Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mistwell" data-source="post: 3891721" data-attributes="member: 2525">So it sounds like you are saying nobody forced the studios to make VHS and DVDs of their movies, and so it's their fault.  In other words, they could just stop issuing DVDs of their movies, and stop selling them to cable and TV as well I presume, and that would solve the problem.   Well, sure it would - and end the strike right now since any percentage of zero income is still zero.  But, you had to admit that is an incredibly unrealistic and silly solution.  As long as you and I both agree that nobody is going to cease making DVDs and putting movies on cable and TV and the internet, then we are stuck debating the reality that those things exist.  And as long as they exist, the market is different that it used to be, and theatrical releases are not going to be profitable on their own and should be lumped in with all the other venues to decide if a movie is worth making or not.Yeah but your answer was "if DVDs and Cable and releases of movies to Television and the net all went away, that's how you would make theatrical releases profitable".  It was AN answer, but it wasn't a REALISTIC answer.[quite]You want something more productive? How about cutting exorbitant salaries of those involved as a means of reducing above the line costs (producers, directors, actors, yes- and even some writers; including all the attendant "camp followers")?</blockquote>Also unrealistic, as none of the parties would agree to that.  I thought this was a debate about what is actually happening, not hypothetical situations that cannot ever be real.Actually theaters themselves have made huge strides towards that in recent years and they are just getting better this very year.  There is a thread about that topic on CircvsMaximvs.  Ticket prices do not seem to be cutting into profits.  Indeed, they seem to be doing the opposite.  As prices increase, the number of people who decline to see the movie does not decrease a proportionate amount.  Hence my movie theater is now $13.00 a ticket, but is a much better theater than others.  Again, it doesn't seem to have cut into profits at the theaters.  So much money comes in on the first weekend of a film, and so much seems to taper off to nothing after the fourth week, that I think you will see this trend continue.I really do not see a realistic way to make theatrical releases profitable in themselves without drastically damaging the other formats so much that it wouldn't be worth it for everyone, including the writers.  It all has to be considered together, and like I said even the writers admit that is the case.  They might try to fudge it with PR stuff to the public by misrepresenting their share of the DVDs and pretending that the studios don't carry forward a loss to set off against the gains from the DVD sales, but in the negotiating room and every time other than during the strike they all are fully willing to admit it's all gotta be considered together or else everyone is out of business.[/QUOTE]

Verification