Hollywood tales of woe are coming true
p2pnet news view | Movies:- Hollywood is going bust!
The studios have been saying that for years, accusing file sharers whom they blame for their “devastation,” a word they borrowed from the corporate music industry which also says online P2P communities are responsible for its woes.
Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG have been fairly consistent, saying they’re losing market share but Hey! Digital sales are picking up!
However, while Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney have been huffing and puffing, from the otheir sides of their mouths they’ve been reporting ever-increasing revenues.
Like the little boy who cried Wolf! once too often, however, maybe movie industry tales of disaster are finally coming true.
“Plunging DVD sales threaten to reduce profit for studio owners Time Warner Inc.,Walt Disney Co.,Viacom Inc. and News Corp., and may force them to write down the value of movies,” say analysts, according to Bloomberg News, going on:
“Fourth-quarter shipments fell 32 percent in the U.S. and Canada to 453.6 million DVDs, according to Los Angeles-based Digital Entertainment Group. The drop is the biggest since the industry-funded researcher started keeping track in 1997.”
The cause? Viewer shifts toward rental services, the George W. Bushrecession, “and technology that makes it easier to stream Web videos to televisions”.
The writing has, of course, been on the wall for years but like the corporate music industry, the major studios have been turning a blind eye.
“Making a movie just won’t be as profitable as it once was,” the story has analyst Anthony DiClemente saying.
“There will be a complete bottoms-up reconstruction of the economics of the film business.”
Will the ancients who currently run Hollywood, trying to pretend they’re still back in the 20th century, be replaced by people who realise digital deliveries through P2P technologies are the way?
Not until there’s a shareholder revolt.
Meanwhile, “It’’s too early to say” how the drop in DVD sales will affect Paramount’s business, Bloomberg has spokeswoman Patti Rockenwagner saying.Warner Home Video President Ronald Sanders, “wasn’t available for comment,” Steve Feldstein, spokesman for Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, “didn’t return calls seeking comment,” Disney spokeswoman Heidi Trotta “declined to comment,” and Universal spokeswoman Cindy Gardner, “didn’t return messages seeking comment”.
“The easier it becomes for consumers to purchase content directly and have it come to their big-screen TV, the more it takes away revenue from the physical retailer,” says another analyst, Michael Morris, in the story.
That, and the fact most Hollydud flicks aren’t worth watching in the first place.
Bloomberg News – DVD Plunge May Force Studios to Write Down Movies, January , 2009
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January 31st, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Maybe the plunging sales is in relation with new releases costing almost $30. Maybe if they put them back to around 20 people would buy more of them. And they keep includign a digital copy which they tack on an extra couple of bucks for that.
Seeing we are in the midst of a recession do they really think people can afford to shell out all this money or dvds.
January 31st, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I get the notion that P2P is an effective delivery method, but what exactly are you suggesting Hollywood does with it? Hollywood should wake up to unicorns and rainbows too, but that doesn’t pay for Dark Knight.
January 31st, 2009 at 1:59 pm
” I get the notion that P2P is an effective delivery method, but what exactly are you suggesting Hollywood does with it? Hollywood should wake up to unicorns and rainbows too, but that doesnât pay for Dark Knight. ”
It could, if the digital release model resembled the AllofMP3 model.
Flat rate per bytes downloaded, with differring quality options and NO DRM hassles.
Elminate DRM drop the price to reasonable and people WILL pay.
Once againm AllofMp3 did shoed people WILL pay if the price is right and there is no hassle.
Yes, this is exactly how Hollywood should do it.
It is a proven model.
January 31st, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Um, first of all, allofMP3 was/is direct download, and this is a discussion of p2p. That said, “we should pay less” isn’t a strategy at all, and arguing that “hollywood needs to wake up and distribute p2p” isn’t anything but pablum. If we want to change the economics of watching movies, we have to decide whether we are cool with the quality changing, as well.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:58 pm
If the studios released movies on dvd with better features (TDK seriously lacked special features) and lowered the prices of the dvds people would buy more. I download movies and buy the ones I like. But not for 30 bucks. Ill pick up bargain dvds that are a few years old for less then 10 bucks. Sometimes even 2 for 10. I saw the Bourne Trilogy on bluray for 80 dollars. Thats alot as far as Im concerned.
January 31st, 2009 at 5:15 pm
+ add to the list Blue ray sales, why buy the DVD when you can wait a few years for the ray (or get it now) ?
Same trick the RIAA pulls ‘waaa cd sales are way down’ .. but don’t say digital sales are up.
February 1st, 2009 at 7:22 am
When the BBC or other mainstream news and media organizations parrot the “piracy is killing us” line it’s one thing. We know they’re in the pocket of Big Media. It’s something else entirely when well-established British print magazine Micro Mart does the same.
The following extract is from an article on the uncertain future of Blu-ray, which appeared in edition 1038, 15-21 Jan 2009, page 94 by Mark Oakley:
“Piracy
Unfortunately, despite all the warnings, government advertisements on DVDs and frequent news reports about people illegally downloading and file sharing movie file, film piracy is a sad fact of our times. It’s also another big problem for Blu-ray as some people are using illegal file sharing sites to obtain the films they want to see, completely bypassing the legal routes.
