US made to wait for Quantum of Solace The next outing for James Bond will not hit US cinema screens until 14 November - a week later than planned and well after the UK premiere in London on 29 October, the BBC reports. Sony's decision to shift the stateside release of Quantum of Solace is apparently based on Warner Bros' announcement last week that Harry Potter …
Hmm.... aren't they just driving the yanks to piracy? Sooner or later, they'll realise they should be releasing a movie at the same time across the world, including the DVD and downloads (non-DRMed of course).
Reminds me of the movie exec who was complaining about people using txt messages to tell their mates not to bother go see a movie because it's rubbish. In the past, people would apparently just have to find out it's crap themselves, netting the movie makers a tidy sum. Of course, the simple solution to that problem (other than banning txt messaging) is to just make good movies....
So it's really a smart move.
Just not from the perspective of the movie makers (timing was one of the issues that has been alleged to have contributed to the massive success of the new Bat movie).
But hey, I guess someone in that decision chain really wanted to keep his cousin in business (just musing, of course)..
"Bond has a really good history of not only playing through Thanksgiving but going deep into the Christmas holidays."
Not being funny, but until now, hasn't th reelase date for every bond so far been the end of nov/early dec? This is the first time i've heard it so early, i alwasy thought they did it so they miss the current year top movie slot as well as the next year movie slot but that's just me, in which case it would historically run into the holidays because that's when they release it. But maybe it's just me and my poor memory.
Paris, cause I'm sure she has poor memory too...
If they are "fans" they'll go and see it regardless of when it comes out. If they are thieving little gits who don't give a monkeys about the movie industry or actually watching a movie with decent sound and picture then yeah they'll download it and watch a shaky cam cinema rip of it on a 14 inch monitor.
Each to their own I guess.
Oh i dunno - our friends across the pond are so unused to having to download movies in order to watch them without having to wait months for a cinema release that they may not realise they're online
conversely, does anyone in the uk remember how to covertly capture a movie on video inside a cinema since it's been so long since there's been the need to?
and anyway, this is Bond, and it's coming out at Thanksgiving - i don't think the p2p viewers are going to impact the box office takings too much. for a non-franchise film it might do, but not something like Bond.
(that said, i hope it does make a massive impact on the box office sales so that the studios might wake-up and realise that in this day and age it only makes sense to do a worldwide simultaneous release - THAT's something else that contributed to the Dark Knight's success)
I'm not convinced that 2 weeks make any difference at all. If it was 6 months then yeah some people would get pirate copies that would otherwise have gone to the cinema but I think the people who would have gone to the cinema will wait 2 weeks and still go to the cinema, the usual suspects will get pirate copies and everyone else will wait for the DVD / next Christmas telly.
"Jason Bourne could beat him using only a humble ball point pen"
Nonsense, Bond would arrange to meet Bourne for a showdown somewhere.
Bourne would turn up at the pre-agreed time... to find no-one... little realising that good ol' James was round Bourne's house nobbing his missus. Ah, what a cad.
Jason Bourne vs Jack Bauer though... that's a question
"(that said, i hope it does make a massive impact on the box office sales so that the studios might wake-up and realise that in this day and age it only makes sense to do a worldwide simultaneous release - THAT's something else that contributed to the Dark Knight's success)"
Worldwide simultaneous releases have been here since, well, Matrix Revolutions. Thing is, it seems to only be done for movies the execs think are "good" enough to get this kind of treatment. Some were good: Star Wars Ep 3 was one of those given this treatment.
GO, 'coz the movie execs should GO and release worldwide all movies now!!!
"If they are "fans" they'll go and see it regardless of when it comes out. If they are thieving little gits who don't give a monkeys about the movie industry or actually watching a movie with decent sound and picture then yeah they'll download it and watch a shaky cam cinema rip of it on a 14 inch monitor."
Yeah? 14" monitor?
Let's see, shall we? Torrent 50 HD movies at a cost of £30 for a 300GB harddisk, and £20 for a month's net access. £50 total. Let's compare this to the cost of 50 BluRay movies - £1000. About a £950 difference, give or take. Watching pirate movies on a 14" monitor? Nah, mate. Try a 47" 1080p LCD set...
