Film Piracy

Serious Crime or Social

Convenience?

What is Film Piracy?• Official Definition: Film Piracy is the illegal copying and

distribution of movies in print, videos, DVD’s or electronic files.

The top 10 most pirated films of all time:

The top 10 most pirated films of all time:

10. Pirates of the Caribbean (14 million)

9. The Incredible Hulk (14 Million)

8. The Departed (14 million)

7. Kick-ass (15 million)

6. Star Trek (16 million)

5. The Hangover (17 Million)

4. Inception (18 million)

3. Transformers (19 million)

2. The Dark Knight (19 million)

1. Avatar (21 million)

Arguments For Film Piracy

• When trying to pay for content you want becomes much more difficult than

pirating it, piracy becomes a much more appealing option. For example,

you may not be able to buy a film due to it not being available or licensed

in the region you live in; therefore piracy would be the more viable option.

Argument 1: Convenience.

Argument 2: Publicity• Sometimes piracy can help spread the popularity of a film, for

example if a group of people all torrented a film before it was

available to legally download or buy and enjoyed the film they

could be more likely to buy it once it is available to purchase.

Word of mouth can be a huge source of publicity for film producers

so if the pirate copy of a film increases the popularity of the film it

can be profitable in the long term.

Argument 3: Money• Cheaper providers such as Netflix can be slow to

release new films and buying the Blu-ray/DVD for every

film can be too expensive for a lot of people.

• People have been recording programmes on VHS

recorders in the past so they could own a copy for free

and it was acceptable then so why do you have to buy

the film now?

• Why pay for something when you can get it for

free?

Arguments Against Film PiracyArgument 1: Damage to Film

• Piracy lowers the views and ratings of a film and

damages the chances of the industry making a sequel.

• Piracy could damage the future of cinema, if no ones

goes, it could cause them to shutdown.

• Piracy could also be the reason cinema prices are so

high, they would have to raise the price to make as

much money as before.

Argument 2: Money Loss

• Piracy causes small people in the industry, such as

runners, editors, cameramen and behind the scenes

workers, to lose out on much needed money.

• Small independent film company's may not be able to

recover from the money which could cause them to

stop making films.

Argument 3: The Law

• Piracy is against the law and could end in serious legal

actions ,such as fines or even jail time.

Figures & Theories“68% of Europeans download or stream movies for free.”

• Many people admit to downloading or streaming movies purely because

cinema prices, DVD's and VOD's are expensive. Some people say that

some films aren't worth paying for the cinema experience.

• 68% is a vast majority of people and this could consequently damage

the industry.

Figures & Theories

"Recent research by Ipsos suggests that almost 30% of

the UK population is active in some form of piracy,

either through streaming content online or buying

counterfeit DVDs. Such theft costs the UK audio-visual

industries about £500m a year.”

• The amount of money lost to piracy could seriously damage

the industry; especially those working within it with smaller

budgets.

Figures & Theories

"There were 260 million pirated movies and TV shows

downloaded in 2008 but that figure has fallen to 120 million.”

• Some figures suggest that the amount of films pirated has fallen

over the past few years. This may be because some DVD's have

been brought out quicker after cinema release. Another reason

could be that platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime have

made movies available online for a reasonable price. This also

mean they are more easily accessible as you can access them on

the internet. 

Figures & Theories

• This graph suggests that, even though prices are rising, the

amount of box office sales have also risen in the past couple of

years. Furthermore, this backs up data which suggests the amount

of film piracy committed has fallen over the past few years.