[Tig] t/c on pirated feature

[Bob Kertesz]

>?I dispute that cause and effect, which the studio also put forward when
>explaining the "Hulk" numbers.  Once the movie came out, nobody said
>"actually it was way better than that pirated cut!"  
>
>What this argument boils down to is, "if only no one had known the movie
>was bad ahead of time, we would have made a ton of money!"  The problem
>with "Hulk" was not piracy -- the same negative buzz would have been
>created by critics seeing advance screenings.

It always makes me laugh when there are no screenings for a feature before its
release.

The publicity people at the studios are living under the fantasy that this
will create more "buzz" about the picture, when in fact critics (and most
savvy filmgoers) understand that what this means is that the picture is crap,
and the studio is trying to recover some of the costs on the first weekend
before the turkey tanks, goes to DVD, and winds up in the "$5 or LESS!!" bin
at Fry's (although the reality is that unless a picture is an unbelievably
expensive dog, between non-U.S., PPV, Premium Channel, and DVD sales, it's
VERY difficult not to make some money, studio accounting practices
notwithstanding).

While the problem of piracy is definitely growing, blaming it for poor box
office is bullshit. 

If you want big numbers, try making pictures people want to see.

--Bob

Bob Kertesz
BlueScreen LLC
Hollywood, California
bob at bluescreen.com

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