The Avengers sets opening weekend record despite early "cam" leak

[Shawn Knight]

A copy of The Avengers recorded with a camcorder leaked onto the Internet a week before the film’s theatrical release which probably had Disney executives more than a bit uneasy regarding the movie’s prospects. The “cam” flick was downloaded more than half a million times (likely a record for a cam-shot film) but box office revenue was ultimately unscathed as The Avengers set multiple opening weekend records.

The Avengers brought in over $200 million this past weekend, good enough to become the most successful opening weekend film in movie history. Harry Potter previously held the record at around $170 million in revenue during the first weekend.

TorrentFreak has done the math and unsurprisingly enough, the “massive” piracy had little to do with resulting ticket sales. The publication notes that only 20 percent of those that downloaded the cam version of The Avengers through BitTorrent were from the US, or roughly 100,000 people. If those same 100,000 people had purchased a movie ticket instead of downloading the movie, box office revenue would only be 0.5 percent higher.

This is assuming that none of those 100,000 Americans went to the theater to see the movie after watching the cam version which, well, just isn’t true. If someone is a big enough fan of the film to download and watch the cam version, odds are they want to see it on the big screen as well and wouldn’t have any issue paying for a ticket. It’s like downloading a bootleg recording of a concert then saying that person will never attend a concert to watch that artist live.

TorrentFreak ultimately concludes that cam leaks aren’t ruining the movie industry as many have suggested and that spending millions of dollars on anti-cam technology is a waste of time and money.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/48501-the-avengers-sets-opening-weekend-record-despite-early-cam-leak.html

 

[Guest]

If those same 100,000 people had purchased a movie ticket instead of downloading the movie, box office revenue would only be 0.5 percent higher.

Tell that to the Hurt Locker.

 

[Guest]

Cam leaks may hurt movies which are worse than the hype, but they won't hurt a movie as good as The Avengers

 

[oldikes]

cam leaks hardly affect sales at all.

even if i wanted to, i wouldnt because it would ruin the experience of the movie for me

 

[amstech]

As a movie lover I would never allow myself to enjoy/take in such a great, well produced movie with such poor audio and video. Full quality or nothing at all for me.

Let the little pooners who can't wait watch it on some pre-recorded camera vid all they want.

 

[LNCPapa]

It was the best movie I've seen in quite a long time. I'll be going back to give them more of my money very soon.

 

[bandit8623]

best movie i have seen in awhile too!

 

[Darkshadoe]

Hopefully, This will spark a fire under DC's butt and make some quality movies leading up to a Justice League movie.

One can dream....

 

[Mister_K]

DC lacks characters, Batman is badass but rest are pretty lacking. Superman is overrated too.

This movie was great, though 3D wasn't amazing and infact it was pretty **** if you ask me (had good seats and all). Still loved the movie, want to watch it again hah ^^

Well deserved money if you ask me (coming from someone who often downloads movies). Hopefully the box art for DVD is going to be nice since i only put good boxes from games and dvds into my shelf ^^

 

[Guest]

QUOTE:

cam leaks hardly affect sales at all.
even if I wanted to, I wouldnt because it would ruin the experience of the movie for me


I have used filesharing for decades going back to BBS's I have downloaded stuff, even I am not that bias to say that cam leaks do not effect sales, the fact is it is like a game released on torrent or web based servers or newsgroups being released before the game is released to consumers it effects sales significantly.

The latter part of the statement keeps some ppl from viewing the films due to the poor quality and sound etc of cam leaks, but if you view the hits / downloads these leaks gain it shows beyond doubt there is a major impact on revenue from box office sales (which is where a film makes or breaks financially in majority of situations.)

I am not against file sharing as stated in my opening but cam leak downloaders and viewers are parasites imho and are only contributing to bills like SOPA etc being presented or worse, the major groups lobbying are media insitutions, game companies and OS companies are not as effected and use the p2p distibution as a marketing tool basically as a game is in a different genre with MP or SP modes aswell as patch support or virus's in cracks or keygens movies dont suffer this and thus are more vunerable.

I could go on and on there is much more to the overall picture but please do not say cam leaks do not hinder sales / revenue.

Much like a game my view always has been and will be "If you like the prodcut, support the developers and purchase it."

If not then don't complain about the lack of diversity with films these days and internet privacy bills like SOPA being presented.

 

[Camikazi]

I tend to download most movies since I can't justify paying to view them in theaters (if I like them I will buy the DVD though), but this movie was not one of them, I have gone to the theaters twice already to see it. A well made movie will make money, it's the bad movies that had huge amounts of money dumped into them that have people complaining about piracy taking them money.

 

[Guest]

Those who downed the cam probably saw just how good the flick was and went to theaters to watch it in all it's glory....I thought that was common knowledge?

 

[Guest]

I always download the cam version of the movie on torrent sites. If I thought it was good at all I will go see it at the theater. If the movie sucked they are not getting a penny from me. Same with games, rent it and if I like it I will buy it. Don't like wasting money on crap I don't like. The Avengers was not as amazing as I was expecting but im still going to see it in 3d this weekend. Yeah I used to go spend money at theaters and then I would feel I wasted money when it wasn't that great, plus the gas to go see it.

 

[Darkshadoe]

DC lacks characters, Batman is badass but rest are pretty lacking. Superman is overrated too.