I beg to differ. Craig is the first Bond who I've thought "I wouldn't mess with him, he looks like a handy fucker". Seriously, could you ever imagine Moore, Dalton or Connery for that matter kicking your ass?
To my mind, a spy is gonna be as hard as woodpeckers lips... especially seeing as the rebooted Bond played by Craig is meant to be ex-SBS.
Okay, so he's got lighter hair. True Bond fans are up in arms! The same fans fail to point out that Flemming's Bond also had a six inch scar running down his cheek. Fuckwits.
I also imagine such a character having to rely on his wits more, being definitely edgier than previous incarnations. Being a smarmy twat ain't gonna win you many secrets for Her Majesty's Government... just more likely to get you a good shoeing by the bad guys.
Craig = No.1 Bond in my book
"Let's see, shall we? Torrent 50 HD movies at a cost of £30 for a 300GB harddisk, and £20 for a month's net access. £50 total. Let's compare this to the cost of 50 BluRay movies - £1000. About a £950 difference, give or take. Watching pirate movies on a 14" monitor? Nah, mate. Try a 47" 1080p LCD set..."
And the cost to the film industry is?
Don't adopt a 'better than you' stance you thieving little s****
No wonder you can afford a 47" high def TV.
... or did you steal that too?
"And the cost to the film industry is?
Don't adopt a 'better than you' stance you thieving little s****
No wonder you can afford a 47" high def TV.
... or did you steal that too?"
Cost to the film industry? Ooh, I don't know. Zero?
I mean, if we do the maths here, we'll see that me pirating their movies bears no effect on their income. Sure, you could pull figures about "lost revenue" out of your arse, but then, this is a complaint you could level against anyone not buying movies. Like my gran. God, how dare she not buy the number of movies the industry wanted her to buy?! How dare she just sit and knit sweaters all day, and not spend her pension on shamefully overpriced movies?! Think of all that lost revenue!
Your hypocrisy is hilarious PIB "Don't adopt a 'better than you' stance you thieving little s****"
RYOKAN AND THE THIEF
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing to steal.
Ryokan returned and caught him. "You have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift."
The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.
Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, "I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon."
Muju
"And the cost to the film industry is?"
That they should learn lessons from the music industry - stop trying to control distribution as much as they do - it's no longer the 80's, you don't have the same control!! Give people the option of buying HD on the day or release in cinema, and give cinema's incentives to improve their equipment so you get a decent screening there.
In the end, many film-watching people have a far superior setup in their own home than the cinema - why is that you may ask. Well - it's because the film industry has been charging the cinema's lots of money for second/third hand reels in the UK at least - according to the manager of the cinema I worked in the reels cost more than they get from screening the films usually - and they made the money on the food, so the UK has cinema chains that are either unwilling or unable to show a digital copy of a film in the cinema because they are already skint, and so are still using existing shitty projectors that I was lacing up over 10 years ago. In the years of being a frequent cinema goer I've seen one digital screening at my Cineworld, it was for Curse of the Golden Flower, it was a big shock at how much better it was, since then I've been waiting for another digital screening in the same cinema.... they never do it - not sure why, maybe the digital format costs more.
Anyway, in the end it boils down to this. I can go to the cinema weeks after critics and US reviews have spoilt the film by giving their opinion of it, then enjoy their "knock of nigel" insulting propaganda when it finally arrives and I pay £13 for myself and the wife to see it, then get 25 minutes of adverts for mazda, renault, orange and muller lights, eventually it gets to the film, and you can't help noticing it's like watching a vhs from 1998 - with bits of dust and shit popping up everywhere. It's 10x more annoying when you used to work in projection for a major chain, and have been trained to notice the bad bits - but even my wife has started commenting on the bad screenings. We live near Manchester, been to 3 of the major players in the UK - and all 3 have had something wrong at some point the last few times we've been.
In the end, if I can watch a higher resolution film with no insulting campaigns, adverts and crowd noises, on a decent HD setup with 5.1 (or 7.1) surround - then why shouldn't I? According to them it's the experience that counts... so give me the option of buying it from xbox live or something on the day of release - even if they charge £10 for it - it wouldn't matter, because it would still be better quality and cheaper than the cinema.
