Seriously Movie Industry, WHAT THE FROG?!!

[jvcarroll]

It's not just movies, TV and the landscape of entertainment are all changing.

Outlets like Netflix have reinvented the miniseries. By that, I mean that they're successfully producing a dozen hour-long segments that can either stand alone or lead to a follow-up season. It's $8 a month for unlimited viewing and it's all commercial-free! Networks and theaters are starting to feel the pinch. Some channels are getting wise about this.

Imagine if something like Harry Potter were told in 7 seasons comprised of a dozen episodes each. No more complaining about what was left on the cutting room floor. This is going to be the wave of the future. Some stories are better told in 12 hours than in two.

Like with any industry, actors are paid what the market will bear. Ticket prices go up and actors get paid more, but what if ticket sales had restaurant pricing? Would a moviegoer shell out more to see their favorite actor when there are cheaper alternatives?

Lucas and Spielberg are partly responsible for creating this glut of tentpole movies. The pictures have become spectacles of excess, but that doesn't necessarily make them good movies. I love the traditional movie experience, but people like Lucas and Spielberg changed that by abandoning celluloid for digital film that creates a much different experience. They've gunked-up our cherished memories of their films with needless computer makeovers. These are the guys who created the monster that has now been set loose.

The theater experience will change. That still doesn't mean $50 tickets for general admission are going to happen any time soon. So far, those have been special advanced engagements. The regular movie-going public won't stand for that. They're already in sticker shock!

 

[Drtooth]

Outlets like Netflix have reinvented the miniseries. By that, I mean that they're successfully producing a dozen hour-long segments that can either stand alone or lead to a follow-up season. It's $8 a month for unlimited viewing and it's all commercial-free! Networks and theaters are starting to feel the pinch. Some channels are getting wise about this.

Except, once some upstart production company gets too greedy, they pull everything they can from the line up. It's a great idea and all, but it's subject to the same entertainment industry mafioso tactics that the cable companies suffer from. Look at the CBS/Time Warner fiasco. Piracy went up because of that. Only, that's going to be worse. You're going to have to buy premium packages to several separate online streaming sites. Added to the fact that you kinda need a premium speed internet service, that's going to cost you a bundle. Once the movie between movies, television, and the internet is complete, it will be subject to the same idiotic reasons why people don't go to movies or watch TV anymore.

Not to mention the oh so important DVD sales. The declining sales of both standard and Blu formats means there's less reason for these studios to take risks with films. We'll keep getting similar movies, and we only have ourselves to blame for not buying home video physical formats.

As for regular Ticket sales, sure.. we LOVE to blame the celebrities and movies with big budgets (because they have more money than us), but let's not forget upkeep and rent. We're probably still paying for the transition for the supposedly cheaper digital projectors (how many more The Avengers like success stories until they start paying for themselves?). That's why so many smaller theaters owned by a chain are folding. Then they make up for it by building gigantic megamultiplexes in pretty pricey rent areas. My main problem is when you raise prices to make up what you lose, you winding losing customers, and thus, more money needed to be made up. And then prices went high after the hubris of Avatar.

 

[jvcarroll]

Except, once some upstart production company gets too greedy, they pull everything they can from the line up. It's a great idea and all, but it's subject to the same entertainment industry mafioso tactics that the cable companies suffer from. Look at the CBS/Time Warner fiasco. Piracy went up because of that. Only, that's going to be worse. You're going to have to buy premium packages to several separate online streaming sites. Added to the fact that you kinda need a premium speed internet service, that's going to cost you a bundle. Once the movie between movies, television, and the internet is complete, it will be subject to the same idiotic reasons why people don't go to movies or watch TV anymore.

Not to mention the oh so important DVD sales. The declining sales of both standard and Blu formats means there's less reason for these studios to take risks with films. We'll keep getting similar movies, and we only have ourselves to blame for not buying home video physical formats.

As for regular Ticket sales, sure.. we LOVE to blame the celebrities and movies with big budgets (because they have more money than us), but let's not forget upkeep and rent. We're probably still paying for the transition for the supposedly cheaper digital projectors (how many more The Avengers like success stories until they start paying for themselves?). That's why so many smaller theaters owned by a chain are folding. Then they make up for it by building gigantic megamultiplexes in pretty pricey rent areas. My main problem is when you raise prices to make up what you lose, you winding losing customers, and thus, more money needed to be made up. And then prices went high after the hubris of Avatar.

