MPAA sues 22 web sites
p2p news / p2pnet: Hollywood’s MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has filed lawsuits against 22 web sites it says allow people to download movies without authorization.
The sites – in New York, Delaware, Massachusetts, Florida and Texas – include allmoviedownloads.com; Flixks.net; freedvddirect.com; mykazaa.com; and, unlimiteddownloads.com.
They typically charge a subscription fee of anywhere from $20 for a three month trial, to $40 for lifetime membership, says the enforcement organization.
“The average movie costs almost $100 million to make and only about 60 percent of those movies recoup their original investment,” says the MPAA, implying file sharers, rather than consistently bad and over-hyped movies, not to mention exorbitant cinema entrance fees, are to blame.
June 1st, 2006 at 8:50 pm
I don’t feel sorry for these imitration sites
June 1st, 2006 at 8:53 pm
“The average movie costs almost $100 million to make…”
Okay, let’s use THAT as a realistic starting point for what is wrong with hollywood.
Craptastic $100 million movies. Need I say more?
June 1st, 2006 at 8:59 pm
its about time that the MPAA took down these Scam sites that promise unlimited “legal” downloads for $20 a month .
June 1st, 2006 at 9:25 pm
Nah, neither do I. They deserve to go down. This is where the MPAA and all the others should be spending their legal dollars.
June 1st, 2006 at 9:27 pm
At least this time mpaa has paid to have evidence to be stolen it seems however all these cases could fall over if the claims of evidence theft and conspiracy etc are proven, here’s hoping
June 1st, 2006 at 10:00 pm
That’s because a lot of the people involved in the movie making business are way overpaid. Should that be my concern? Certainly not.
June 1st, 2006 at 11:30 pm
isn’t it everyones’ right to camcord a crap copy of a movie and then sell it online as if it were the real thing? I mean…freedom man.
June 1st, 2006 at 11:47 pm
I could’nt agree more. If you cant produce somthing creative with 10 million dollars something is wrong.
The law of supply and demand dictate something is worth what people are willing to pay for it. Hollywood is willing to pay millions of dollars to actors and everybody else to produce a movie. However, most people arent willing to pay the outrageous prices for the crap hollywood produces. So instead of lowering salaries (common sense) hollywood tries to extort the money from the public by having the government act as their personal (tax-paid) police force.
I’m sick of it!
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:03 am
Most of the Hollywood studios use offshore tax shelters to ensure that film projects NEVER make a profit. Somehow the stars still manage to get their $20 million for doing the movie though.
One well known scam involves giving people involved with the film a percentage of profits, but because the film never makes a “profit” those people never get paid.
So 60% of movies recoup their investment doesn’t sound bad at all considering Hollywood has enough highly paid accountants to make the figues say whatever they damn well want.
ALWAYS take a percentage of gross revenue.
And Google Uwe Boll too.
June 2nd, 2006 at 2:01 am
Maybe the average WARNER BROS or UNIVERSAL movie costs 100meg but the average movie does not. Indie product, direct to dvd stuff, foriegn films etc are being made all the time in great profusion for a couple mil or less. And a lot of them are excellent films.
June 2nd, 2006 at 3:25 am
in any other industry, when customer purchasing declines, they start to look at lowering their costs, improving products etc. Not the entertainment industry, they claim it’s theft and continue to increase costs etc.
June 2nd, 2006 at 8:00 am
Even ifpi that paragon of virtue always complaining about tax shelters, is incorporated in Swizterland so that the sluch funds from the majors can be funnelled anonymously through to their ‘enforcement actions, time for someone to expose the disgrace
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Of course its our right. We have to make back the money we lost on 30 dollers we spend on snacks not to mention the expensive tickets.
October 16th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
=uck the mpaa