Study Says Piracy Has A Negligible Effect on Box Office

[Lighthouse]

I still oppose piracy ethically, but this just shows how completely and totally unnecessary these insane anti-piracy bills are. The bills are just about greed.

Piracy Has Negligible Influence On U.S. Box Office: Study

While researchers in the study acknowledge an increase in piracy — especially for genres such as science fiction and action films — U.S. audiences still prefer the theatrical experience. The study found that Americans are heading to theaters in about the same numbers they would have otherwise in the absence of piracy, suggesting that perhaps people opt to see a film in a theater despite an initial pass online, or word of mouth from a pirated copy of a film may push others to the multiplex.

The study also concludes that since the advent of piracy software BitTorrent in 2003, the longer the lag time between a film’s release abroad compared to its U.S. opening, the greater the depression in box office receipts. Generally, the study found international returns were 7% lower in the sample set than they would have been had piracy not existed. Hollywood films normally bow in the U.S. before heading abroad, with opening dates varying by country; countries like Denmark, Finland, Italy, Poland, and Turkey generally have longer lag times than the UK, Switzerland and Australia.

 

[dark_b]

rich studio exec's are saying that everyone who wouldnt be able to download a movie would buy a DVD. which is BS. people who download would only rent a movie. they watch the movie and then they delete it from the computer.

if somone rents a movie its not the same as buying a DVD.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I didn't need a study to tell me that studios are full of ****.

 

[Donut]

The Studios also opening big popular movies like The Avengers opening in some Countries before others. Also plays a part in there being copies of new movies online before certain other Countries. People will do stuff like CAM movies just to say. They did it first

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Studios will ignore this.

They're blinded by greed.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I always hated them screaming about how they lost billions upon billions because of pirates.

I know how about those jack asses make better films?

 

[Lighthouse]

I think my title is a little misleading. I should have put "US Box Office" instead of just "Box Office". Piracy does effect international revenue, but the point still stands that action should come from their end, and not from the government.

 

[PSYLENTGuardian]

Isn't it already plainly obvious that piracy doesn't help sales?

 

[redhawk23]

^ No one ever said they did. What this study is arguing is that it doesn't necessarilly hurt them here in the States either.

 

[Ultimatehero]

Studios pirate all the time. It's part of what I love about the hypocrisy of anti-pirating rants. Studio presidents do it all the time, just the "common man" can't lol.

 

[gkokujin]

"piracy software BitTorrent"

yes bit torrent was created specifically to pirate movies and software.

 

[dark_b]

not true IMO. its a software created for sharing. the problem is that today a lot people like ot share music and movies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_(protocol)

 

[dude stannis]

He was being sarcastic.

 

[jmc]

Well this is a case of no **** sherlock.

 

[CGHulk]

edit.

 

[obin_gam]

We in europe get pissed off having to wait 9 ****ing months for great movies to get over here (current example: The Muppets). Thats why we pirate. Because we read about the movies and how great they are, and want to see them too! And we would gladly pay for them if they were made accessible to us at the same time americans get them.

And its the other way around too I would guess.

 

[craigdbfan]

This is like stating that water is liquid or that the sky is blue.

 

[gkokujin]

no matter HOW big or sophisticated your A/V system is, there is nothing that will replace the theater experience.

Box office numbers should show that. People (normal) don't wait for a movie to come out on DVD or someone to pirate it.

 

[Lencho01]

Does anyone know why they don't release films worldwide at closer dates (or on the same date altogether)?

 

[hopefuldreamer]

If they want me to go to the cinema more, they should put the prices down

The fact is, if there is a film I HAVE to see, I will see it in the cinema.

And if I lived closer to the cinema (it's an hour and a half bus journey away) I'd probably go and see a lot more. It's just a much deeper experience, no distractions, the best picture and sound quality etc.

If I can wait until a half decent copy has found its way to pirate land and watch that... I'd have been quite happy to wait for it to come to DVD as well. And then I might have rented it. Or found a friend to borrow it off of... Heck with some stuff I'd probably have caught it on TV a few years later at christmas or something

The pirate copy taken out of the equation wouldn't make me go to the cinema and see it. I'd just wait longer.

We in europe get pissed off having to wait 9 ****ing months for great movies to get over here (current example: The Muppets). Thats why we pirate. Because we read about the movies and how great they are, and want to see them too! And we would gladly pay for them if they were made accessible to us at the same time americans get them.

And its the other way around too I would guess.

I agree with this more for television shows than anything. Some of them never make it to our tv channels. And some of them never even make it to DVD box sets playable in our region.

But yeah it's annoying having to wait, especially in the land of internet discussion forums

 

[mr. peasant]

Does anyone know why they don't release films worldwide at closer dates (or on the same date altogether)?

Without actually being in the industry myself, I can only guess there could be a number of reasons such as waiting for censorship and rating board approvals, and that it's probably cheaper to screen a movie that's been out for awhile as opposed to one that's only freshly been released.


As for the study itself, there are a number of limitations. For instance, they make the assumption that an absence of lag time between a local release and international release means that the movie is not pirated. However, when this is not true. Day zero pirated copies do exist. As such, using this as the baseline of 'no piracy' would result in them underestimating the impact of piracy on box office sales.

Another assumption they make is that the reduced profit margins are directly attributed to piracy. Correlation does not imply causation. There are many other possible causes leading to poorer box office performances (e.g. bad reviews, less interest amongst international audiences, etc). For instance, highly anticipated movies with broad appeal and high levels of publicity (e.g.action summer blockbusters) tend to get released globally at the same time.

Lastly, the scope of the study is itself very limited. Low-quality pirated copies are of course not going to be able to significantly compete against cinemas. However, the situation is likely to be quite different when it comes to DVD and Blu-ray sales where pirated copies are of equal quality.

In short, this study was complete crap and near useless.

 

[:eek:]

We in europe get pissed off having to wait 9 ****ing months for great movies to get over here (current example: The Muppets). Thats why we pirate. Because we read about the movies and how great they are, and want to see them too! And we would gladly pay for them if they were made accessible to us at the same time americans get them.

And its the other way around too I would guess.

Releasing big movies many months later in Europe than in America seems to be something only Disney is still doing. Otherwise it happens more and more that especially big summer movies are opening earlier in Europe. In Sweden we get Battleship on April 13 and The Avengers on April 27

 

[dark_b]

from what i understand Pixar movies are realesed in the UK 4months later. this is an insult.

 

[Mace Dolex]

Why is piracy still an issue? practiaclly all the bootleg movies I've seen are terrible, bad lighting/people talking/bad sound. And of course once the person buys the regular DVD they just toss the bootleg out.

I remember living in Ecuador in the 80's when it would be months or a year for movies to get released, if they were big hits then the wait was 5 months.

When it came to TV shows it was longer since they needed a chunk or episodes ready for dubbing.

 

[Mace Bloodstone]

It's just an excuse to raise prices.