Piracy
Music executives and performers once complained how Napster would kill their livelihoods and for a while it did. And then they figured out how to work the technology to their advantage. Most advanced "leaks" that happen these days are actually from studios and entertainers trying to create publicity. Is there still piracy? Yeah. It just doesn't impact sales the way it used to. It can actually kind of help them. The film industry will figure this out and Disney will probably be on the forefront of it!

DVD sales
Home video sales are booming if you look in the right place. That's why Apple makes so much money. It's all on itunes now! Physical shelves have been replaced with digital downloads.

New Equipment
Most of it has already been paid for. I blame the filmmakers for it too. James Cameron is an obvious target, but even Scorsese will only make 3-D films now! By the way, Avatar wasn't hubris. It returned its investment many times over. The sequels may be another story.

These once great directors have been complicit with the studios and the movie stars in creating big budget film events that require digital and 3-D projectors. Spielberg complains about not being able to make the movies he wants. The truth is, studios make films people want to see. It's up to the directors to either follow these trends or forge new ones. He used to be great at that. He used to be the guy making big budget movies for the masses.

Moviegoers want young actors in fantasy adventures. He used to be able to provide that with quality. He was the executive producer of Goonies after all. It's clear that many filmmakers have run out of compelling stories to tell in any medium.

More Expensive
The larger point is that things in this country are becoming more expensive and will continue to do so. I'm not going to dive into the reasons why except to say that it is political issue. It's a class warfare issue. Look at how expensive amusement park tickets are compared to when Disneyland opened. It's no longer affordable family entertainment like it used to be. It's a luxury. Movies are not exempt from this price hike. However, they'll have to create one heck of an incentive if they want to raise the prices to the ridiculous heights reported by Lucas and Spielberg.

 

[mr3urious]

Except, once some upstart production company gets too greedy, they pull everything they can from the line up. It's a great idea and all, but it's subject to the same entertainment industry mafioso tactics that the cable companies suffer from. Look at the CBS/Time Warner fiasco. Piracy went up because of that. Only, that's going to be worse. You're going to have to buy premium packages to several separate online streaming sites. Added to the fact that you kinda need a premium speed internet service, that's going to cost you a bundle. Once the movie between movies, television, and the internet is complete, it will be subject to the same idiotic reasons why people don't go to movies or watch TV anymore.

What's even more BS is that they can pull local network affiliates! I know; I've experienced that before.

Not to mention the oh so important DVD sales. The declining sales of both standard and Blu formats means there's less reason for these studios to take risks with films. We'll keep getting similar movies, and we only have ourselves to blame for not buying home video physical formats.

Because as we all know, movies are best watched on a tiny postcard-sized screen.

As for regular Ticket sales, sure.. we LOVE to blame the celebrities and movies with big budgets (because they have more money than us), but let's not forget upkeep and rent. We're probably still paying for the transition for the supposedly cheaper digital projectors (how many more The Avengers like success stories until they start paying for themselves?). That's why so many smaller theaters owned by a chain are folding. Then they make up for it by building gigantic megamultiplexes in pretty pricey rent areas. My main problem is when you raise prices to make up what you lose, you winding losing customers, and thus, more money needed to be made up. And then prices went high after the hubris of Avatar.

Don't those digital projectors screw up more than analog ones? Roger Ebert was one such victim, forcing the theater to postpone the premiere of a film due to a bug in the system.

 

[Drtooth]

Piracy
Music executives and performers once complained how Napster would kill their livelihoods and for a while it did. And then they figured out how to work the technology to their advantage. Most advanced "leaks" that happen these days are actually from studios and entertainers trying to create publicity. Is there still piracy? Yeah. It just doesn't impact sales the way it used to. It can actually kind of help them. The film industry will figure this out and Disney will probably be on the forefront of it!

I remember when music piracy first popped up. The true problem was the music industry. They were at this bizarre point where they weren't interested in artists, who have such a name for themselves that loyal fans would buy up to add to a collection. They were interested in one hit wonder trash that could crank out factory made club Hip Hop. There was an alarming amount of "Shake your [crappy euphemism for butt]" hits out there. Each more lazy and unoriginal as the last. What is the point of dropping 15 bucks for one song? There's no point in having albums if you just put the same song on their three times with a slight difference in the mix.