^^

No, the problem is they don't know what to do with the characters they have. Instead of hiring directors and letting them use "their" vision of what the character should be, they need to stick more with the comics. Studios also need to keep their noses out of production, such as in the case of the Spiderman and X-men franchises. Nearly any comic character can be a hit if done correctly. Ironman is a prime example. He's been a B-list hero since his creation.

 

[treetops]

ug i dont know how people can stand to watch cams, even if I had a blu ray copy of this movie for free id still go see it in the theater, im a sucker for super hero movies, btw I hate when they report record breaking money made at movies since the cost of a movie when ET came out was likely 20 times less should be based off tickets sold

 

[psycros]

ug i dont know how people can stand to watch cams, even if I had a blu ray copy of this movie for free id still go see it in the theater, im a sucker for super hero movies, btw I hate when they report record breaking money made at movies since the cost of a movie when ET came out was likely 20 times less should be based off tickets sold

Agree on all counts.

 

[psycros]

DC lacks characters, Batman is badass but rest are pretty lacking. Superman is overrated too.

^^

No, the problem is they don't know what to do with the characters they have. Instead of hiring directors and letting them use "their" vision of what the character should be, they need to stick more with the comics. Studios also need to keep their noses out of production, such as in the case of the Spiderman and X-men franchises. Nearly any comic character can be a hit if done correctly. Ironman is a prime example. He's been a B-list hero since his creation.

WTF?? Studios need to "keep their nose" out of the production? The studios are the ones who <i>produce</i> movies. Maybe you mean they should stay out of the writing, which I agree with 1000%. But Iron Man, a b-lister? I stopped following Marvel closely in the early 90's, but up till then Iron man had his own title consistently at least as often as Thor, The Hulk or Captain America, and he's the only Avenger I know of who had a spinoff at that point (War Machine).

 

[Guest]

Lesson learned: people will go pay for an overpriced movie ticket and overpriced movie food if the movie is actually good. Now stop making crappy movies that aren't worth paying for, and piracy won't be such an issue. You cheap greedy bastards.

 

[neonxy]

It released in India on 27th April, I saw the first show. The movie still draws a packed house in weekend, 8 shows per day in all multiplexes. I intent to buy the Bluray when ever it comes to market.

 

[NTAPRO]

Lmao I'd rather see it in theaters than watch the cam rip LOL

 

[LinkedKube]

No, the problem is they don't know what to do with the characters they have. Instead of hiring directors and letting them use "their" vision of what the character should be, they need to stick more with the comics. Studios also need to keep their noses out of production, such as in the case of the Spiderman and X-men franchises. Nearly any comic character can be a hit if done correctly. Ironman is a prime example. He's been a B-list hero since his creation.

You do realize that most things in comics just don't work on film. The beauty of a comic is that every person can perceive their own opinion about what else happened passed just a small strip of graphic art. The movies don't allow that as much.

 

[slh28]

I can never understand why people watch cam rips - if it's a crap film then it's going to be even worse in cam quality and if it's a good film then watching a camrip just ruins the experience. Cinema tickets aren't actually that expensive (if you go on Orange Wednesdays and sneak in your own coke and snacks like I do )

 

[Wagan8r]

I've already seen it twice, and I plan on buying it on Blu-ray.

If you make a good movie, you take away all incentive to pirate.

 

[oldikes]

QUOTE:

cam leaks hardly affect sales at all.
even if I wanted to, I wouldnt because it would ruin the experience of the movie for me


I have used filesharing for decades going back to BBS's I have downloaded stuff, even I am not that bias to say that cam leaks do not effect sales, the fact is it is like a game released on torrent or web based servers or newsgroups being released before the game is released to consumers it effects sales significantly.

The latter part of the statement keeps some ppl from viewing the films due to the poor quality and sound etc of cam leaks, but if you view the hits / downloads these leaks gain it shows beyond doubt there is a major impact on revenue from box office sales (which is where a film makes or breaks financially in majority of situations.)

I am not against file sharing as stated in my opening but cam leak downloaders and viewers are parasites imho and are only contributing to bills like SOPA etc being presented or worse, the major groups lobbying are media insitutions, game companies and OS companies are not as effected and use the p2p distibution as a marketing tool basically as a game is in a different genre with MP or SP modes aswell as patch support or virus's in cracks or keygens movies dont suffer this and thus are more vunerable.

I could go on and on there is much more to the overall picture but please do not say cam leaks do not hinder sales / revenue.

Much like a game my view always has been and will be "If you like the prodcut, support the developers and purchase it."

If not then don't complain about the lack of diversity with films these days and internet privacy bills like SOPA being presented.

The people that WATCH cam views and torrents won't even go to the theatre and watch it regardless of whether or not it is leaked. Meaning, if it hadnt leaked, those people would still not go see it in theatres.

 

[gingerbill]

As a movie lover I would never allow myself to enjoy/take in such a great, well produced movie with such poor audio and video. Full quality or nothing at all for me.

Let the little pooners who can't wait watch it on some pre-recorded camera vid all they want.

completely agree . Cam movies to me are a waste of time , I think for most people who download them it's just so they can brag to there friends they have the latest film on DVD , I tend to wonder how anyone can watch a good film with suich terrible picture and sound quality. People who watch cam's arent film fans , no film fan would watch such crap.