The Realm Of Film Piracy... A Good Article From Variety
Published at: Nov. 4, 1999, 2:27 a.m. CST by staff
In today's Variety there is a damn good article detailing what Jack Valenti said yesterday to Washington about the realm of internet movie piracy. (CLICK HERE TO READ THAT ARTICLE) Meanwhile, when I was reading the article, all I could think about is how... to a large degree, Valenti was repeating alot of what I said back last May in this Article I wrote.
Basically, what is happening in the world of film piracy, thanks to the Internet, is a gigantic quantum leap in terms of quality of pirated product. To anyone who has taken a look at these downloadable copies... well, you can clearly see that they are far superior than the streetcorner illegal copies sold in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. These copies are not the shaky camera copies... you don't buy them... you simply download them in the privacy of your own home.
So... What's going to happen? Well, it seems Valenti is advocating for worldwide same day release dates, that way VCDs don't have time to damage markets in foreign territories. But... In the same Variety article, they are talking about how right now on the net, there are copies of TOY STORY 2 and SLEEPY HOLLOW available. (NO I DON'T KNOW WHERE!) But... These films are still far away from release... weeks anyway. When I wrote my article last time, I knew that THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was available for download, and it scared me... but... what happened in that case, was interesting.
The downloadable version was just crappy enough that people wanted a better look of what was going on in that corner, or what was in that cloth... It's my belief that the illegal downloadable copy actually contributed to the frenzy that began around that film.
I don't pretend to know what will come of all of this. Will the film industry back of of DVD? I don't believe so. But... I do believe that these sorts of problems will simply make the attraction of digital projection in theaters more attractive, as it eases the problems of worldwide same day openings. We'll see... It's going to get interesting...
