Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2006 > April > 03 > Entry
$20 to download movies? Uh…..no!!!
So the studios announced this week that they will make movies available for download. A digital copy of a movie can be yours for only….
$20?
$20????? When I can usually buy a brand new DVD that has more features for less money?
Hmmm, letmethinkaboutittno!
Sounds like the movie honchos are drinking the same Kool-Aid the music industry did when it kept retail prices for new CDs at $18. And look what happened there.
Granted, I think some form of downloading will be the wave of the future. I foresee a day when we won’t even need physical media to watch movies. Want to watch Casablanca or Scary Movie 20: We Have One Good Joke This Time? Zap! There it is, beamed right into your home.
But man, this is a TERRIBLE way to start. If movie studios are that concerned about online piracy, they need to keep a better eye on their film labs.
What about you? Does movie downloading interest you at all? If not, what would make you interested?
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: On Video/DVD
Comments
By Derwood
April 4, 2006 1:15 AM | Link to this
The MPAA still doesnt get it. These new downloadable movies can not be burned to a DVD.. So.. If you pay $20 to download “Police Academy 39”, and then 6 months later your computer blows up in front of you, you’re out $20. Plus, they’re also considering making the downloadable movies limited by date or number of times watched. They don’t care about fair use.. That seems to be a thing of the past for us as consumers. Lets face it, when a movie is released on DVD, all the costs of creating the movie have been spent and should have been recouped during US and international release. The only new expense is in however much effort they put into directors comments, deleted scenes, etc. and pressing and distributing the DVDs. If people are downloading them, they have no foundry or shipping costs. The cost to download the movie should therefore be less. But, much like the music industry, they haven’t learned their lesson. In most cases, it costs just as much to download a full CD from iTunes as it does to walk into a store and buy the physical CD, which you can then convert to MP3 and put on your iPod. This is just another case of the industry being too greedy and trying to stick it to us as consumers.. DVDs will continue to be my preferred method of buying movies until the situation improves.By Mister G
April 3, 2006 4:55 PM | Link to this
Right now they’re just catering to the well-heeled. The price will have to come down to interest the rest of us. Way down. When I can pick up used DVDs for under $10, sometimes as low as only a few bucks, downloading for $20 doesn’t even register on my consciousness. And I agree with the poster who mentions making better movies. I suspect that if filmmakers relied less on test audiences and marketing demographics, they might end up making better movies.By SRCputt
April 3, 2006 4:06 PM | Link to this
I need better technology. This move is at least 3 years too soon.By Allie D.
April 3, 2006 4:03 PM | Link to this
Media downloading, for my own personal use, only interests me insofar as I can get what I need for cheap and listen to it on my computer or put it on my iPod. Watching movies or shows on my computer has never interested me much. And downloading a movie and burning it onto a disc to watch on my DVD player has always seemed like a lot of work. Add in the fact I would have to pay $20 for the privelege when I can get most DVDs for much less, then you can forget about it. I’m of the mind that piracy is not going to affect the movie industry nearly as much as them insisting on continuing to make bad movies. But that’s just my opinion. ;) The people I know who like to pirate movies and watch them on their computers are the types who never really went to the theaters much anyway. They sit in front of their computers all day and night playing Doom 3 and Everquest. lol Sure there there are those who burn and sell them, but this doesn’t appear to be a huge scale problem, at least yet. By the way- have you heard of the new Moviebeam system? Google it. It also appears that Netflix and Tivo are teaming up. Should be interesting to see what the next few years brings.