Ultimately, while movie studios can put pressure on the industry to crack down harder on piracy and those behind it, the sad bottom line is that it has been around for a long time and will no doubt continue to be around for a while yet.”
Is Mark in the pocket of Big Media, perhaps? In his article, there’s no mention of DRM, high prices or any of the other of the negatives associated with “going the legal route”.
I’ve seen some very good articles against DRM in MM written by Mark Pickavance, so it all seems to depend on the author’s bias.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:06 pm
” but that doesnât pay for Dark Knight. ”
The Dark Knight.
What a fine example.
It broke Box office Records
It broke DVD and Blue Ray sales records ….
While at the same time breaking download records as a torrent.
I don’t think they had a lot of trouble paying for it.
Question
What harm did P2P do to the Dark Knight ?
Difficulty …
No ad-hominem attacks
No simplistic ‘naive’ Pablum’ etc.
No attacking the source or messenger.
Just cold hard facts.
Please provide sources that are not paid by an RIAA member or controlling corporation.
I trie to post links to sources but that got my post blocked.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Nicely put, Hippie.
In fact, this reminds me that I forgot to mention in my post about Micro Mart, that the biggest downloaders are often the biggest buyers too and various studies have proved the lie that downloading leads to lost sales.
These Big Media companies are so greedy it makes me sick.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:53 pm
” In fact, this reminds me that I forgot to mention in my post about Micro Mart, that the biggest downloaders are often the biggest buyers too and various studies have proved the lie that downloading leads to lost sales. ”
This has been true in nearly every case, be it movie or CD.
The reason the media companies bitch is because people can see the duds for what they are
before they waste cash on them.
” If we want to change the economics of watching movies, we have to decide whether we are cool with the quality changing, as well. ”
So, what this should mean is that if Hollydud wants to make money than they had better increase the quality of their
releases in a, heh, major way. Then they will continue to make money.
An overall increase in quality as a response to the change in the economics of watching movies.
I’m cool with that.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I saw an ‘advance’ copy of The Dark Knight.
Loved it, bought the DVD.
I saw an ‘Advance’ copy of ‘Don’t mess with the Zohan’.
What do YOU think I did next
February 1st, 2009 at 2:08 pm
> I saw an âAdvanceâ copy of âDonât mess with the Zohanâ.
Um, let’s see …
You told all your friends to go out and buy a copy too. Right?
But then, it’s on a par with all the other multi-million-dollar Hollywood phk-ups.
Cheers!
February 1st, 2009 at 3:31 pm
” But then, itâs on a par with all the other multi-million-dollar Hollywood phk-ups. ”
That’s the point all right.
Now if they have fewer releases, but expended as much effort into making them
really worth seeing, and less effort and money on lawsuits and lobbyists, they just might
make a buck or two more ( i’m not suggesting at all that they are going broke, even now ).
I’m ‘cool with that’ too.
February 1st, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Expecting hollowwood to wise up is pablum, I guess.
February 1st, 2009 at 3:44 pm
I saw a screener and dvd rip of TDK. Loved. Unfortunetly because the dvd lacked special features I didn’t purchase it. I will when it comes down in price or they release a better version.
February 1st, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Music recording or DVD recording they are the same companies of parasites and therefore we are boycotting both.
As far as comming back with us: sorry parasites this is way to late they will be no surender and we will take no prisoner. The Boycott is to death.
I am sure that other businesses will take your place hapilly once you are gone.
And donn’t try to come back as employees of these businesses We have your ID and the records of what type of crimes you comited. We will not let you come back.
We don’t need parasites in our societies.
Sorry!
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:37 am
“I am sure that other businesses will take your place hapilly once you are gone.”
other better businesses will definitely take the place of the current monopoly. I just hope they won’t become greedy parasites like everyone else that enters Wall Street.
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I think overall DVD sales are down because people have filled their libraries, which is the EXACT same reason that CD sales have gone down. Put it this way – I already own the Star Wars, Terminator, and Godfather movies (among a hundered others) on DVD and will not ever need to buy them again; just like how I own the first four Metallica albums and the Led Zeppelin discography and will keep them until I die.
People will still buy the new movies (i.e. The Dark Knight), but the public doesn’t need to buy any more copies of ‘Spider-Man’ or ‘Appetite for Destruction’. THAT is why these older DVDs and CDs are collecting dust on store shelves, and not because of downloaders.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I know Mike is gone ( just an industry Drive by ), but just in case,
he should peek a the Monty Python article, about smart people doing a
smart thing. It also underscores the FACT that p2p downloading has never
and will never equal lost sales. Not pablum, reality.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:13 pm
FACT…..FACT…..Thats the ‘Federation against copyright theft’ here in the UK…..Just like the MPAA or RIAA stateside. Dont utter such profanities……I beg you……