How Much Has the Internet Cost the Episode 2 Gross

[darthmac]

With the continued growth of file sharing on the Internet there are plenty of opportunities for anyone to get a copy of episode 2. Starwars would get hit harder then other movies because of the dedicated fan base who need as much StarWars as the can get and by getting the movie don't go back that third or fourth time. So how much as it cost Lucas, about 30 million or so? style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif

[SonGokou]

Nope. Wrong. Those of us who download the movie have already seen it several (billion) times and are only doing so to see it at our own convienence. The versions available are of poor quality and will in no way detract from us buying the DVD. Those who actually pay for pirate copies are fools and are the ones unlikely to buy the DVD. Because they're fools. Obviously.

[RollaFett]

SonGokue- I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss that point. I believe that downloading it enables fans to avoid going to the theater multiple times to view it. Sure, they'll probably buy the DVD, but for now, the only outlets are paying for a ticket or downloading it for free. It may be poor quality, but that doesn't matter to a lot of people.

[DblDwn]

If I had to choose between either paying $6 at the theater at a convenient time when there aren't a lot of people, so as not to have to deal with talkers...........or downloading some copy off the net that takes 2 months to download and then you watch it and you realize that it's recorded on someones camcorder either in the very front row at the theater, or in the very back row and they had some lady in front of them with a big fedora hat on her head and then you have to deal with people cheering and babies crying and every other imaginable disruption...........I'm going to the theater myself when the crowds are minimal and I can fully enjoy the visuals and sound the way they were intended. Maybe all of the people that disliked AOTC saw it on their monitors and not at a theater? That would certainly do it for me.

[SonGokou]

1) At some point (believe it or not) AOTC will no longer be in the cinema and we'll have to wait a while for the DVD. A crappy copy is better than nothing.

2) Folks like George like to pretend it's a huge problem, compared to music it will never be. If I want to listen to pirated music, I can. The quality is generally the same as a CD. Movies are not music, in order to experiance it properly it must be seen on a large screen. Most of us don't own our own theatres and have to go to a cinema to watch it. I It's part of the "movie experiance", wait in line, buy some salty popcorn and a coke™ and enjoy the movie the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Those who pirate the movie (ahem) and enjoy it will undoubtly go on to buy the DVD (see below).

3) As far as repeat viewings, I think your a little confused. I, like most of you, am a big fan and have seen it 3 times (only, dang). Casual movie goers will NOT see it a second or third time, they'll wait for a DVD, rental, video, pirate. I think you can see this on the actual box office takings for AOTC. You must also bear in mind, there is a very limited amount of people who can actually get hold of a pirate copy of any movie - at least not enough to make an impact on ticket sales.

[sithwitch]

Personally, I think Lucas et al lost MILLIONS because of downloads. Given the choice of going to a theatre or staying at home, I will almost always select the home option, even if the download is fuzzy and has occasional Fedoras!

What George and Co SHOULD do is figure out a way to put the films on the Internet in a Pay Per View or Membership only manner. The fact is, copies of the movie are going to become available online almost immediately. Given the choice of a fuzzy download and a crystal clear copy from StarWars.com, I would take the CLEAR copy, even if it cost me, say $50 for ten viewings?

Star Wars fans are GEEKS. We like technology. We like feeling "tied in" to the official folks. We LIKE to GIVE GEORGE MONEY! Really. We are GRATEFUL for Star Wars.

Surely there is a way to make it impossible to copy or damned difficult, anyways. I truly believe that fans who download are not doing it to cheat Lucasfilms out of a Buck. They are doing it for CONVENIENCE. There is a market out here, Uncle G ... why not tap into it?

[SonGokou]

The technology isn't yet available to do this, sithwitch. Even with broadband the picture quality wouldn't be up to Big G's standard, it would make it EASIER to pirate the movie, the costs of setting up several dediacted servers for the service would far outway the profits because not enough people have broadband and most would not be willing to pay the same price as a cinema ticket.

[sithwitch]

The tech may not be there ... YET. But the MARKET sure is!
I don't know the solution, but I know there is a DEMAND and a REVENUE. So there must be a way. I think it would be great if Lucas could find it, because meanwhile the pirated copy will serve the need, and nobody gets paid!

No tech to do that yet? No problem. Where there is a Whill, Lucas finds a way.

----------------
DID PADME PUSH ANAKIN OVER THE EDGE?
Find out at Sith Witch (http://SithWitch.com) style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/inlove.gif

[Darth Badly]

However much it costs Uncle George, it's not enough.

[SonGokou]

Somebody sounds twisted and eviiiiill. So DarthBadly, are you more machine now than man?

