Piracy Killing Hollywood So Bad That Disney Made More Money In 2016 Than Any Studio Ever
from the must-be-because-of-the-mickey-mouse-copyright dept
Remember, to hear the MPAA tell it, piracy is really killing the movie industry. It's been whining about piracy for basically my entire lifetime, and constantly predicting its own demise if "something" is not done. And, despite the fact that Congress has repeatedly obliged Hollywood in ratcheting up copyright anti-piracy laws and despite the fact that the MPAA has been clearly wrong repeatedly (such that the new technologies it feared actually helped expand Hollywood's business), the studios continue to push for awful changes to copyright law, citing the horrors of piracy.
And yet... now it's coming out that Disney not only had a good year last year, it had the best year ever for a movie studio. Not surprisingly, Disney put out its own glowing press release over this:
Today, The Walt Disney Studios will become the first studio ever to reach the $7 billion threshold at the global box office, setting a new industry record. With a powerful $290 million global debut for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Disney's year-to-date grosses are $6,988.3 million from Jan. 1 through Dec. 18, 2016, including $2,700.4 million domestically, also an industry record, and $4,287.9 million internationally, a Disney record.
These phenomenal box office results are driven by films from Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm, representing the first time that all five of these world-class brands have released films in the same calendar year.
"This historic achievement is possible because all of our film studios are bringing their absolute best to the table, telling great stories of all kinds that resonate with audiences across borders, gender, and generations," said Alan Horn, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios. "These films work because each one has not only something for everyone, but everything for someone. It's our honor to be able to create these experiences for audiences, and we're thankful to them for continuing to come out to the theater with us.
Indeed. Making great movies and making them accessible for people to watch is a great business strategy. Freaking out about a small group of people seeing infringing copies of the movie? Perhaps not so much. Either way, it's amusing to see how the studio's own PR drastically undermines the doom and gloom stories from the MPAA and Hollywood's other lobbyists about how dire the situation is. Maybe copyright infringement isn't such a big problem when you actually focus on making a quality product that people want.
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Filed Under: box office, copyright, movies, piracy
Companies: disney
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Look at the first paragraph
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No movie ever makes money. Ever.
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And for an insider note, Google the company chose the name for being the "Search engine that could handle 1 google sites."
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Close, but not quite.
A Google is an internet search.
A googol is the very large number you're referring to (although, yes, Google is named after a googol).
And it's a one followed by 100 zeroes (or 10^100), not 99.
But for the most part, you're pretty close.
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Fire accountant
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Re: Fire accountant
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Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
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Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
And if you could conclusively prove that piracy—and piracy alone—prevented Disney from making another billion dollars, maybe we might care.
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Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/08/megaupload_piracy_study/
BTW: link there rather than the study itself because The Register has an entirely different slant on Megaupload from Mike.
But I don't believe that you criminals will care in any way.
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Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
The interesting thing I get from their abstract though is that piracy hurts digital sales and rentals. These are two things traditional studios still seem to be fighting against.
I know of a few sites that will have high quality streams available long before any official ones show up.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
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The problem is corporations & lawyers don't know how the Internet work. Let me remind you the current copyright laws were written during a time when most people didn't have high speed Internet. Their laws may have made sense in the 90s, but it's now in the 2020s & the Internet a completely different landscape than what it was in the 90s. People are going to download regardless & corporations are just going to have to deal with it.
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Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
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Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
Actually the "study" claims 6.5% - 8.5%.
And it's based on the industry's own numbers, which is something of a joke.
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Hollywood can't even get their own stats right. Typical.
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Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
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This.
I actually used MegaUpload for my some of my stuff. I was sad when they shut it down.
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Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
Correlation does not equal causation. Does the study prove conclusively that the shutdown of Megaupload was the lone singular cause of that boost in sales?
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Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
Which one?
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Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
So cry me a river, people in the movie industry have NO IDEA what it's like to have to count your pennies.
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Re: Re: Re: Actually, numbers are big due to inflation, mergers (now includes FIVE not just Disney), and ANTI-PIRACY: they didn't just sit idle while pirates increased.
For example, and this is a big one no matter how you slice it, in that period studied Netflix began its international expansion and because available in 6 EU countries for the first time. CTRL+F netflix on the paper - only one result mentioning Netflix's Alexa ranking, not one word in consideration to this major factor. There are hundreds of other factors most likely to skew things that have been ignored. It's incomplete at best, dishonest at worst.
But, you're too much of a liar to even consider the real facts, so carry on calling people names. Reality doesn't care and it will finally leave you people in the dust in time.
"BTW: link there rather than the study itself because The Register has an entirely different slant on Megaupload from Mike."
In other words, "I'm not interested in facts, only people who agree with what I wish they said"
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We've had this anti-piracy thing going on since we moved coasts to bypass someone elses copyrights, its not working, no one believes us, we waste a buncha cash on it, we see no reason to question the course...
Of course we are making sure we spend more time focused on those we are sure are stealing these extra trillions from us, and we keep screwing over the people who pay us. They'll get over it, its not like they can discover what those pirates have, that you can see them for free when we make it impossible to get because we can charge more if we make them wait.
7 Billion screwing people who want to pay them... how much more could they have made cutting the worldwide rights Gordian Knot & making everything available worldwide to people willing to pay.
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$7b and they didn't even have to come up with an original idea.
