Sony Pictures CEO's Blog: Piracy Is Bad, Might Cause Fewer Movies To Be Made

[admin]

You may be surprised to find that Sony Picture's CEO thinks that movie piracy is bad. So bad that Sony might have to make less movies because of the cost of piracy.

But wait, aren't movie studios making record amounts of money? Yes they are.

But if they eradicate piracy completely, and let's assume for one moment that this isn't the plot of some sci-fi/fantasy film (because getting rid of piracy completely would really only exist in a sci-fi/fantasy film, wouldn't it?), that would mean more profits right?

The poor old Sony Pictures CEO, who is probably only making a 8 digit salary instead of a 9 digit one (due to piracy, you see), also says that they have to now release movies on the same day worldwide, because if they don't, the pirated versions will get out and spoil it for the markets that have later release dates. And these markets have later release dates because, like with DVD region control, studios like to manipulate market and licensing contracts to squeeze out every last drop of profit out of every market, pricing it on "how much people can afford", rather than any fair value. And delaying releases, and pricing it unfairly, would never ever actually help to drive people towards piracy would it? No sir. If I have to wait 6 months to watch a movie at the cinema that's already on Blu-ray in the US and being talked about by all my US friends on the Internet, then I'll just have to wait, won't I?

But no, stupid pirates have to ruin it all for the poor old studios. So the poor old studio has to settle for only big record profits instead of bigger record profits, and let people watch the same movies and TV shows around the world at the same time.

And that's why they also support the three-strikes system, and don't worry, if you only accidentally download something or if someone who have access to your computer downloads something illegal without your permission, you'll get two warnings before you lose your Internet connection for a year, and possibly your livelihood if you happen to work from home. See, that's fair, isn't it?

And all this lost money that the studios fantasize about (you know, the money that people don't have but will somehow give it up to studios if piracy didn't exist) means that less movies will have to be made, because it might be risky for the studio to make a bad movie nobody wants to go and see. See, if piracy didn't exist, then you'd be forced to pay before you even realise it's a bad movie, but pirated copies mean that the word is out pretty quick these days if the movie is another Gigli (made by a Sony owned studio, btw, and also actually made a profit if you can believe it). So piracy is bad, for bad movies, that is.

And all this complaining by the CEO is actually all about the new movie, "Michael Jackson: This Is It", you know the one that exploits the death of a celebrity not even half a year since his death.

Classy people, these movie studio CEOs.

More:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...cle6891166.ece

[drfsupercenter]

Haha, I love your post.

I agree.

But really, about releasing movies overseas... I never did get why they were delayed. Just because they aren't living in America - is that really fair? I mean, if they *dub* the movie I understand it taking more time but in English-speaking countries there's really no excuse.