[NelsonCoressel]

How much has the internet cost the episode 2 gross?

Considering the net version probably looks and sounds like crap, I'd say the answer is nothing.

[Darth Badly]

Originally posted by SonGokou@July 07 2002 - 20:46
Somebody sounds twisted and eviiiiill. *So DarthBadly, are you more machine now than man?
I'm not sure that being more machine than man would be a bad thing these days given that it would mean you could keep going all night.

Mean time, I agree with Nelson - I don't think it cost Uncle George much if anything. Most people who were going to see it saw it in the cinema. Heck, I hated it and even I paid £10 to see it with my Uncle Ronnie!!!

[JediBendu]

If I had a copy for myself I'd watch it. But I would also be going to the theatre at the same time. I've seen ATOC 12 times now and paid $13 each time. I'm still going to see it again while it's playing somewhere - anywhere. DVD is great sure but it's nothing compared to sitting in a dark room with a 20m screen in front of you with all the surround sound nailing you to the seat. :p

[Nathan Butler]

Several comments, some mod necessities, some not.

First, the necessities:

1.) We do not support boolegging here, nor will it be tolerated. If you want to discuss how much the 'net may have cost GL in revinue, knock yourselves out, but if this degernates, as it's strayed a few times, into a "yes, the 'net copy should be downloaded" versus "no, it shouldn't" argument, the former will require the thread to be locked. If it matters why, you can check the terms of service's stance on illegal activities. SonGokou, if that was an admission of bootlegging, I would suggest you edit the post. I'll assume this time that you didn't know any better.

2.) DB: Keep an eye on the sexual humor. Remember, there are minors here.

3.) DB: There are already threads for debating the quality of AOTC, as you well know. We don't need another.

The non-mod comments.

4.) DB: Amusingly, I used the same general joke when I appeared on Digital Llama Radio a while back.

5.) Nelson: Actually, part of the problem is how good the 'net verison actually is. The original "Z" bootleg of TPM was rather shoddy, with the camera often going out of focus, not being framed to include the full picture, and including quite a bit of crowd noise. By contrast, the AOTC version floating around on the net is about the quality of a few-times dubbed VHS tape (like my old home movies spread around the family), with a picture has contrast that is somewhat poor, is still a far cry better than many of the "Z" TPM scenes. Only the final battle in the dark suffers much.

That's why it's such a problem with AOTC compared to TPM. For TPM, even those who got the film from the 'net had ample reason to disregard it in lieu of the theaters. With AOTC, though, after a few in-theater viewings, many fans are quite content to download the film with the great leaps in DSL and cable modem availability made since 1999 to get a copy they can watch at their leisure and have on-hand during the limbo between the film leaving theaters and arriving on VHS and DVD. Technology is Lucasfilm's boon and bane at the same time, allowing them to make more detailed, fantastic worlds to explore on film, yet allowing fans to more readily hurt their profits on such films.

6.) However, the question becomes not necessarily whether or not GL lost profits from the 'net distribution. If even one person didn't go see it again, preferring to watch it on the computer, then GL, by definition, lost money. The question, though, as was asked to begin with, is how MUCH did he lose?

[tunafishman]

I would say GL definetly lost some cash this time around (AOTC is not going to net anywhere near even Jedi, which had the lowest net before, right?):

1. Internet - NathanButlerSWT is right about this bootleg version being better quality. I've never seen it, nor do I have any desire to see it or download it (I'll stick to the digital theater in Naptown aka Annapolis), but from what I've heard, its good. So I'm sure some people did see it 2 or 3 times in the theater, but did not go a 4th or 5th time, which is what made Phantom Menace earn so much more

2. Movie Competition - As opposed to when TPM came out, there are a lot of good movies out now that people want to see (Spiderman, Minority Report, Sum of All Fears, MIB II, etc.).

So yeah, GL is losing money. The interesting thing will be when EP III comes out. By then camcorders should be really high quality, so one can only imagine what a bootleg would look like. Perhaps GL will make it a point that theaters will only be able to show EP III if they frisk people before they enter. ???

[sithwitch]

I might be wrong, but didn't Lucas say he did not make the movies for money or fans or any other reason than that it would be his legacy, and he wanted to finish the project? How much did Lucas lose? I doubt he really cares.

[Zane Marit]

GL is probably not as worried about $$$ as we make him out to be. With all the Franchise licensing off the OT made him a billionaire anyways. I am sure the dloaded copies are not putting a huge dent in Lucas' or anyone elses pockets. If they come out and say "Hey...I can't feed my kids..." Then that would be a different story....JMO

Oh and from what I hear style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif the dloaded copy is do able until the DVD comes out.

