

Leaked DVD Screener of The Social Network A BitTorrent Hit - Garbage
http://torrentfreak.com/leaked-dvd-screener-of-the-social-network-a-bittorrent-hit-101028/

======
RBr
It's not a big surprise to realize that mass-market movie theaters will soon
have the same fate as local movie rental shops and chains such as Blockbuster.

The only people who don't seem to understand that digital distribution will
soon be the only way to make money on media are large content marketing
companies.

It's an "all or nothing" battle where folks who understand that this is the
future of media distribution also know that a few rogue firms, films or
artists won't be able to solve the problem of piracy. If every firm, every
artist, everyone who is currently making any money from content understood
that new ways to monetize digital content existed, we could move beyond leaked
DVD Screeners and the current state of piracy.

People will pay for content... but today, they will pay on their own terms. It
doesn't mean giving it away for free, it means changing the current model.

~~~
nopal
I don't know, theaters still have a period of exclusivity, and it's possible
for studios to implement tighter controls for things like screeners, so it's
not quite the same as an example where a business has to compete against a
studio-sanctioned digital release.

I personally still enjoy going to the theater, and I don't mind paying for the
experience. I think theaters are going to have to focus more and more on the
experience in the future. If studios ever do start to do digital releases on
the same day as theatrical releases, then all the theaters will have is their
ability to provide a first-rate experience. It's like a lot of things, making
a customer happy can and will bring in business.

~~~
evo_9
This simply isn't true.

I just watched RED a few days ago (in my home) and it just opened 2 weeks ago,
if that.

Ditto on Monsters, which I saw before it opened around here.

And tonight I'll be watching Social Network, which is in the theaters
everywhere but it's just not convenient for me to drag my gf and her 6 and 9
year old to see a movie they won't want to sit through (well she will, but the
kids, not likely).

I'd be willing to pay for this privilege - aka watching in the comfort of my
own home - but they leave me no choice in the matter.

~~~
kleiba
> I'd be willing to pay for this privilege - aka watching in the comfort of my
> own home - but they leave me no choice in the matter.

I'm always stunned by this argumentation - because in fact there are other
choices: you could just not watch the particular movie at all or wait until
it's available for home entertainment. Both perfectly legal and (what I think
is the key point) in the latter case the people who worked to produce the
stuff you're so eager to consume get some kind of compensation.

But you go the third way and choose to watch a pirated copy - that's up to
you, but please don't tell anybody you're "forced" to do that.

~~~
mitjak
I don't think you understand his argument fully: he would like to be able to
do it the legal way, but it is simply not possible at the moment. In other
words, there is demand which is currently filled only by the illegal channels.
While it isn't the most noble way to go about it, it's the only option
possible in his case. Compare that to iTunes, for instance: music available at
greater convenience than through torrents and the like. Or to games: an easy
worry free download versus having to look for ways to obtain the game, wait
for it to download, and often mess about with copyright protection.

~~~
executive
direct to dvd is back

------
recurser
In Japan, cinema releases are regularly 9-12 months behind DVD-quality
bittorrent releases. I recently saw a rental DVD in the 'new releases' section
which I'd rented 3 years earlier outside of Japan. Similarly, my wife loves
Desperate Housewives, but Japanese releases are 18+ months after the American
release.

I have two choices - I can download a movie right now in around 10 minutes
without getting off the couch, and watch it in widescreen/surround in the
comfort of my home, or I can wait a year or more to pay $22 to see it at the
cinema. By the time that year is up, if I've somehow managed to avoid reading
spoilers online, and waited months after the rest of the world has stopped
talking about the movie, there's a chance I might even enjoy the trip to the
cinema.

I would _love_ to be able to pay $10 to get a decent quality download at the
same time the rest of the world is watching a movie. Hell, I'd probably pay
$20 if it was something I really wanted to see - it'd still be cheaper than
the cinema. If iTunes Japan had a rental section (or if the local online
rental stores were up-to-date with the rest of the world) I'd probably be
spending hundreds of dollars a year on it.

I realize it's probably fiendishly complicated to take an English-language
movie, negotiate multiple foreign release dates, translate it, subtitle it,
market it in the local language etc, but it seems like it should be fairly
easy to allow a non-US English-speaker to buy a (DRMed if necessary)
downloadable copy of a movie online a reasonable time after it's been released
in the states. It takes the production companies a year, yet two days after a
new episode of Lost has aired in the states there'll be multiple fan-subbed
versions doing the rounds on Japanese p2p networks.

I have no idea how to fix the current system (and I'm sure smarter people than
me have tried and failed), but I can't help but feel these companies are
missing a huge opportunity internationally.

------
citricsquid
is this film worth _going to the cinema_ for?

~~~
cschep
I was definitely hesitant, but it got extremely good reviews.

<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-social-network/>

97% is incredibly high for RT.

~~~
ashconnor
I normally agree with RT ratings but this film inparticular is over ranked.

------
dangrover
I've been trying to find it on usenet since I saw it in theaters a month ago.

But then I saw that the pirate DVD lady in my neighborhood in Brooklyn had it
this morning. Went back, found it!

~~~
cmars232
1st rule

~~~
jiganti
What does this mean?

~~~
CamperBob
[http://www.google.com/search?&hl=en&source=hp&q=...](http://www.google.com/search?&hl=en&source=hp&q=First+Rule+of+Usenet)

~~~
dangrover
I was just posting because I found it funny that such a low-tech thing ended
up being an indicator of availability of information online. I'll keep quiet
about usenet now. :)

