Just read over at doom9.org how Warner Brothers are using their brain and attempting to look into why movies are pirated instead of wasting lots and lots of money trying to combat said piracy.

Hollywood studio Warner Brothers, in an attempt to combat piracy in China, has finally decided to look at the cause rather than just try and fight the effects: pirate DVDs "retail" for $1-$2 in China. Warner plans to offer barebone DVDs with no features for a mere $2.65, and $3.15 more for a better equipped version (specials, etc.). And here's the best thing: you can get those DVDs immediately after the movie has hit the theaters in the US.

Personally I think this is a smart move for both consumers and movie studios. Admittedly it's only going to be in China and people will be importing like crazy, but hopefully it's a start of better ideas and things to come.

Finally!

yer I think they will have problems with people exporting them from China, they could make them Chinese language only so people dun want them in English speaking countries I suppose.

its like southbank cinemas, and balmoral and hawthorne. they make f***ing packets because they drop their prices so more people come.

if they drop the prices of dvd's, every man and his dog is going be buying dvd's.

Sounds good. Now lets hope they release good movies 'cause I don't want to waste my hard earn $2 damnit.

its like southbank cinemas, and balmoral and hawthorne. they make f***ing packets because they drop their prices so more people come.

if they drop the prices of dvd's, every man and his dog is going be buying dvd's.

P.S. I think the 2 cinimas are owned by the same group of people.

That's a realy ballsy move. Anyone that makes a profit off piracy is a f***up, hopefully this has the desired effect of undercutting those jerks with a decent legitimate alternative.

It's about time they made dvd's come out earlier and cheaper. I rember reading something awhile ago that movie studios wanted to make people buying dvd's similar to picking up a magazine as you go through the checkout.

Problem is though, it takes a long time to produce the content for DVD's... sure the movie is prtty much there immediately, but all the extra featres they put on disks sold in AU and AU etc would take time, so mabe that restricts the release time?

I just had another thought, in China most of the DVD's and VCD's you buy are released there BEFORE they hit the cinema's... when I was there that was the case anyway, on another note you couldn't even find legit DVD's if you wanted to :/

I, personally, would rather pay less for a DVD than paying for all sorts of special features - I very, very rarely watch them and I don't think they justify forking out an extra $10.

urr

Southbank, Balmoral and Hawthorne are all owned by the same company.

I am more than happy to pay $20 for a DVD with GOOD special features. Some DVD's (most of the time the 2 disc sets) just have absolutely s*** features that might be good for 10 year old fans. Multiple commentaries, alternate endings, outtakes and deleted scenes (with commentaries), interviews with cast and crew are the sorts of things that should be considered "features". BS like "Original Theatrical Trailer" and "Classic Quotes" (from American Pie 2) are pretty gimmicky.

it is ridiculous that you can pay $7.90 to see a movie at southbank yet at BCC Chermslum it will cost you $14 to see the same movie.

I can only assume that because Southbank prolly owns the premises its cheaper. Whereas most Shopping Centre Cinemas have to pay inflated rents to Westfield or Centro.

So in other words the more expensive movie tickets are just paying the rent towards the owners of the shopping centres.

I think at at BCC you are simply paying for a brand name

I definately wouldn't be seeing movies at Indro if I wasn't a UQ student. But people do though to sold out cinemas. So why not charge heaps? If people are dumb enough to pay it, as if you wouldn't.

Still though, they make more profit off the candy bar. $5 for a frozen coke lol! YOU CAN GET IT FROM MACCAS FOR HALF THAT! Oh and the popcorn is so cheap. People think that you have to buy lollies at the cinema, but you can just go to Woolies and get what you want there and take it in.

But wasn't it BCC who were bringing in some new rule that you can't bring food in from anywhere else but their candy bars?

And when I was in China I remember I-Robot was just about to come out, a good month or more after it came out in Australia I think.
The quality of the pirated movies there was really good too. You could get them in boxed sets with those little holographic stickers, barcodes etc.
If they can produce something like that for so little and still make a profit why can't movie companies do the same?

If I have it right, it's not only the fact that just about everything is pirated in China, but more the delays of releases in the country. Films can and do get held up for up to six months or more after US release...supposedly for classification.

Consequently people are more inclined to grab a pirate DVD or VCD/HVD disc because they wanna see the movie *NOW*...not months later.

This is why Lucasfilm is campaigning heavily with the Chinese equivalent of the OFLC - they want China to be part of the worldwide simultaneous release.

Finally a smart move. If you're a nigel no-mates lamer like me you probably don't like going to the movies alone. But you still want to see the movie so you know what people are talking about instead of waiting 12 months for the DVD. At the moment the only alternative is illegal. If they bring out a simultaneous DVD release (or at least very soon afterwards) that'd cut down a little of the piracy. Especially if it's priced more attractively.

Personally I like the idea of a bare bones, movie only DVD release immediately. Then in 6-12 months time the studio can release a feature packed version. Charge more for the special feature one and make money twice from the same movie.

The only drawback I could see is DVD sales/rentals cutting into box office profits. If you could get the movie on DVD at the same time as the cinema release would you go to the cinema, with it's high prices, noisy wankers on cellphones, kids throwing popcorn, expensive snack/drink prices and uncomfortable seats or would you sit in your own lounge drinking beer watching the flick in your jocks?

Good news, I guess the next step will be an iTunes like movie service to help stop internet piracy. I'd pay $3 for a divx if it was legit but something tells me if they ever did anything like that it would end up more like mp3s and only be marginally cheaper than then buying the DVD.

I think at at BCC you are simply paying for a brand name

Well the cheaper alternative in Indro is Eldorado and their cinemas are small and their seats uncomfortable so I fork out the extra cash for BCC with out any quams.

i've watched hundreds of the "dvds" from china and usually they're s***.

there is almost always something wrong with the picture, and it's the dvd's fault.

so if a company were to release a good quality version of it at the same time as the pirates, they'd probably make a bundle, even if it was twice the price (most of the pirate dvd's there seem to cost between 80c and 3$ AU)

Incentive - have DVD's ever shipped with freebies that pirates can't compete with? ie, a free movie ticket to the local cinema or something of the sort? Probably been done, but sounds like a decent idea - A good price for the DVD, plus $12 or so worth of incentive the pirates cant match.

$5 for a frozen coke lol!

In California, enter a random Mexican food joint and pay 99c ($1.33 AU) and you'll get a serving of coke that is bigger than even the megajumbo cups that you pay $5+ for here. Plus all of the food itself is in bigger serve sizes for cheaper.

I don't understand why food is so expensive in Australia ...

^^ no mexicans from across the border to work in kitchens for $0.50/hr

But wasn't it BCC who were bringing in some new rule that you can't bring food in from anywhere else but their candy bars?

they planned to, but ended up scrapping it (partially cuz none of the staff were going to enforce it anyway)