Record year for the movie studios
p2pnet.net News:- The seven members of the major movie studio cartel use the excuse that file sharing is having terrible effect on their profits and the well-being of their workers to go after p2p file sharers and p2p sites, paying special attention to BitTorrent pages.
In reality, however, the movie industry is doing gang-buster business and far from struggling through hard times, it’s reporting eye-popping profits.
In fact, John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, and MPAA boss Dan Glickman said despite a dip in ticket sales, 2004 was the third straight year revenues came in above $9 billion.
“More people have gone to theaters during that stretch than in any three-year period since the late 1950s, when television was eroding movie audiences, they said,” according to the Associated Press, which went on:
“Studios managed to hold down overall expenses last year, with their average outlay to make and market a movie coming in at $98 million, down 5 percent from 2003. Production costs held steady at an average of $63.6 million a film, but marketing expenses fell 12 percent to a $34.4 million average.”
PG titles grossed $2.3 billion domestically, compared to $2.1 billion for R-rated films, according to figures released Tuesday by the National Association of Theatre Owners, says AP. PG-13 movies did the most business with $4.4 billion.
Revenue at US movie houses rose slightly to $9.5 billion, “though higher admission prices meant the actual number of tickets sold dropped 2.4 percent to 1.54 billion, according to the theater owners group and the Motion Picture Association of America”.
Glickman was apparently on a trip to Mexico City, last week, when he, “noted hundreds of flea-market stalls that appeared to be selling bootlegged DVDs and compact discs, including ‘The Pacifier,’ the Vin Diesel family flick that had debuted as the No. 1 weekend movie just five days earlier,” says AP.
The Pacifier was produced by Glickman’s son, Jonathan, and when Glickman, “related that to his son, there was ‘three seconds of silence, and `Dad, what are you going to do about it’?’"
AP doesn’t say how much money the studios have so far blown trying to shut down file sharing and file sharers on Jonathan’s behalf.
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See:-
Associated Press – Family Flicks Outperform R-Rated Titles in 2004, the First Time That’s Happened in 20 Years, March 15, 2005
March 17th, 2005 at 4:29 pm
So they’re claiming massive profits and massive losses – what else is new?
I think that a SEC Investigation and a public audit is in order – however unlikely. I really wish that the courts would order this (on both) sides before hearing the Grokster Case so they can really see how filesharing helps.
March 17th, 2005 at 7:58 pm
“The Pacifier was produced by Glickman’s son, Jonathan, and when Glickman, “related that to his son, there was ‘three seconds of silence, and `Dad, what are you going to do about it’?’” ”
Dad why does my movie suck?
I don’t know son, maybe it’s your upbringing.
March 17th, 2005 at 8:04 pm
Guess the subject line says it all. I bet they do. So, they get to dodge paying a big chunk of the taxes they should, AND use taxpayer money to get their dirty-work done. Pretty cozy set-up.
March 17th, 2005 at 10:00 pm
Uh, guess the subject line didn’t say it all.
Dang it Jon, the whole thing showed up in the preview.
March 17th, 2005 at 10:02 pm
Why does the subject line apear okay in the preview then hose up when submitted? Grrrrrrr!!!!
March 17th, 2005 at 11:10 pm
maybe the movie doesn’t suck with Vin in it.
What does suck is Glickman – can somebody report him to the IRS please