Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Geek News Central Revealing Links & Useful Technical Information

Hollywood Studios Fair Use Public Enemy Number One

The truth is no matter what the MPAA does, people will find a way around it. DVDs are, buy and large, cheap and probably not worth pirating.

I know that Hollywood has been complaining about the drop off of box office sales. There are two parts to that. By and large a lot of what is coming out lately flat out sucks. It is not worth even the $6 (roughly) matinee price. It MIGHT be worth a $3.50 rental. This year seemed to be the year of remakes: Longest Yard, Bewitched, Herbie, etc. Where are the original ideas??

The second problem is the movie going experience. My brother, nephew and I went to see Star Wars III. It was $8.25 for my ticket (my brother had passes), $19.75 for pop, popcorn and candy and THAT was with a special they were running that day. Without the passes, it would have been around $42 for 3 of us to see a film, sharing a tub of popcorn and two drinks between us. My brother's family of 6 could not afford a night at the movies at a first-run theater, and even has trouble getting everyone in at the local second-run theater. At least it is only $18 for everyone there.

Given that many people have big screen TVs, DVD players, surround sound watching a video at home is almost as good as being in the theater. You can buy the same snacks for a fraction of the cost at a store. Unless you enjoy sticky floors (and just about every theater I have been in has them) and people's cell phones going off, why not save a few bucks?

If Hollywood is really worried, maybe if they gave us a product worth our time we would spend the money. I still go to the theater for select films - some things just look good on the big screen. But there is so much out there that I am willing to wait for it to come out on DVD, if I want to spend the time at all.

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