Comments on: 'Dark Knight' on its way to becoming 2008's most pirated movie

The Dark Knight is on its way to having the dubious honor of being the most-pirated movie of 2008, which means we may soon get what we pay for.

[mudixon]

Matt speaks the truth, but as DVDs fade and Blu-ray takes over, the problem will only get worse unless the studios drastically reduce the price of Blu-ray offerings. $30 for a movie? That's enough to scare off many more folks into seeking the freebie, not just those who do it for convenience reasons.

[Get_Bent]

If you really want something but are too tight-fisted to pry open your wallet, it's okay to just steal it? I don't think so....

[Seanathome]

We're in a recession. Pirating will only get worse, not better. I'm proud to say that I've been a torrent seeder for almost a year, with most of those torrents being questionable in legality. But hey: I go to the movies 2-3 times a month. ;)

[ensignsj]

I totally agree that there is no justification for downloading pirated content, but I think the public has sent a pretty strong signal to the studios about Dark Knight by coughing up more than half a billion at the box office. With Iron man and others seeing great returns, I think the incentive for good movies is there regardless of piracy problems.

[The_Decider]

"What a perverse message to send to the movie studios: we love your product so much that we refuse to pay for it. How do we expect the industry to invest in more movies like The Dark Knight if we aren't willing to fund that investment?"

This might be the most ignorant statement you have ever made.

How many hundreds of millions of dollars in profit is this movie going to make on video? How many hundreds of millions of dollars did it make in the theater?

How many people pirated the movie but are going to buy the DVD when it comes out?

How many people pirated the movie, but would not buy it?

How many people downloaded it in say, October, when it was more or less out of the theaters? No money lost there.

How much money was actually lost? An insignificant amount.

To say that movie studios are going to invest in quality movies because The Dark Knight is heavily pirated is nonsense. Especially when you consider that when all is said and done this one movie will likely exceed $1 billion in profit. It is a pretty bad argument, even for CNET.

Is it immoral to download a movie not yet available of DVD, and out of the theaters? Especially if you are going to buy it when it is available? You are confusing the concepts of legality and morality. They are not equal, one is not a subset of the other.

If you are going to argue against piracy, then do so with legitimate arguments and intelligent comments. Not mindless MPAA talking points.

[Matt Asay]

@The_Decider: So is your point that because the studio made a great movie and will make a lot of money from it, it doesn't deserve to make more? No offense, but Is this perhaps the most ignorant comment you have ever made?

[The_Decider]

Matt, don't be stupid.

You claimed that the piracy of The Dark Knight is going to lead to movies that that being made, which is totally incorrect.

Show me that piracy has hurt the profit in any meaningful way. You can't, so stop shilling for the MPAA and write something intelligent to support anti-piracy.

[The_Decider]

Whoops typo

You claimed that the piracy of The Dark Knight is going to lead to fewer movies that that being made, which is totally incorrect.

[mynameiscoffey]

"@The_Decider: So is your point that because the studio made a great movie and will make a lot of money from it, it doesn't deserve to make more? No offense, but Is this perhaps the most ignorant comment you have ever made?"

Actually the movie in the box office made an exorbitant amount of money, lets assume for now that piracy has not somehow hurt this. However in regards to "What a perverse message to send to the movie studios: we love your product so much that we refuse to pay for it. " this is wholly inaccurate. There currently is NO way to actually pay for this movie. The correct message may be "we loved it so much we can't wait six months to see it again after we saw it in the theaters." It would be really interesting for a major film like The Dark Knight to try something: Release the movie in the theatres, then, when the movie rotates out of the box office, have the DVDs/BluRay readily available on the shelf, not six months after, but while interest is still so high (and at a reasonable price, 40 dollars is awfully high). I would imagine that the piracy patterns would be vastly different than what we have seen so far. People don't like to wait - that is why digital distribution is so popular (yes, piracy is a form of digital distribution - and currently the only actual distribution method available.

I do not support piracy nor do I partake in it myself, but what I think the movie studios are failing to realize from this is that they haven't 'lost' any money on a product until it is actually available for sale and that the distribution method that worked twenty years ago does not work anymore. Times change, companies change - I highly doubt for example that Alfresco would be so popular if you had the following choice: wait six months to see the changes to the CMS you are so excited about or steal a lesser quality version but have it available right now. I don't know why the movie industry (and to some extent the American auto industry) think they can just stay stagnant and expect the world to not evolve.

