interestrateripoff Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle6620391.ece Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has its premiere next week, which means that by the time it gets chilly again, the DVD will be in the shops ready for Christmas.In the old days of Hollywood, as long ago as 2007, the thinking was that a blockbuster broke even with its cinema release, and the profits began to roll in with the DVD sales. Yet there are signs that film is following music, in which the live event becomes more important than the recording. Filmgoers have defied the credit crunch — British audiences were up 7.5 per cent in the first quarter, and takings in America are up 11 per cent in the year to date. But DVD sales are tumbling — as figures released yesterday in Britain show — with the market down an alarming 14 per cent by value even when new-fangled high-definition Blu-ray discs are included. And, if anything, the picture in the US is even darker. The uncomfortable truth for the film studios is that home entertainment sales may well struggle to recover, in a way all too familiar to those in the music business. In Britain, this year’s collapse was blamed on the demise of Woolworths and Zavvi, in turn victims of the economy. If anything, as Amazon grows stronger, that will continue, meaning that casual DVD buying after a trip down the high street will gradually fall away. Shops, though, are merely the half of it. As broadband speeds improve, piracy will only increase. Catch-up television services, such as the BBC iPlayer, mean there is more competition for sofa time in the home too. DVDs will be around for a long time yet, but the days of easy money for Hollywood are over. The film industry is in trouble because it won't change, what they should be doing is running there own subscription torrent where you can just swap films. Your far better having some revenue rather than none. I can remember reading a report a while back that stated a studio would fail if the summer blockbuster failed because so much money has been risked on it. Perhaps Hollywood could start cutting costs and not pay such high wages to the stars? Too radical idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Teacher - No Guru Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 The business model for all big entertainment conglomerates is failing fast. All digital media can be ripped and distributed worldwide in a matter of hours over the internet. Virtually every film ever made, every album ever recorded is available for free, if you know where to look. Luckily for Universal, et al. not many people do know where to look, yet. In ten years physical storage media will be obsolete with most content being provided via streams. No need to own a film or song if it is always available for no/ low cost. People will still form bands, play music, record it - the costs of doing so can be kept pretty low. Film making will be different, in order to continue to produce films which make a profit, the studios will have to reduce the number made and improve the quality in order to attract cinema goers rather than rely on DVD sales. Too many crappy films and songs being made over the past forty years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikthe20 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Can't say I quite understand why people actually buy DVDs - especially at full price.. Why own a film you might only watch once? Music CDs I can understand - you can listen to the same album or songs over and over again and people want to do that. But how many times do people actually watch the same film on DVD? I think to an extent people buy/bought DVDs because they wanted to own them, not use them, which was fine when money was easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lepista Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 If you want older dvd's, then try your local car boot sale. It's unusual these days not to be able to pick DVD's up for a pund or less. Like you said, most DVD's have really only beeen out of their case once or twice, so plenty of great bargains there. Why pay play.com a fiver??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
200p Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Originality has gone. Film makers are not taking risks these days so just rehash the same material. Retired cop called back in for one last job, with comedy sidekick, and ditsy girl join in for the ride, racing across America. Saves the world from aliens once again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpy-old-man-returns Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Originality has gone. Film makers are not taking risks these days so just rehash the same material. Retired cop called back in for one last job, with comedy sidekick, and ditsy girl join in for the ride, racing across America. Saves the world from aliens once again. + 1 We like a good film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Storm Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Luckily for Universal, et al. not many people do know where to look, yet. In some ways its a generation thing. The younger generations who understand technology and perhaps dont have so much money are the ones who do know where to look. As they grow up and start earning, I dont see why they would see any advantage in buying what they have always had for free. For the last year I have been seeing a lot of torrents recorded in 1080p and the quality is amazing. A few years back any pirate films tended to be pretty crap quality and if you really liked the film it was still worth buying it. No longer. Can't say I quite understand why people actually buy DVDs - especially at full price.. Why own a film you might only watch once? I dont agree. The films I would think worth buying would be ones I would watch again and again. If