This essay was written about the how illegal movies damaging to movie sector and whole economies of the countries.

Essay by irem242University, Bachelor'sB+, May 2008

download word file, 2 pages 0.0

Downloaded 869 times

Internet is one of the most important, functional and unfortunately the most dangerous invention in today’s world. Although it provides millions of information with people, it also damages the some sectors such as movie sector. This worrying situation is taking attention of people from different fields. In this week’s issue, The Economist touched on relation between internet and the film sector and search for a relevant answer whether internet is a trouble or a chance for Hollywood to survive. Although their attitude is reflected by the headline, I do not agree with them: Internet cannot be a boon for Hollywood even if it conquers its fears.

Let’s approach to the issue from The Economist’s aspect. Firstly, they claim that though films are cheaper in internet, Hollywood studios get $3 more on each film when sold electronically due to the lower costs. Moreover, it is said that via internet, studios have chance to get audiences’ tastes and make films according to popularity.

However the real situation is not as it seems. As The Economics reports, there are a growing number of pirate web sites that offers films to people at a very low price or free. These kinds of sites are hard to control even if laws forbid them. Although there are some legal sites which are supported by studios, their archives are not as rich as illegal ones and their profit levels are only %5 of their forecast. In other words, illegal movie sharing sites and programs captured the internet and there is no way for studios in electronic field. Last week I talked with Turkey wholesaler of Tiglon and Paramount Pictures films and he stated that after the online sharing programs and pirate web sites, their profit decreased by half. Moreover, he conveyed that there are some people who prefer to buy illegal DVD’s even if it has the same price with legal one. As it is seen plainly, internet cannot be an advantage for Hollywood since people are generally accustomed to buy illegal one.

Furthermore, if movies are reachable only via internet, other sectors which play roles on Hollywood (such as transportation, plastic factories and their employers) will be out of this economic circle. In my opinion this situation may leads inequality of income while the production costs of Hollywood is decreasing. Moreover, DVD’s are good consumer catchers for retailers.

Citation(2008). Hollywood and the internet. The Economist, 21 february 2008, Retrieved 2.22.2008, from http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10723360