[SonGokou]

Has GL actually made any official statements in regard to AOTC and piracy? I know he did when TPM came out...

So uh, Nathan, how exactly do you know of the quality of it? Let me guess, you saw it at a "friends" house.

[Nathan Butler]

When you're in as many circles on the major SW sites as I am these days, you have ways of getting very good information on even oddball things like that.

[JediBendu]

I can wait till the dvd - 'Patience, use the Force, think'

[Darth Arraics]

Nathan

When you're in as many circles on the major SW sites as I am these days, you have ways of getting very good information on even oddball things like that.

A smart person like your self should not take other people comments as Correct. And I hope you ripped them people too.

[JonathanLB]

I do not mean to be blunt, but I simply have no respect for any Star Wars fan who has illegally downloaded any SW movie. That is just wrong, immoral, and illegal. Shame on you!

If you want to see the movie, YOU do it legally or NOT AT ALL. That's how it is. You either pay to go see it again because you WANT to see it again, or you don't see it at all. Plain and simple.

I have paid for every one of my 44 viewings of AOTC in theaters. Yes, it cost me like $315 or something, but it was worth every penny. I don't know how you could call yourself a Star Wars fan and steal from Lucasfilm and the artists at ILM and Skywalker Sound by choosing to pirate the movie and not even paying for your viewings. That's just rotten.

I wish I could go and punch every fan who says, "I have seen it 3 times in theaters, but a few dozen at home!!!" Oh gee good for you, ya frickin' loser.

[Martini]

Wow JonathanLB, you're calling us losers!! wow thats saying alot. What kind of life do you have that you need to see a movie 44 times? I bet your girlfriend goes with you too, HA. Dude, ive downloaded a bootlegged copy off the internet and i watch it every now and then. I moreso just watch a scene or two. AND WHY!! cause its no longer in the theaters. So how exactly am I harming anyone. Its not a big deal and like someone posted earlier, people who download theses are fans like US who wanna see it over and over again while we are waiting for the dvd to be released. I think anyone who does buy one of those foreign VCD copies are kinda lame though. But you JonathanLB, i think you need to rethink your life if you gonna be spend that kinda of time and money on SW.

BTW, i think what he said as "losers" is a threat and someone should take care of this. hehe

[Meche]

JonathanLB, I'm not a fan of illegal copying either but please refrain from calling people losers. We don't name-call here.

[DblDwn]

Originally posted by JonathanLB@July 23 2002 - 05:15
I do not mean to be blunt, but I simply have no respect for any Star Wars fan who has illegally downloaded any SW movie. That is just wrong, immoral, and illegal. Shame on you!

If you want to see the movie, YOU do it legally or NOT AT ALL. That's how it is. You either pay to go see it again because you WANT to see it again, or you don't see it at all. Plain and simple.

I have paid for every one of my 44 viewings of AOTC in theaters. Yes, it cost me like $315 or something, but it was worth every penny. I don't know how you could call yourself a Star Wars fan and steal from Lucasfilm and the artists at ILM and Skywalker Sound by choosing to pirate the movie and not even paying for your viewings. That's just rotten.

I wish I could go and punch every fan who says, "I have seen it 3 times in theaters, but a few dozen at home!!!" Oh gee good for you, ya frickin' loser.
Dude it's called decaf.............check it out.

I've seen AOTC 6 times in the theater, the 6th of which was yesterday, and I have yet to decide if I will go and see it again in theaters. A buddy of mine downloaded it the other day and burned me a copy. I guess that since I didn't download it, as far as your theory goes, I'm not a loser. Which is good because I really give a rats booty what your opinion of me is.

The only reason I asked him to burn me the copy is so that if I want to quickly reference a specfic scene in case an idea/new theory crosses my mind, I don't have to go to the theater and watch the entire movie just to see one scene.

By the way, you also need to learn your definitions. 'Loser' isn't someone who downloads a movie off the Internet. 'Loser' is someone who crashes a plane into a building, or hides in a cave while ordering people to their deaths, or kills any number of people because they believe it will please their 'God'. For you to get that emotionally charged over people downloading a movie, while there are much BIGGER problems in the world right now, that shows your true colors and who you really are.

[Mann]

While I agree that Internet Piracy is wrong and that movies should stay either on screen or on video/DVD, but don't call people "losers." And guys, don't go and start insulting him back. If he gets kicked off, he gets kicked off. Don't shun him by saying he has no respect, and mention terrorists. It isn't right. Just let the mods handle him calling people names and such. No disrespect for anyone, but i don't want people kicked off from posting.