How do you feel about movies and piracy?

Actually, I don't think there's anything wrong with piracy - though I don't practise it.:P

You wanna talk about movies - then I want to ask you to do some research about the profits movie companies and actors/actresses are earning. The amount, I assure you, is obscene.

They may claim to be earning less, but no matter how much lesser their incomes are affected, the figure is still no joke. Enough to feed the poorest nations for many years...

I think there would be less piracy if going to the cinema was cheaper. It costs us between £20 and £26 for 4 of us to go to the cinema. We prefer to wait for the films to come on television.
Some people dont though,they dont see why only well off people should see films early so they will go to the market and buy pirated DVD's. The money that is spent on the DVD's is probably funding all sorts of illegal goings on but then they will never see that side of it.

People mistakenly believe that it's ok to "steal" movies and music on P2P sites because it's there. They think movie stars and rock stars don't get hurt by this because they are rich. The truth is, the people that get hurt are sound engineers, set designers, camera operators, and the multitude of "little guys" that make movies and records happen and DON'T get paid big bucks for it. Those are the folks who don't get paid when LEGALLY COPYRIGHTED material is "shared" on P2P sites. Aside from the fact that is DOES hurt people, it is illegal.

I've been reading about this issue as well, and I wonder how many people know how much of that money goes to other criminal activity.

I think they like getting away with something because they think participants in the movie industry are overpaid. Maybe so, but that isn't the way to address it.

As an artist, I would say that I don't like any kind of stealing of copyrighted material. Yes, some of the people are actually making money by making movies. But, a lot of the people who are hurt are people who are behind the scenes or do small parts. They don't get paid when piracy is committed. Someone can say "well, it's just one movie" when they do it. But, chances are, they aren't the only ones who do it.

I accidentally signed up, once, for a site that I thought was a legal site, but was really a site with subscriptions to P2P file-sharing sites. I canceled immediately.

I actually don't support piracy as I think it does harm the film industry as such. It would be difficult for movie houses to make movies on the long run without money. But, piracy has had a good effect in keeping the film houses in check in terms of price and money. When it became so apparent that the cost of making a CD or DVD is so less, the cost charged by the movie companies suddenly started to seem absurd. To combat piracy they had to price their movies right.

So though I feel piracy is bad on the long run, in the short run it has helped in keeping the movie industry in check.

Cheers!
Ram

I don't think you should be too concern about piracy...

As long as Hollywood can afford to pay 25 million per movie to their top actors... things cannot be too bad.

No one can justify making 25 millions for working part time for 3 months. Anyone would be very happy to make one million for 3 months work. The reason they get 25 millions... is because they know the movie will make 100 million at the box office. That's even before they release the DVD.

Pirate DVDs are in the same league as pirate software for computers. The people who use pirate copies are the people who cannot afford the real thing. And if they cannot afford it... it makes no difference if they have a pirate copy or not... as they would have never bought it anyway.

People who have money cannot be bothered with making pirate copies... so they still buy the real thing and nothing changes.

Piracy is actually a good thing... as it close the gap between the rich and the poor. There are more poor people than rich people in the world... and if it was not for piracy... the poor people could not afford the software for their computer... nor could they afford to watch movies at home on their DVD player.

some of us cant afford movie tickets,cds,dvds,cable or games so piracy and in my case torrents are the savior of my my multimedia intake.

All u said is very true.Piracy hampers film industry,the producers,eco growth of d country...
After all nt only u but we all love 2 go 2 the theatres...
Very good issue..keep it going...

I do not believe piracy is a good thing; it is theft.

But, I also believe the movie companies bring some of it down on their own heads with their practices.

1) They release the films in different countries on different dates. People know the movie has already been released and want to see it so they do what they have to to be the "first" in their area to see the movie. If a movie was released the same day worldwide, it would eliminate this reason.

2) Cost - Going to a theater has become very expensive for a lot of people. Matinee's help but don't solve the cost issue. We used to go once a month; then it was several times a year; and now we may be able to go to the theater once a year. So if you can't afford to go, you either buy a pirated copy or wait for the official release on DVD.

3) DVD releases - Even though they are released several moths later; the initial cost is still high. Plus, the DVD release often coincides with the release on the premium cable/satelite channels. Pirated copies cost less and the cost of the "official version" won't drop to a reasonable level for another year or two.

Cost is a major factor in piracy. It costs pennies to burn the DVD once it has been recorded and on-line it is free (or almost free) to download.

Movie companies need to reduce the cost and release it to the theaters on the same day. It would not eliminate piracy but it would reduce it.