On What Planet Is The 'News' That A Movie's Available On P2P Actually Considered News? (original) (raw)

from the not-this-one dept

We’ve been noting with some surprise today the stories that seem to be popping up all over the place saying that Michael Moore’s latest movie has made its way onto P2P networks. It’s hard to see how this really constitutes news anymore, though perhaps we’re wrong in assuming that pretty much any movie is available online these days. In any case, a story in Advertising Age seems to be where it all started, and it’s notable — if for no other reason than the ridiculous hyperbole contained within. The author seems genuinely surprised that he could find and download the movie easily, but the fun really starts when he says Moore and his distributor “have a [sic] every film maker’s worst marketing nightmare on their hands — how to persuade people to go to the theater to see a show that’s available free on the Internet.” Wow! Why would anybody go to the movies since it could be downloaded? It’s not as if being available online and widely downloaded has kept other films from hitting the top of the box office, and obviously nobody went to see the latest Star Wars movie after it was leaked online — it just managed to rake in $850 million by magic. It’s probably also worth pointing out to the Ad Age reporter that Moore himself doesn’t have a problem with people sharing his movies, since as far as he’s concerned, “the more people who get to see them, the better.”