As for TV/Movie piracy. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon... they do it right. Or would, if petty, pathetic bickering between those companies and the entertainment companies didn't get things pulled or create exclusive rights. The thing that really gets me is this. If there's one industry that was really hurting because of piracy, it was the niche anime market. These aren't huge companies that can sustain a little loss. These are small little distributors that fight over rights for certain shows (the Japanese companies are notorious to work with, especially Toei), and they just couldn't get stuff out fast enough. DVD's had 3 episodes and cost a fortune (apparently, that's the Japanese standard, and they cost far more than anyone here would charge), and while collectors would probably pay that much for a series with a crapload of episodes in it, it was easier and cheaper to just torrent. Not to mention shows that were only available heavily edited in English for kiddies. Then they started streaming, they got the episodes within a week of their Japanese airing, and somehow they can have these things free on hulu.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate holds Rambo the animated series and both ALF cartoons hostage. I can see last week's One Piece free, but if I want an old cartoon that only I care about, I need to pay 7 bucks a month. Make of that what you will.

And DON'T get me started on how Redbox literally stuffs itself with crappy blockbusters, while the films anyone actually wants to see get shoved into a corner. I don't recall Blockbuster video putting out movies with f-list celebs no one has ever heard of in front and shoving things like The Avengers in a corner after 3 months.

DVD sales
Home video sales are booming if you look in the right place. That's why Apple makes so much money. It's all on itunes now! Physical shelves have been replaced with digital downloads.

Understandable, and the DVD is becoming obsolete. I don't get the logistics, but there's something about cheaper movie downloads and streams that takes money out of the home video process. Aside from the data can be lost or corrupted vs collection of disks aspect, the DVD sales were more important than the ticket sales at one point. While they're still working the logistics of this, film companies are going to trend more to what sells and take lower risks.

Then there's the issue of stores that specialize in home video going under. Problem is, they sell other things. Movie merchandise, toys, little goofy gewgaws... less places to sell those means less licenses anyone wants to go after and less companies producing these products. They may have a place in Hot Topic or comic shops, but not the massive FYE line of movie related stuff.

In both cases... if only there was some sort of physical digital compromise. Like selling the digital download disks, so you have a back up if your computer/gadget breaks down or the internet crashes. That's the one thing we forget... the internet can go down

By the way, Avatar wasn't hubris. It returned its investment many times over. The sequels may be another story.

Not so much the film itself, but the reaction to it from the major theater chains. The last major price increase was after that film did well and sold 3-D tickets. While James Cameron's ego is debatable, no one suffered a massive ego trip like the theater chains (even the indie theaters)... heck, Hollywood even that they had a gimmick that stopped people from waiting months after the movie and downloading/buying a physical copy of the film. Then they raised prices and chased that audience away, giving them MORE reason to buy the film months down the line.

What's even more BS is that they can pull local network affiliates! I know; I've experienced that before.

Why I'm glad I don't have cable. The Time Warner/CBS feud is complete obnoxious bull. From what I've heard, it's because TW wants to drop Showtime from its package because they already have HBO, and TW goes around and says CBS wants more money. Not to mention the cable companies and their monopolies that came out of so called regulation. And you can't even unplug the darn thing to watch local networks anymore. You have to buy that digital converter crap and a special antenna.

Because as we all know, movies are best watched on a tiny postcard-sized screen.

While I understand not wanting to go to the theater for multiple reasons, and I understand not wanting to see certain films in theaters, I can't fathom watching something on an iPhone for anything else but to pass time on the subway. Someone let me watch a Bob's Burgers on one, and I just couldn't get through it. A 22 minute cartoon I LOVE. You either have to hold it for the entire time, or place it on a table and sit in an awkward position to get a good look at it. Tablets... well... at least their bigger. Then again, they're trying to get these devices to work with TV's, and that's the best way it can work there. I can't watch anything if I'm uncomfortable.

 

[jvcarroll]

I remember when music piracy first popped up. The true problem was the music industry. They were at this bizarre point where they weren't interested in artists, who have such a name for themselves that loyal fans would buy up to add to a collection. They were interested in one hit wonder trash that could crank out factory made club Hip Hop. There was an alarming amount of "Shake your [crappy euphemism for butt]" hits out there. Each more lazy and unoriginal as the last. What is the point of dropping 15 bucks for one song? There's no point in having albums if you just put the same song on their three times with a slight difference in the mix.

