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MPAA Says Anti-Piracy Efforts Are Reason Behind The Dark Knight Success

Posted 07/29/08 at 08:50:03 AM |  by Chris Moody

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You have to love the spin doctors. No not the band, the group of people that are try to put a certain angle on a viewpoint. Specifically the MPAA’s latest claim that The Dark Knight had such a smash opening weekend was because of their efforts against piracy. It couldn’t possibly be because the movie was actually good, could it?

TechDirt.com points out that the MPAA would have us ignore the awesome reviews, that the movie was available in IMAX (which you can't replicate at home), or that the movie was available online right after it was released in their claims.

In the LA Times article that spawned this debate, the MPAA’s argument cites the original Hulk movie. They argue that a rough, early version of the movie by Ang Lee made its way to the internet about two weeks before the film's scheduled premiere which provoked negative reactions from the comic-book’s devoted fans.

"A lot of people decided not to go near it. Hollywood argued, correctly, that many more people would have gone to see it, had online buzz not been so critical of the movie," said Eric Garland, the chief executive of BigChampagne Online Media Measurement, which monitors file-sharing networks. He is later quoted in the article as saying, "If the movie's a stiff, and word gets out too early that it's a stiff, it's devastating to the business model”.

No kidding? So moviegoers should pay to see a movie that’s crap so we don’t devastate the movie industries business model? Hulk grossed $62 million in its first weekend. A respectable amount, but by the second week reviews and word of mouth pushed grosses down 70%. If the leak of the rough version hurt the movie so bad, why did it have to be out for a week for people to turn up their noses at it? Face it the movie stunk.

When your position has such weak standing in the first place, it’s hard to spin the topic in your favor. If the MPAA wants to know why theater attendance is down they just talk to the people, and not try to pin the cause to fit their agenda. Why should a couple spend nearly $30 to get into a movie, plus another $15 on snacks and drinks to sit in some fairly uncomfortable chairs, elbow to elbow with strangers for a mediocre movie? DVDs and home theater make it pretty appealing to wait it out and catch it at home six months later.

In this respect the RIAA and the MPAA are just alike. Technology has changed and is allowing people to make other choices. Their members are creating entertainment designed to fit is a winning “formula”, all while the price on this entertainment goes up. Why are CD sales down? Try making an album that has more than one or two decent songs on it instead of filling it with B-sides. I’d rather go to Amazon.com and buy the one song for around a $1 than pay $15+ for the CD full of crap.

What do you think? Does the MPAA have it wrong?

The Dark Knight
COMMENTS:
8
TAGS: 
RIAA, movies, mpaa, piracy, the dark knight, Batman
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COMMENTS
avatarDown with the RIAA and MPAA

Submitted by Perplexing Man on Tue, 2008-07-29 12:17

I agree with what you have to say. Enough is enough already I'm guilty of downloading movies (not any more but a couples years ago yeah). Anymore I think it's sad people do download but I will not be a hypocrite about it I've done it so therefore I will not judge. The few times I did so I still went out to see the movie at the theatre anyways. Also technically this is not Heath's last film http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005132/ as reported by imdb.com. I believe the success is due to the popularity of the first installment with some minor contributions from the cast more so than people only seeing it because Heath died.Need I remind you in 1994 a young promising actor named Brandon Lee died tragically on the set of "The Crow" however even though it was hyped up greatly it only grossed 94 million worldwide even though considering the budget was 15 million it would be consider a hit I personally do not see it that way. So MPAA think twice before you speak last I checked there are pirated copys all over the net so that tells me you did NOT success in stopping or even slowing this trend down.

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avatarlike the people on the bomb boats, someone has to say it . . .

Submitted by plaskon on Tue, 2008-07-29 09:25

on principle, i have to download the movie after reading this.

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avatarJust maybe...

Submitted by SteveCamper on Tue, 2008-07-29 08:45

Here's a possible angle as well..  This is the last movie the late Mr. Heath Ledger is in.  Could it not also be people and his fans wanting to see this as a tribute to him?

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avatarGood point. I am sure that

Submitted by Haipyng on Tue, 2008-07-29 08:51

Good point. I am sure that will play into folks wanting to see the movie in theaters too.

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avatarUh, no...

Submitted by jwalch.hawk on Tue, 2008-07-29 08:37

The MPAA is, rather unsurprisingly, 95% wrong.  The only reason I'm giving them 5% credit is that they actually appear to have realized that the Hulk movie didn't do so hot...  Of course, they don't seem to realize that it's because the movie blew, not because of pirates.

And about Dark Knight.  I'm a member/moderator of a forums community with a lot of members that...  Well, we'll just say that they don't have any qualms about breaking laws with their torrenting.  And yet there is a lengthy thread about how awesome Dark Knight was...  In fact, many remark about thinking about going to see it again (in theaters, or perhaps in IMAX)...  This is pretty much more anecdotal proof of what we've been trying to say all along.  The MPAA needs to realize that people are still willing to pay (more than once, even) for GOOD movies in theatre.  The industry is not dead.  Stop excusing a recent history of poor season blockbusters on pirating.  People are still willing  to pay out the nose for the theatre experience.  You just gotta break the cookie cutter formula and put out something worth people's while...  Congrats to the Dark Knight on doing that.

I know my constant misuse of ellipses in this comment leaves me no ground to stand on, but the last guy has a point...  The "level of polish" so to speak on this is a little below most of what we're seeing on here.  It's not unreadable by any means, and definitely props on the content itself...  And it's all mostly stupid, little stuff like misconjugated verbs, some absent punctuation (see: commas), and in one case I think it's just a missing word that most of us automatically filled in the blank with anyway.  We know you guys are focusing on just getting the news out first and not trying to put out masterpieces every time...  I think it's just that there's a high level of expectation for professionalism for anything Maximum PC.  I think the naysayers of this year's Dream Machine should evidence that point.  

Overall, I still liked the article. :D

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avatarYou raise a good point.

Submitted by Haipyng on Tue, 2008-07-29 09:07

You raise a good point. Screeners are usually pretty poor quality. Those pirate versions may entice people to go see it in the theater if they liked the shaky and grainy screener.

Thanks, I’m glad someone liked it. :)

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avatarOf course the MPAA's claim

Submitted by nduanetesh on Tue, 2008-07-29 07:41

Of course the MPAA's claim is ridiculous.

And somebody needs to proofread this  article, because it's even worse than most of the stuff you guys have been putting up lately. 

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avatarThanks for the feedback.

Submitted by Haipyng on Tue, 2008-07-29 08:41

Thanks for the feedback. Many (not all) of the Bloggers posting here are amateurs, not professional journalists. I do this because I enjoy being a bit creative. This is not what puts bread and butter on my table (fortunately for me).

Admittedly I am pressed for time sometimes and don't get to read through a post more than once before I need to go on to something else. Editors are not proofing these stories because of the medium it’s in. These are blogs reflecting the personal opinion and views of the writer. Don't confuse blogging with professional journalism.

That said, if you have a problem with the way I wrote something, email me. If you don't agree with my point of view, post and make your thoughts known. You may be entirely right!

Nothing is lamer than being nitpicked on about grammer. I don't expect these to end up in the magazine. That is what the big boys are for.

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