Film piracy costs Hollywood $6.1 bln: study
 

Film piracy costs Hollywood $6.1 bln: study

Hollywood's major movie studios lost $6.1 billion in revenues in 2005 to illegal videos, DVDs and Internet downloads, which is about 75 percent higher than previous estimates, the studios' representative said.

In a study released late on Tuesday, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents the major studios in government affairs, said the study is the first to measure losses from Web downloading.

The study showed piracy in Asia is less a problem than in North America and Europe.

It also showed that losses stemmed not only from fewer ticket sales but also from fewer DVD sales which has been one of the growing business arenas in recent years.

"This study will help us better analyze and focus our efforts to fight movie theft," MPAA Chief Executive Officer Dan Glickman said in a statement.

For years the MPAA has said it believed the studios lost about $3.5 billion in annual revenues from the sale of illegal videos and DVDS, and it never estimated lost sales on the Web.

The study, conducted by LEK Consulting LLC and commissioned by the MPAA, showed losses in the United States alone totaling almost $1.3 billion. Mexico was No. 2 on the list, accounting for $483 million in lost sales.

The research dispelled a common belief Asian countries such as China had the most offenders. That country was No. 5 on the list with a total of $244 million in lost sales. Russia was No. 3 at $266 million, followed by Spain No. 4 with $253 million.

Of the $4.8 billion in lost revenues in international territories, nearly half of that came in Europe.

"Bootlegging," which the study defines as buying illegally copied movies, DVDS or Video CDs, accounted for $2.4 billion. "Illegal copying," making copies for yourself or getting them from friends, made up $1.4 billion. Finally, illegal downloads cost the studios $2.3 billion in lost revenues.

In the United States, illegal copying is the most prominent way to get pirated movies, whereas in other countries, downloads and bootlegging are more commonly used.

The average offending person is male, between 16 and 24 years-old and living in urban areas, according to the study.

Research was conducted in 28 countries, over 18 months.

So how much does it cost them when I theater hop? http://www.mreembroidery.com/aaron/smilies/devil.gif

Wonder how they weighed the "wouldn't watch it otherwise." group.

How much does it cost them when I skip the theatrical release and wait for the dvd? :D

Bullshit.

das

Oh I call bullshit too.

Make a product worth seeing in an environment worth seeing it in and you'll get my money again.

Woah, you could hire 45,481 mothers for that much money! -eek-

Hmmm. 2005 US DVD sales were $16.3 billion. Their claim of losses would mean that approximately 1 in 13.5 DVDs acquired by US consumers in 2005 is a bootleg or illegal copy. Does anyone actually believe this?

So the MPAA funds a study that finds that they're losing money?

Hmm...

I didn't go to the movies at all last weekend, so they lost $8 from me.

In fact, there were 360 days last year that I didn't go to the movies, so that's over $2800 I caused them to lose right there. I should be ashamed of myself.

Way to cheat Hollywood out of their money with your fuzzy math. You could easily see 12 movies a day, thief.

das

Does that number seem high to anyone? Just a tad?

Fuck them.

As long as the oscar gift packages are more than my annual salary, I dont give a shit how much they're losing.

Seriously, do these studies assume a 1:1 ratio? That every single person who downloads a movie would have seen it in the theater or bought the DVD?

That doesn't even hold up to common sense.

It is totally inaccurate

There are many moves that ahem some people download which they would never pay to see in the Theatres so no revenue lost there.

There are some movies that people download that they never intended to see at the theatres but they were pleasantly surprised and so bought the movie legit on dvd. So that's additional revenue they wouldn't have gotten otherwise, i bet they don't include those.

Does the MPAA do anything right?
So a loss in dvd sales and theatre tickets = piracy? That make sense to anyone?

The sad thing is now they're going to air those anti-piracy commericals more, raise ticket prices, add commericals before movies all so the theatre's can make up from the money "stolen" by "piracy"

They start offering a money back guarantee on movies the entire industry would be gone in a few weeks.

They're making it up with CDs that cost $20.00 when they said, in the 1980's they would go down each year. 20 years later that hasnt happened.

I'm inclined to agree.

When will they be doing the study showing how much shitty remakes and crappy horror movies intentionally dumbed down to reach the "golden" PG-13 rating costs Hollywood?

You can't "lose" money if there was no guarantee of the people going in the first place.

They'll need to do some more pulling stats out of their as...I mean more research.

link to article:
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/news...DIA-MOVIES.XML

I *ahem* "know" someone who downloaded X-Men, when it first came out, and <strike>I</strike> THIS PERSON bought the movie (1.5 version.) The person since traded it in, and is planning to get the X-Men box set with 1.5 and 2, or wait till 3 comes out. That was the only Hollywood film the person ever downloaded...

The person also used to download anime that was NOT licensed in North America, and has purchased many of the titles on DVD after they were licensed and released...

I dont believe that its that much

Another bullshit "study" by the MPAA that doesn't prove anything and doesn't resolve anything. These people blame piracy for all of their troubles, but they never blame the people who green light movies like Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo, Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector, Phat Girlz, In The Mix, Bloodrayne, The Shaggy Dog (remake), and Monster-in-law. When are the movies studios and the MPAA hold these people accountable for their "losses"?