I think of an oldish film I love like Aliens or Terminator 2 I bet I have seen it over 20 times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzzMosiz Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Like you said, most DVD's have really only beeen out of their case once or twice, so plenty of great bargains there. Why pay play.com a fiver??? I get most of my DVDs from either Play.com or Amazon. I rarely ever pay more than £2.99, then if I don't think its worth keeping, I flog it for £1.50. cheaper than renting a film out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzzMosiz Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 I dont agree. The films I would think worth buying would be ones I would watch again and again. If I think of an oldish film I love like Aliens or Terminator 2 I bet I have seen it over 20 times. Yep, I have those and will agree they definitely have the repeat factor. As does Shawshank, Jaws, Indy films, Star Wars, Superman, Batman (the new ones). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Storm Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Yeah, dont forget the Matrix films too and Blade, Resident Evil. Anything sci-fi / horror with some action :-) Although I really enjoyed such calm films as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Reader, I cant imagine myself wanting to watch them again. Have to agree with you on the Batman Dark Knight, thats quite a new film and Ive probably seen it half a dozen times already. Have that on Blu Ray and its amazing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashologist Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 The second-hand DVD market will gradually bring prices further and further down for those who want an actual disc. Many will just download them as broadband speeds increase. Unless Amazon can enter the market for streaming media even they will suffer. This is the case for other media formats too i.e. music and books. Non-fiction authors are suffering in that when books are re-sold on Amazon, this time round there are no royalties to be paid. Prices drop as booksellers compete - initially good for the customer but will lead to the demise of the highstreet. I expect this to have a massive impact for lecturers and researchers. This in my opinion is why Virgin, quickly exited this market. Zavvi and Woolworths then failed. How much longer can HMV go on? The book market will also suffer with the increase of print-on-demand (POD) books. Finally, ebooks are even cheaper. Another factor is piracy. The music industry is slowly reverting to concerts and live performances. This can be seen in the trend for older artists doing come back tours. I expect these factors to have an indirect effect on the economy and the eventual decline of houseprices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juvenal Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle6620391.eceThe film industry is in trouble because it won't change, what they should be doing is running there own subscription torrent where you can just swap films. Your far better having some revenue rather than none. I can remember reading a report a while back that stated a studio would fail if the summer blockbuster failed because so much money has been risked on it.Perhaps Hollywood could start cutting costs and not pay such high wages to the stars? Too radical idea? Isn't the studio system one where films are made in 'slates' of ten, with the big winner generating enough dough to 'carry' a couple of break-evens and half a dozen loss makers? If so, an outright failure by a £200m movie could mean your observation would be correct. Wasn't this what happened with Heaven's Gate? Didn't it sink United Artists? As told in Steven Bach's 'Final Cut'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradbury Robinson Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 (edited) Originality has gone. Policy makers are not taking risks these days so just rehash the same material. Retired cop (Peter Mandelson) called back in for one last job, with comedy sidekick (Gordon Brown), and ditsy girl (Harriet Harman) join in for the ride, racing across the UK. from aliens once again. Further plot details added! Edited July 2, 2009 by RiTSo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sillybear2 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 This in my opinion is why Virgin, quickly exited this market. Zavvi and Woolworths then failed. How much longer can HMV go on? Virgin obviously saw the sort of things being downloaded on the Virgin Media networks and ran! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Storm Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Virgin obviously saw the sort of things being downloaded on the Virgin Media networks and ran! Dont forget to set Encryption to "Forced" in your torrent client kiddies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@contradevian Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 But! But! Blue Ray, Hi Definition etc.. Must be lots of legacy DVD and even VHS collections that need upgrading! I recently bought the James Bond collection again as it had been all digitally remastered with extra voice overs by Roger Moore. As if I haven't watched Moonraker, and Octopussy enough times. Mods: is it allowed to say Octopussy on HPC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Uttley Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Last year I worked with a woman whose daughter was the drummer in a local Indie band. They must have been quite good as they had a loyal following that turned up to gigs all over the NW ( Preston, Lancaster etc). A few years ago they might have expected some kind of support from one of the big record labels, but now this is unheard of due to the fact that record companies are not making anything like as much money, and so don't believe in nurturing young talent anymore. The downside of this (and it applies equally as well to the film industry) is that no-one is prepared to take a risk anymore. It's left to Simon Cowell and the Disney Channel to decide which new singers we would like to listen too. Films like "The Shawshank Redemption" might not get made today because nothing gets blown up. We end up watching and listening to the same old homogenised pap and crap over and over again. Welcome to the world of global popular culture! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Storm Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 But! But! Blue Ray, Hi Definition etc.. Must be lots of legacy DVD and even VHS collections that need upgrading! HD is brilliant. But I tend to find older, legacy as you put it, films dont benefit from it so much. Terminator 2 was one of my first purchases on Blu Ray and although it looked good, it is blown away by newer films in terms of quality of picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cynic Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 (edited) Last year I worked with a woman whose daughter was the drummer in a local Indie band. They must have been quite good as they had a loyal following that turned up to gigs all over the NW ( Preston, Lancaster etc). A few years ago they might have expected some kind of support from one of the big record labels, but now this is unheard of due to the fact that record companies are not making anything like as much money, and so don't believe in nurturing young talent anymore. The downside of this (and it applies equally as well to the film industry) is that no-one is prepared to take a risk anymore. It's left to Simon Cowell and the Disney Channel to decide which new singers we would like to listen too. Films like "The Shawshank Redemption" might not get made today because nothing gets blown up. We end up watching and listening to the same old homogenised pap and crap over and over again. Welcome to the world of global popular culture! Maybe that's a bit pessimistic. Sure, the blockbuster industry will take a big hit - although even there I suspect expensive technicians and, come to that, all and sundry will learn to take a significant cut in wages rather than sit idle - but there'll be plenty of treats around from the likes of Mike Leigh and independent film makers generally. Not to everyone's taste, I know. edit to add; withnail & I wasn't big budget - still one of my favourite all time films... Edited July 2, 2009 by cynic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffneck Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Can't say I quite understand why people actually buy DVDs - especially at full price.. Why own a film you might only watch once? Music CDs I can understand - you can listen to the same album or songs over and over again and people want to do that. But how many times do people actually watch the same film on DVD? I think to an extent people buy/bought DVDs because they wanted to own them, not use them, which was fine when money was easy. i mostly buy tv shows , more viewing 'bang' for your buck , dvds are always higher quality than downloaded torrents sales have fell because of the recession - people cutting back discretionary spending but also people bought dvds to replace aging VHS tapes of stuff they already had - this is slowing down now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Storm Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 i mostly buy tv shows , more viewing 'bang' for your buck , dvds are always higher quality than downloaded torrents Wrong. If you are talking of tv shows, look for 720p shows. The files are around 1.1 Gb each and are in the mkv file format. Dvd as a format is 480p. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PalmerEldritch Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Working Title Films, the biggest UK producer, has just had it's budget slashed by Universal and is laying people off this week (including me) This will have a knock on effect on the whole UK film industry. Interesting times we live in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottbeard Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Originality has gone. Film makers are not taking risks these days so just rehash the same material. Retired cop called back in for one last job, with comedy sidekick, and ditsy girl join in for the ride, racing across America. Saves the world from aliens once again. I disagree. It's too easy to don the rose-tinted specs and say "things ain't as good as they used to be" Of course if you define rehash as any film where "plucky heroes win in the end" well then almost every film is a "rehash". But personally I think some films of the last few years like Borat, Slumdog Millionaire and Coraline 3D are very inventive. And the recent Star Trek and Dark Knight movies are far more than just a rehash - they are well-made films in their own right and good new takes on old material. IMHO there are plenty of good new films around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I want a house! Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 I dont agree. The films I would think worth buying would be ones I would watch again and again. If I think of an oldish film I love like Aliens or Terminator 2 I bet I have seen it over 20 times. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Uttley Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 - but there'll be plenty of treats around from the likes of Mike Leigh and independent film makers generally. Independent film makers are suffering too. I am aware of a couple of films that have been abandoned lately, though I suspect this has more to do with the recession than pirating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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