Oh - and for the record - mines a 42' 1080p Samsung setup, not a 14' monitor. :)
FLAME ON!
Open a web browser, usually found in your start menu or on your desktop. The start menu is on the bottom left of your screen. Click with your left mouse button on the Internet Explorer icon (picture) and the web browser will open. If you have a teenage child there might be an Icon displaying Firefox. Click that one if you are unsure which one to choose.
A white bar should appear at the top of the Web browser window. Click there once with your left mouse button. The text inside will turn blue. Then type: "www.google.com" *without the quotation marks and press 'Enter'. (large key on the right hand side of your keyboard. On some older keyboards it will say "Return". Both will do fine.
Now the search engine will display a text box. In it type:
"Who is Jack Bauer?" and press the "Enter" or "Return" key on your keyboard.
If at any point you see "www. google.comenterreturn" or "Who is Jack Bauer?enterreturn" you will have to ask your patiently waiting teenage son or daughter for help. Have fun browsing!
Ah, this moaning about cinema reminds me of watching Transformers and Iron Man at the flickies.
Transformers was out of focus; not to be mistaken with the highly confusing action scenes.
Iron Man... that was the worst ever. Great film, right up until they balls up the reel change.
REEL CHANGE! In this day and age! I honestly thought it was a dramatic device - Cut to black and silence as the pilot's about to hit the ground. But when it went on for a few minutes you start to realise something's not right.
Any hint of a refund? No chance.
(Note, I'm a USian...)
1) 24.. man what a bad show. I'm just worried that people will join the FBI or something to "be" Jack Bauer. He'd wrack up so many lawsuits.
2) To the Pirate Bay many will go. Most people I know just don't go to the theater any more -- those that do, are really unlikely to wait weeks to do it when the same movie's on the Bay. I go to the theater from time to time, but I don't know if I could wait weeks either.
In 'the good ole days' all you could expect at home was a poor quality vhs copy on a 24inch max tv. compared to that the cinema was an unbeatable experience.
since the release of dvd, and the improvement is setups people have al lot, including myself, have started to realise just how poor quality some films are in the cinema.
the last one i went to see was indiana jones. it was indistinct, i believe slightly out of focus, wobbly and covered in dust, hairs scratches, and those annoying reel change marks.
I left wishing i'd got a dvd copy to watch at home, nevermind an HD copy. the truth is that the quality of the equipment in most cinemas just doesn't cut it anymore as the population is used to better. There is still the cinema going experience, which is enjoyable, it's just, in most cases, let down by the quality of the film shown.
why are films still released on dvd/HD several months after their cinema showing? How many people are still going to the cinema to see Ironman? but it will be late october before that's released. It could have been released 2-4 weeks after the cinema premier and people who saw it would still have gone to see it. If it was released on the same day, then less people would have gone to see it at the cinema, but i can guarantee less people will have downloaded pirate copies too.
Some people get pirate copies because there are no alternative ways to see a film!! You might not believe it, but there are places that don't have a cinema within a reasonable distance, as a lot of the ones in towns closed down in favour of the big out of town multiplexes. a 30min drive is not a reasonable distance, in fact if you can't get there using public transport you've lost a large chunk of your audience.
As mentioned above. You have to get there and park, then pay £13 for the tickets. Snacks are £2.00 for half a litre of water and £2.50 for a pack of Skittles (we take our own in, feeling like drug mules).
You sit down in a dark room stinking of stale popcorn, split coke and nachos. The adverts (especially that truly dreadful annoying Radio1 advert that just seems to go on forever) are all old and the trailers always give away the best bits of the films coming up. How often do you see a trailer and think "hmm dont have to see that movie now!"
As all films seem to be 12A you have to sit surrounded by bored/scared 5 year olds that parents appear to have no control of, with frequent loo trips.
Message to parents - NO we dont wish to share in the joy that is YOUR children!
The films are sometimes blurry or crackly with the volume turned up so high its painful.
So to be honest its much nicer to wait a few months, get the DVD, a pizza and a bottle of wine and sit on the sofa on a Saturday night and watch it.