[The_Decider]

Thank you for understanding my very simple points that sailed completely over Matt's head.

[Seanathome]

Well, on your comment about "Digital Distribution", there's MANY more options: CinemaNow, MovieLink (currently owned by Blockbuster), Amazon, iTunes, and (sort of) Hulu. But your comment about the "waiting period" certainly translates to these legal distribution methods. If the studios actually released the movie to these distributors just as the movie was gone from the box office, then piracy would decrease dramatically! :)

[mynameiscoffey]

@The_Decider
It seems a simple concept to me too - you can't lose money on a product that doesn't exist and there is a very obvious demand being unfulfilled right now in a legitimate channel.

@Seanathome
Exactly! Its not the lack of distribution options, its the tremendous lag time and restrictive nature of the legal options once they finally are available.

[John Howell]

I think the entire point is that I want to watch it when ever I want to. If it in the theaters, I can find a screening at a time that suits and go, and I do go, but not as often as I have kids now 8)
Then there is the delay for a movie released in the US to make it out to NZ for some artificial timing or holiday. In the days when reels had to be shipped around, then this made sense, but now digital copies can be beamed directly to cinemas, so there is no excuse not to have a worldwide release on the same day.
Then it eventually makes it out on DVD, and again we have to wait for the local stores to stock it, and then I have to go and buy it, and it will come on a shiny silver platter that might have a horrible accident in the hands of my kids or a local burgler, and I can only watch it on my player in the lounge, or I could download a copy from a torrent site, in reasonable quality (or even a full DVD RIP but bandwidth is still capped pretty low here in NZ), and I can backup that copy, or squeeze it through isquint so I can watch it on my phone, or in my CD-less net book,

Now if torrent sits can do this for free, how come the studios cant do it and make some money off advertising, or subscription service. And I definitely think controlling the regions is just a dumb idea.

[miggizle85]

I for one own a pirated copy. I keep under my pillow to keep warm at night. I just want to see the movie a few times a week. Is that a problem? It won't stop me from going all out and buying the $80 special edition

[Don Key]

If I'm going to buy the movie when it comes out anyway, what harm is there to download it a few months early to watch it? If I buy a music CD when it comes out, why do I have to wait for their marketing crap first before I can enjoy the album? If I'm buying it anyway they are losing zero profit from me. If I pay for a service like HBO, why is it wrong to download the Sopranos because I don't have time to be at home when the episodes air? I've already paid for the content.

I download stuff that I buy because I don't want to wait for it. I paid for it, it should be at my convenience not theirs. There is nothing wrong with downloading anything at any time when you are paying for it.

[dadsgravy]

Oh no! They might only make $948 million off the dark knight instead of $1.2 billion. Shame on all of us who downloaded it. Shame on those of us who paid $75 to see it three times in the theater, plan on buying the blu-ray, and bought the toys for ourselves and our kids.

What a dirty jerk I am for wanting to see it once more before the blu-ray. And what a jerk I am for spending $10,000+ every year on vinyl, then downloading the digital copy. Shame on everyone I know who spends the same on movies and music every year.

And the point is, the people who actually "steal" media travel in small numbers. This is just fear mongering from the entertainment industry because they have lost power over the consumer. And what good is money without power?

Everyone is doing fine. I just bought a record that a band full of millionaires made. I just got done paying Directv $400 for their sunday ticket, so I can watch thousands of millionaires beat the hell out of each other on sunday. Everyones doing fine in the entertainment business. And always will.

Take your retard article and stuff it up New Lines A**.

[Seanathome]

Great comment! :)

[Bloody Rids]

I think this article kind of misses the point, and doesn't really address some of the issues related to piracy. Maybe that was the authors intent though.

[sanjayb]

I saw this movie 3 times in the theater. I plan to buy the DVD when it comes out. When the movie industry comes out with great movies like these then I don't mind doing things their way.

[pecato]

The new preaching, we are sending a "perverse message to the movie studios".
Did I care to be perverse, I am waiting for the new Cervantes to attack the "fantastic stories about the marvellous adventures of a chivalrous, heroic knight, often of super-human ability"

[Seaspray0]

What?!? They're not going to release it on VHS? Now I'll have to get a DVD player and replace all my VHS's with DVD's. That means I'll have paid more than once for it. Do you know how long it took me to collect all those VHS's? What a scam! It's highway robbery, I tell ya! What can we do as a public to get even?