This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Blog.
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3 Responses to “Transformers: Easily Pirated Movie in Disguise.”
“I’ve long had a theory that if you could purchase a copy of a film DIRECTLY after leaving it, they’d actually see an increase in sales. Just a barebones copy of the movie, no extras, decent sound/video, throw it in a cheapy slimpak, sell it for like $12. I know there are some movies I’d buy that way…do you think the suits would go for it?”
It’s a great idea, and entirely feasible, but I doubt ‘the suits’ would go for it. They see potential sales, not actual ones, and by essentially handing out the movie in such a way they would consider it loosing potential sales of the release version… it’s a backward logic, but one that permeates the film, music and video games markets.
Still, if I ever release a movie… and that’s getting more likely by the day, I’ll see if I can sort something very similar to this out.
I know that similar ideas have been tossed around, and even tested.
Steven Soderbergh actually used this approach for his movie ‘Bubble’, where the movie was released in theaters and shown on TV the same date, and then released on DVD 4 days later.
The movie didn’t perform huge, but then again, it was also a 1.6 million dollar art film…not a $150 Million summer blockbuster. I really think it would take testing the waters on a MUCH bigger film.
In this day and age, piracy is inevitable…and I’m sure that’s why so many production companies are so petrified of releasing the movie so freely (and so early)…but I figure if there was a ‘real’ copy available just as fast as the bootlegs/pirated versions were…there’s a good amount of people who would go for that option just as well.
Granted, I speak as someone who puts his own creative work out there for free, so maybe I have a slanted viewpoint.
There’s a much longer theory and rant to all of this, that I think one day all media will be free/advertising supported, and we’ll see far less artists/actors/musicians who make millions of dollars, but LOADS more who make ‘livable’ wages, but that’s another story for another day.
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:46 pm
[…] From Marty […]
June 25th, 2007 at 8:49 am
“I’ve long had a theory that if you could purchase a copy of a film DIRECTLY after leaving it, they’d actually see an increase in sales. Just a barebones copy of the movie, no extras, decent sound/video, throw it in a cheapy slimpak, sell it for like $12. I know there are some movies I’d buy that way…do you think the suits would go for it?”
It’s a great idea, and entirely feasible, but I doubt ‘the suits’ would go for it. They see potential sales, not actual ones, and by essentially handing out the movie in such a way they would consider it loosing potential sales of the release version… it’s a backward logic, but one that permeates the film, music and video games markets.
Still, if I ever release a movie… and that’s getting more likely by the day, I’ll see if I can sort something very similar to this out.
June 25th, 2007 at 10:20 am
I know that similar ideas have been tossed around, and even tested.
Steven Soderbergh actually used this approach for his movie ‘Bubble’, where the movie was released in theaters and shown on TV the same date, and then released on DVD 4 days later.
The movie didn’t perform huge, but then again, it was also a 1.6 million dollar art film…not a $150 Million summer blockbuster. I really think it would take testing the waters on a MUCH bigger film.
In this day and age, piracy is inevitable…and I’m sure that’s why so many production companies are so petrified of releasing the movie so freely (and so early)…but I figure if there was a ‘real’ copy available just as fast as the bootlegs/pirated versions were…there’s a good amount of people who would go for that option just as well.
Granted, I speak as someone who puts his own creative work out there for free, so maybe I have a slanted viewpoint.
There’s a much longer theory and rant to all of this, that I think one day all media will be free/advertising supported, and we’ll see far less artists/actors/musicians who make millions of dollars, but LOADS more who make ‘livable’ wages, but that’s another story for another day.