As Hollywood Insists Canada Is A Den Of Copyright Thieves, Movie Business Is Thriving
from the funny-how-that-works... dept
For years, Hollywood has pushed a totally ridiculous claim that Canada is somehow a den of copyright thieves, and it needs to make its copyright laws much more strict. This fantasy has worked on journalists and politicians, who insist that the movie industry is dying in Canada due to rampant piracy. Except someone forgot to inform the real world. An anonymous reader sends over the news that the owners of Cineplex in Canada are reporting record box office sales and revenue, even with the current economic downturn. Once again (and yes, we've been pointing this out for a decade), it appears that it's the actual experience that gets people to go to the movies. The folks at Cineplex note that a growing number of highly experiential films -- such as those using IMAX or 3D technology -- has really helped in getting more people into the theater and in getting them to pay more.Oh, and as a special note to NBC Universal's General Counsel, Rick Cotton, who seemed so worried about those poor corn farmers who would be decimated by piracy, you can rest easy:
Concession revenues did well due to a film slate that catered to family audiences, who tend to be higher concession spenders.Phew. Now Rick can go back to working on ways to stop people from watching the Olympics and figuring out ways to avoid paying copyright royalties to songwriters.
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Filed Under: canada, copyright, movies, piracy
Companies: cineplex
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:)
http://www.inpropriapersona.com/2009/04/music-pirates-in-canada-american.html
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I am allowed to contradict myself.
(comic its from: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=156)
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don't forget this from todahy
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-may-kill-zombieland-sequel-writer-claims-091111/
As noted on TF, it's the highest grossing zombie movie on record or something, but the writer lauds piracy as why they might not make a sequel.
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Re: don't forget this from todahy
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1) Cineplex isn't the entire industry in Canada. It would be like using Ford to represent the car industry and deny the rest of them needed help.
2) You need to read further down to the comments, which include things like "the movie industry is on it's last legs".
Technology that cannot easily be reproduced at home (3D and Imax) is nice, but perhaps a nice cover up for a business that might otherwise be suffering?
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It's the American dream!
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If they can't stay afloat while another company is doing just fine, then clearly they are doing something wrong.
If they can't get off their own asses and actually try to keep themselves relevant in the market, then they die. That's called economics, capitalism, and whatever else you want to name it.
It's not anyone's job to bail out business failures.
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If Cineplez is doing well, how is the rest of the industry in canada doing? DVD sales? Other movie chains? PPV revenues?
Without all the information, it's just cherry picking and trying to make things look better than they are, a class techduh move.
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As I said, if the "rest of the industry" is failing, and one portion of it is doing better than ever, then clearly the rest of it is doing a piss-poor job at business.
It's the business' job to help themselves, not anyone else's. If they need help, too bad. Welcome to the business world.
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Someone says so in the comments, that's good enough for me
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Experience you cannot get at home
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Re: Experience you cannot get at home
You know, it REALLY is unfortunate how problematic this is and how much I think it truly does hurt revenue. I took my girlfriend to see The Fourth Kind (ridiculously awesome movie, btw) recently, and some of the folks in the movie ruined it for me. Just flat out ruined it. Between cell phones, constant jabbering, tons of people going in and out of their seats....it was just awful.
And I knew it would be, too. I won't pirate movies out of a sense of respect for the artists that actually MAKE the content and don't want their art distributed that way. I don't always agree with them, but as an author I consider them brothers in creation and choose to respect their wishes as best I can. So home viewing wasn't yet an option, and what can I say, the girl wanted to go out so I took her.
How tough of a problem is this really? The main issue is that interuptions of sound in a movie fucking blow. How have theatres not followed the perfect example found in the airplane and installed headphone jacks in the seats? I don't get it. It's another revenue stream, because you can pay for those cheapy little headphones, or you could have the option to bring your own. It might seem wierd at first to have everyone wearing them, but you're not supposed to be talking during the movie anyway, so what difference would the headphones ultimately make?
I don't get it. That one just seems like an easy fix to me...
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Socialists and Communists
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Re: Socialists and Communists
The insurance is key, because the insurance companies won't sign up to cover stupid loans. A check and a balance.
Too bad you can't do that in the US, because it would "violate your constitutional rights", or something to that effect.
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What customers want
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Ex RCMP hides in Cinema for a year waiting.
He not once caught anyone using a camcorder during his impressive undercover operation. SO much for all the den business.
All of this hulabaloo is to make the insane DCMA global and why not start with your neighbours eh?
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