Village Roadshow admits ‘mistake’ in holding back Lego Movie, as ISPs disagree on piracy
L:R iinet’s David Buckingham, film maker Peter Duncan, APRA’s Brett Cottle, Village’s Graham Burke, Telstra’s Jane Van Beelen, Malcolm Turnbull, Foxtel’s Richard Freudenstein
The boss of Village Roadshow Graham Burke last night conceded that the film production and distribution company’s decision to hold back the Australian release of The Lego Movie had been “one hell of a mistake” and pledged to move its release dates up to coincide with overseas releases in the US.
Burke made the declaration as part of a panel convened by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to debate issues around copyright in the wake of the release of the government’s Online Copyright Infringement Discussion Paper, which saw the content creators, internet service providers (ISPs) and consumer groups struggle to find common ground.
“On the twin issue of availability, we made one hell of a mistake with Lego (Movie),” Village Roadshow’s co-chairman Burke, told the forum. “It was an Australian film, we financed it together with Warner Brothers and it was made here in Kings Cross, in Australia, and because it was so important we held it for a holiday period. It was a disaster.
This is the same Village that bought a large newspaper ad about how great their new movie Felony is and how we should all support it and then only released it in a few of their cinemas in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. They didn’t even bother putting it on at their cinemas at Crown or in Doncaster and bad luck if you live in the west or outside of the city. Similar situation in Sydney.
Hollywood and the government only care about revenue. Never mind that lowering prices of content has been proven the most effective means of stopping piracy.
Hey Foxtel! Won’t be paying to watch commercials and endless station promos.
It’s easy to lay all the blame on stuffing up a release date but going to the movies is extremely expensive, especially for a family. Apart from the social pressure of your children not having seen recent movies you can buy several DVDs for the price of an adult ticket unless you feel the need to buy new releases. Amazingly the current laws even allow you to watch them multiple times.
Add the fact the ‘movie experience’ is horrifically overpriced together with general availability problems, whether they relate to release dates, what specific channels the media is available on and the fact that so much of the content being produced in modern times is just rehashed garbage that is worth literally nothing and you have a very poor situation for content producers and consumers.
I’m not saying this specifically about the Lego movie which was very well received, but with the quality of much of the content in modern times there needs to be some kind of buyer protection where if you aren’t satisfied with the level of entertainment you’ve received you can get some part (or all) of your money back.
This is true with other products and services, you just really have to ask what makes these content producers and providers so special?
Took the nephews to the Lego movie….it was crap. Maybe that’s why it bombed?
Having been involved in the industry for over a decade, this is a step in the right direction. Seriously why did they have to wait this long in admitting that part of the reason people pirate is that they cannot get the movies they want.
Making content available globally simultaneously and at reasonable prices will help reduce piracy.
People pirate for 2 main reasons; they are simply cheap and don’t want to pay for it or they CANNOT GET IT in Australia (or the price is way higher than it is in other countries which is an issue with software/music etc – aka the Australia tax)
Content providers – please start simultaneously releasing your content and making it available to the public at reasonable prices and you will then see a decrease in piracy.
The Lego Movie was released in the US in early Feb, yet they held out here until late April I think it was. Regardless, why hold it off until holidays when it was released in the stated just a week or so AFTER school went back in Aus? Why not release it here at the end of Jan before the US and still during school holidays?
Very little movie piracy comes out of Australia, so I doubt any Australian handy cam version would’ve spoiled the US release. Still, a few more of these stuff ups and these dinosaurs will learn…
L:R Old men legislating to keep the damned internet off their lawn.