As for TV/Movie piracy. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon... they do it right. Or would, if petty, pathetic bickering between those companies and the entertainment companies didn't get things pulled or create exclusive rights. The thing that really gets me is this. If there's one industry that was really hurting because of piracy, it was the niche anime market. These aren't huge companies that can sustain a little loss. These are small little distributors that fight over rights for certain shows (the Japanese companies are notorious to work with, especially Toei), and they just couldn't get stuff out fast enough. DVD's had 3 episodes and cost a fortune (apparently, that's the Japanese standard, and they cost far more than anyone here would charge), and while collectors would probably pay that much for a series with a crapload of episodes in it, it was easier and cheaper to just torrent. Not to mention shows that were only available heavily edited in English for kiddies. Then they started streaming, they got the episodes within a week of their Japanese airing, and somehow they can have these things free on hulu.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate holds Rambo the animated series and both ALF cartoons hostage. I can see last week's One Piece free, but if I want an old cartoon that only I care about, I need to pay 7 bucks a month. Make of that what you will.

And DON'T get me started on how Redbox literally stuffs itself with crappy blockbusters, while the films anyone actually wants to see get shoved into a corner. I don't recall Blockbuster video putting out movies with f-list celebs no one has ever heard of in front and shoving things like The Avengers in a corner after 3 months.



Understandable, and the DVD is becoming obsolete. I don't get the logistics, but there's something about cheaper movie downloads and streams that takes money out of the home video process. Aside from the data can be lost or corrupted vs collection of disks aspect, the DVD sales were more important than the ticket sales at one point. While they're still working the logistics of this, film companies are going to trend more to what sells and take lower risks.

Then there's the issue of stores that specialize in home video going under. Problem is, they sell other things. Movie merchandise, toys, little goofy gewgaws... less places to sell those means less licenses anyone wants to go after and less companies producing these products. They may have a place in Hot Topic or comic shops, but not the massive FYE line of movie related stuff.

In both cases... if only there was some sort of physical digital compromise. Like selling the digital download disks, so you have a back up if your computer/gadget breaks down or the internet crashes. That's the one thing we forget... the internet can go down



Not so much the film itself, but the reaction to it from the major theater chains. The last major price increase was after that film did well and sold 3-D tickets. While James Cameron's ego is debatable, no one suffered a massive ego trip like the theater chains (even the indie theaters)... heck, Hollywood even that they had a gimmick that stopped people from waiting months after the movie and downloading/buying a physical copy of the film. Then they raised prices and chased that audience away, giving them MORE reason to buy the film months down the line.



Why I'm glad I don't have cable. The Time Warner/CBS feud is complete obnoxious bull. From what I've heard, it's because TW wants to drop Showtime from its package because they already have HBO, and TW goes around and says CBS wants more money. Not to mention the cable companies and their monopolies that came out of so called regulation. And you can't even unplug the darn thing to watch local networks anymore. You have to buy that digital converter crap and a special antenna.



While I understand not wanting to go to the theater for multiple reasons, and I understand not wanting to see certain films in theaters, I can't fathom watching something on an iPhone for anything else but to pass time on the subway. Someone let me watch a Bob's Burgers on one, and I just couldn't get through it. A 22 minute cartoon I LOVE. You either have to hold it for the entire time, or place it on a table and sit in an awkward position to get a good look at it. Tablets... well... at least their bigger. Then again, they're trying to get these devices to work with TV's, and that's the best way it can work there. I can't watch anything if I'm uncomfortable.

I prefer to buy physical copies of films via Blu-ray for a lot of reasons, but consumer preference is shifting to digital only. The plus side is that there's no overhead for printing and distribution. The minus is that there's little reason to reissue these films every several years.

Exclusive deals are how each company makes money. That's not going to change. Home video used to not exist. Once it did, films took a year or more to hit video. They were primarily priced for rentals until Disney Classic films and the first Batman movie changed the game by offering VHS releases at consumer-friendly prices in the late 80's. Before that, people would subscribe to movie channels for access to their favorite films. These movies would shift around from HBO to Showtime and other channels and the prestige came from whichever ran them first. It seems like we're going back to that model. Eeek! Heck, that's consumerism. That's why movies are made. I think it's interesting how the Henson Company has been handling this. They've been releasing some content on DVD, but that's really hard to do and can be very expensive. They then chose to stream their content exclusively on Netflix. Since these are technically broadcasts, I don't believe they required new, messy residual negotiations. After a while they jumped ship and now they seem to be going with Hulu. There's also that YouTube subscription. Eventually, everyone gets a chance. But this is not quibbling or fighting. This is the free market.