Film Studios Unite Against Piracy, Form Tech Union

[anubis13]

Seems like the majors;
Walt Disney Co's Walt Disney Pictures and Television, Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures, News Corp Inc's Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp, Sony Corp's Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., General Electric Co.'s Universal City Studios and Time Warner Inc Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Are getting together for some anti piracy fun called Movielabs.
Full story here: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/09/20/film.piracy.reut/index.html

[ROF]

Sounds like money well spent. When will they ever learn.

[bazooka]

When will they ever learn.

never

[Neroon]

If they would only spend half as much on scriptwriters.....

[lordsmurf]

If they would quit releasing digital versions for screening, that would help. Stick to analog or not at all.

And then be sure theatres better train workers. I routinely sneak in food and drinks when I'm not supposed to. I could easily carry in a video camera or even a weapon (yikes!). Check these people a bit more (well, ANYTHING is more than nothing). They do it at baseball parks all the time. Confiscate contraband or reject entry.

Release things one week early in the USA, and a week later everywhere else. Or same time everywhere.

[waheed]

I routinely sneak in food and drinks when I'm not supposed to.

I do this all the time, but openly, mainly with drinks. Never had anyone say a word.

Release things one week early in the USA, and a week later everywhere else. Or same time everywhere.

Just like LOTR. It had a worldwide release in the theatres and on DVD at the same time. It meant poeple could not get hold of pirate copies before its release.

Its very common for people here in the UK to obtain pirate movies thats been released in the states and not here yet. I guess its the temptation. People just hate having to wait for the movie to be released.

[whitejremiah]

then there's stuff like shaun of the dead....the usa had to wait on that one for like....a LONG time after it hit dvd over there, heck i ended up importing that one and even with european's crappy shipping time, i still got it almost 3 months BEFORE it hit the states.......simutanious dvd release NEEDS to happen

[schunn99]

I agreed, I wish you could go to the movie theater, pay to watch the movie in the theater and if we like then we can go to a stand and buy a legal dvd copy of the movie.

but I think it will be a fight, the mpaa with fight with tooth and nail to keep it out.

[ROF]

Simultaneous DVDs in order to be successful must be priced to move otherwise the movie studios will be slitting their own throats by giving the customer something they can immediately pass along to others. The price of DVDs is too expensive which is why piracy of media is becoming more and more commonplace in soceity. There is a problem with a decrease in price too. The manufacturing, packaging, shipping, distribution, advertising, marketing, and royalty fees must all be recouped along with a margin for profit. Alot of people are in the chain to bring you those DVDs and each one of them has to be paid. I'd like to see $10 new release DVDs, but this can not happen without alot of people being fired in the chain which will of course decrease capacity to provide this media to everyone at once.

What can be done about the price? Unfortunately not much. the cost is what drives the market. When individual people stop getting paid $10+ Million plus royalties for those movies you may see a drop, but like sports fans will tell you, tickets(DVD) prices are directly related to those who you watch in those entertainment mediums. Basketball tickets used to cost $10. Now parking costs more than that. It's not just the greedy corporation, it's the greedy people we watch on screen too.

[minggnim]

Why don't these company's just invest in dvd recorders and blank dvd's?
They would get a lot of their money back in sales.

[ROF]

Most of those companies listed have hardware in those categories, some even have on-line ventures.

[GullyFoyle]

Simultaneous DVDs in order to be successful must be priced to move otherwise the movie studios will be slitting their own throats by giving the customer something they can immediately pass along to others. The price of DVDs is too expensive which is why piracy of media is becoming more and more commonplace in soceity. There is a problem with a decrease in price too. The manufacturing, packaging, shipping, distribution, advertising, marketing, and royalty fees must all be recouped along with a margin for profit. Alot of people are in the chain to bring you those DVDs and each one of them has to be paid. I'd like to see $10 new release DVDs, but this can not happen without alot of people being fired in the chain which will of course decrease capacity to provide this media to everyone at once.

What can be done about the price? Unfortunately not much. the cost is what drives the market. When individual people stop getting paid $10+ Million plus royalties for those movies you may see a drop, but like sports fans will tell you, tickets(DVD) prices are directly related to those who you watch in those entertainment mediums. Basketball tickets used to cost $10. Now parking costs more than that. It's not just the greedy corporation, it's the greedy people we watch on screen too.

The name of that game is PRICEFIXING! How quickly people forget big media was caught colluding to fix prices for cd's. Does anyone really think the same isn't true for dvd's?
Check out the prices for Asian dvd's. Much cheaper and they make a profit. The films tend to be of the same quality but more interesting than Hollywood.
Someone above mentioned Shaun of the Dead and how long it took to come to theaters in the US. Did we forget Shaolin Soccer and the horrible wait that made it the most downloaded movie on the internet?

[only_emo_kid]

Considering people dont wanna leave home to do anything.. Because of the interaction with huge crowds, having to wait.. sit there in a stupid un comfortable chair during a movie.. I don't think so

its like why pay-per-view was invented, u don't gotta leave the house to rent the movie, u can lay on ur own couch in boxers for all who cares. I'm much more comfortable at home being clean than having some sleez breathe on me.. exactly