Are Video Stores Doomed Now You Can Get Movies Online? August 22, 2010
When a London company announced several years ago that it was offering the first legal service to Watch Louis Movie Free, video store owners around the world began worrying about their future.
Downloading services today are marketing to the very kind of person who used to drive to Blockbuster or Movie Gallery twice a week. After all, DVD and VHS renting is a massive market. Here’s a prediction: major film studio will eventually have their own online downloading services. Dumping movies into your home computers is going to be massive.
Legal movie downloading companies say they are aiming for the very customer who frequents the corner video store. Indeed, VHS and DVD rental is a massive market worldwide. Movie marketers today schedule not only the first-run release of each new movie these days, but also when it will be released in second-run theaters, then how and when it will hit foreign cinemas, then when the film will become available on DVD and when it will go to HBO, Starz, Showtime and other cable outlets. Now stir in one more possibility — home download release. What once was illegal has become a viable marketplace.
Hollywood lost about $2.3 billion in revenue to internet pirates a few years ago. The total annual income of the big studios that year was just under $45 billion. So, it should be no surprise that Hollywood is battling internet movie piracy with gusto.
Does online piracy endanger Hollywood? Of course money is being lost. But Hollywood has learned to study the pirates. Their successes actually signal untapped marketing opportunities. Not so very long ago, Hollywood resisted the development of VHS and DVD marketing. The studios feared that home movies would negatively impact box-office receipts. However, the home viewing market has expanded markets for moviemakers. Today, many films never make it to a theater. They go directly to DVD. Have you ever heard of YouTube? With its new popularity, suddenly anybody can be a filmmaker — sharing their latest video creation or propaganda attempt or religious inspiration or hilarious home video with millions of people worldwide in a matter of hours.
Such pirates fill a gap overseas where legitimate markets are heavily restricted. So the pirates may actually be pointing the way to new markets that the internet can open. Once upon a time, the big movie studios opposed the release of their movies on TV. They also fought the development of cable movie channels such as HBO. Then they resisted VHS and DVD marketing. Hollywood feared that TV, cable and home video would destroy movie theaters.
Pirate successes are worth careful study. They do point to untapped opportunity. Not so many years ago, Hollywood actually fought the idea of marketing videotaped movies. The big studios feared that people would stay at home rather than go to their local cinema. They were wrong, however. Home viewing has expanded Hollywood’s reach. Today many new releases are never screened at a theater, but instead go directly to home video.
So, expect the pirates to exploit the internet. But watch out for Hollywood to figure out clever strategies as well — as the ability to Download Louis Movie Online for Free becomes a part of everyday life.
Movies are one of the best forms of entertainment we have, and as long as Hollywood keeps making new ones, we will keep looking for full movies online.
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