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But that's about it since Disney's big money-makers were Finding Dory, Star Wars, and the Marvel movies.
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Of course! There's also derived works and adaptations.
You know, like ancient folklore, The Brothers Grimm and Jules Verne - where they don't have to worry about others' copyrights. Or a couple Disney movies based on modern anime, where the lack of worry about others' copyrights was apparently based on having a massive legal budget.
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Zootopia.
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Hollywood Accounting
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Not enough
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Re: Not enough
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Re: Not enough
Information is an abundant resource. Everything on the Internet & our computers is information. No one owns it.
Suing someone for downloading off the Internet is the equivalent to suing someone for looking at grass.
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And you know what?
Disney doesn't do subtle.
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Re: And you know what?
I'm going to go ahead and assume that a significant chunk of Disney's 2016 box office did not come from a franchise that did not release any films in 2016.
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Re: And you know what?
(Domestic figures, I don't believe there's a similar chart available for international releases, though the titles will be almost the same)
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?yr=2016&view=company&studio=buenavista.htm
1 Finding Dory BV $486,295,561 4,305 $486,295,561 100.0% 6/17/16
2 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story BV $408,235,850 4,157 $532,177,324 76.7% 12/16/16
3 Captain America: Civil War BV $408,084,349 4,226 $408,084,349 100.0% 5/6/16
4 The Jungle Book (2016) BV $364,001,123 4,144 $364,001,123 100.0% 4/15/16
5 Zootopia BV $341,268,248 3,959 $341,268,24 8 100.0% 3/4/16
6 Star Wars: The Force Awakens BV $284,694,956 4,134 $936,662,225 30.4% 12/18/15
7 Doctor Strange BV $229,876,337 3,882 $232,641,920 98.8% 11/4/16
8 Moana BV $206,477,478 3,875 $248,757,044 8 3.0% 11/23/16
9 Alice Through the Looking Glass BV $77,041,381 3,763 $77,041,381 100.0% 5/27/16
10 Pete's Dragon (2016) BV $76,233,151 3,702 $76,233,151 100.0% 8/12/16
11 The BFG BV $55,483,770 3,392 $55,483,770 100.0% 7/1/16
12 The Finest Hours BV $27,569,558 3,143 $27,569,558 100.0% 1/29/16
13 The Light Between Oceans BV $12,545,979 1,500 $12,545,979 100.0% 9/2/16
14 The Good Dinosaur BV $12,370,650 1,735 $123,087,120 10.1% 11/25/15
15 Queen of Katwe BV $8,850,753 1,259 $8,874,389 99.7% 9/23/16
16 Bridge of Spies BV $1,865,978 523 $72,313,754 2.6% 10/16/15
Summary of 16 Movies on Chart:
Totals: $3,000,895,122 - - - -
Averages: $187,555,945 - - - -
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Those poor greedy kikes, they will not be getting their shekels now lol
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That changed. http://mentalfloss.com/article/85551/market-disrupted-how-piggly-wiggly-revolutionized-grocery-shopp ing Now this revolutionary new idea is pretty much universal: you fetch your own items, bring them to the clerk, who then rings you up and send you on your way.
Are there problems with this model? Yep. It makes it easier for customers to shoplift; there's a certain amount of loss as a result. But retail stores have discovered that the benefits of the new model FAR outweigh the drawbacks, and they were making more profit at a lower cost while making the customers happier.
How many gas stations offer full service these days?
And it's not stopped there. Now -- due in part to ubiquitous, inter-connected electronic forms of payment -- stores are starting to have you check YOURSELF out, with one clerk supervising a handful of registers. I don't know if shrinkage increases as a result, but obviously it's worth it to them. (AND the extra cost of the new equipment, conversion of several checkout lanes, plus extra training for the clerks.) Gas stations have been doing this for a while; I never need to go inside or talk to a clerk unless the receipt printer is broken, or I need a snack. Swipe card, fill tank, drive off.
Obviously steps are taken to keep shrinkage to a minimum, but it's otherwise treated as an inevitable cost of doing business. The most I ever see is a few particularly high-risk items being made a special case of.
Hollywood has gone the opposite direction: instead of treating a minor amount of shrinkage as inevitable, but worth the cost due to economies of scale, they're pouring tremendous amounts of effort into reducing shrinkage at comparatively high costs. One of which is making their customers unhappy. Same with game companies, who toss tons of money at DRM that only inconveniences the people who actually buy their games.
It's probably a form of Loss Aversion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_aversion They're so afraid of losing a little that they don't see how much it's costing to prevent the loss. And they're losing anyway, which is why they keep doubling down.
"Fanaticism consists of redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim." - George Santayana
Learn from Piggly Wiggly, guys. It's not too late.
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Clearly the need to have their free speech limited to the satisfaction of pirates and tech wtiters.
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Pirates of the Caribbean
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http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/sony-writes-down-13-billion-on-movie-division/new s-story/3893821b81de866bc06a4386a4bbb20a
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I an useless at picking good ideas and directors for a film.
or
The pirates stole away our paying customers.
?
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Is disney living or dying already?
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Good riddance!
Hollywood is run by evil Jews who want nothing more than to see the West burn, so I gladly welcome it's demise. Only a matter of time before Disney will be next on the chopping block, then we can push the reset button on the current copyright laws.
When the Mouse dies, the pay off is going to be huge.
On a positive note: The Internet has created more independent & indie genres
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