Interesting... Saw Iron Man and a few others in the theater. Pretty good experience. Got home and downloaded them since I didn't feel like paying AGAIN to see the movie. I'm not sure which copies you're finding. Video was pretty good, probably from the projection booth. Audio popped up in 5.1 surround. Also probably right off the projection equipment. Looks pretty damned good on the 50" with the odd banding here or there. No worse than watching it opening weekend and seeing the odd spot or scratch on the film.
When the DVD comes out, I'll pick that up for 15$ and save myself a pile since just one viewing in the theater will run me 16$ just to show up on a matinee for both of us. I can double that to 30$ if you want anything else to snack on. Hell, at that price even the BluRay disc is actually a bargain and I generally have much better bass at home than any of the local theaters as well.
So, since I already paid to see it and will pick up the disc when it comes out downloading it makes me a "thief"? Nice. If I'm going to be accused of it, maybe I should just skip that whole paying for it deal....
Or maybe the studios could take the hint and just release them direct to theater in digital and disc at the same time. Hell, if you're going to distribute digitally let the people download them too. That way you can get the full cost directly and skip that cut of money the theaters make.
Some people still go to the theaters as they like the nostalgia of it. I can't really say experience with a straight face as it's generally a much better experience sitting at home anyway with the equipment the movie industry wanted me to go out and buy. The movie in theaters is pretty much the commercial for the studio anyway. At this point most movies make most of their profits on DVD sales. That's pretty scary when you consider some movies at at 350$ million or more before the DVD even shows up.
Yes, if they do this they'll _definately_ see an uptake of people going to the cinema (rolleyes). I'm sure the cinema owners are _all_ for it.
I still go to the movies for the 'important' films - the ones that need to be seen 'big'. Our local cinemas are brand spankers, digital (incl 3D) - the lot. In fact my local has the honour of the biggest 35mm screen world (30.67m x 13m). Up on the comfy leather recliners getting served dinner and a beer during the film, it's not too shabby. Definately an 'experience'.
The rest of the time I'm patient enough to wait till it turns up at my local rental so I can watch it on my 50".
Why are people so caught up on seeing things 'first'? Slow down a bit and you might enjoy life a bit more (and no I'm not some old bugger).
We have a similar setup in the imax in manchester, one big screen - the rest are all tiny and the sound/picture quality suck. If you want to go see it in the gallary seats in the big screen (leather seats, popcorn/beer service etc) then it's over £20 per person at last check. Not everybody wants to pay £40 to see a film with their partner - I'm not that rich!!
In the end it's not really about seeing it first, it's about quality of viewing being better at home and not having spoilers ruin the film for you. I would happily wait a few months for the region 1 dvd's and import them, infact, at one point I was doing just that. It's impossible now, if it's not ruined by the constant stream of trailers (v1,v2,v3,v4) then it's the reviews, the tv interviews with actors, the trailers on other dvd's out the week before (which end up being different too), then friends and family.
Ok, so it's the other way round to normal, usually americans get movies or tv shows first, and it's everyone else forced to wait...
We live in a globally interconnected world... As soon as the movie gets released in the UK people will watch it and post reviews and/or spoilers about it all over the Internet. So those in the US and other places have a choice...
Isolate themselves from any UK people on the internet...
Not isolate themselves, but not enjoy the movie because they've heard too many spoilers...
Not watch the movie at all because the spoilers said it was lousy.
Download a pirate copy so they can join in the discussions with their foreign friends online.
And in reply to the guy who talked about watching a poor quality cam rip on a 14" monitor....
First, cam rips only come out for *very* early movie releases, at which point your choice is cinema (smelly, uncomfortable seat, other people making noise etc) if your in a supported country, or nothing at all - and you may not get the opportunity of going to the cinema depending where you are.
Second, by the time a movie comes out on physical media it will be ripped in various quality levels, you can download a direct bluray rip at full quality which will look identical to the bought copy... But you have the choice, you can also download a low resolution heavily compressed copy if you only want to watch it on your ipod. Buy the legit bluray and you won't be able to copy it to your ipod easily.
Third, as someone else pointed out, the money you saved by downloading movies instead of buying them means you can now afford to buy better hardware to watch them on - since you can't copy hardware for free.
So above all pirates are better off, more choice, more flexibility... If the movie industry wants to reduce piracy they should stop screwing their customers over with artificially delayed releases, onerous drm schemes that inhibit legitimate things people want to do.
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