is that it was a CAM recording of the film that was leaked. I have only ever watched one cam recording of a movie before. I think it was 'The Illusionist.' I was at a friends house, he slapped it on. The color saturation was wrong, the sound was like mono and the camera appeared slightly off so the very top or bottom of the screen was cut off. It wasn't completely unwatchable but it spoiled the movie.…

I wonder what would have happened if it had been a leaked screener instead of a CAM recording. I'd never choose a CAM over going to the cinema, but a screener might change my choice.
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