218
"Mickey 17" releases digitally on March 25 β only 18 days after its theatrical debut
(www.whentostream.com)
this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
218 points (98.2% liked)
movies
3352 readers
397 users here now
Matrix room: https://matrix.to/#/#fediversefilms:matrix.org
Warning: If the community is empty, make sure you have "English" selected in your languages in your account settings.
A community focused on discussions on movies. Besides usual movie news, the following threads are welcome
- Discussion threads to discuss about a specific movie or show
- Weekly threads: what have you been watching lately?
- Trailers
- Posters
- Retrospectives
- Should I watch?
Related communities:
Show communities:
Discussion communities:
RULES
Spoilers are strictly forbidden in post titles.
Posts soliciting spoilers (endings, plot elements, twists, etc.) should contain [spoilers] in their title. Comments in these posts do not need to be hidden in spoiler MarkDown if they pertain to the titleβs subject matter.
Otherwise, spoilers but must be contained in MarkDown.
2024 discussion threads
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
You're wrong. If the best way for studios to make money is streaming, then restricing access to the corresponding streaming service is their best way to make money. And they will do it.
Pirates might believe they protest against this practice. But actually, they just fuel this system even further by not voting with their money for alternatives. And there ARE alternatives: buy blurays, go to theatres, buy merch.
Pirates will soon realize that these alternatives will also disappear if nobody pays for them. The only money that will be left will be the paying streamers. And this will consequently be the only way to enjoy movies in the future. Quiet the opposite of what pirates are protesting for, isn't it?
Protesting with piracy is just flawed logic.
Buying Blu-ray, going to theaters, and buying merchandise aren't alternatives to owning digitally. I won't speak for all pirates, but I just want to own a digital copy of what i pay for. Even streaming with a paid subscription isn't a viable alternative. I don't pirate to protest, I pirate because there's no other choice.
You can just do both. You can pirate your digital copy and support the artists in ways that don't support streaming. You can buy blurays for example, rip them using MakeMKV to get a digital copy. It's piracy, but it supports a business model that's at least somewhat based on ownership. Or you go to the theatre and torrent the same movie later.
In that way, you actually have some impact on changing the industry and you also get your digitally owned copy. Piracy alone will just support the current state of the industry even more.
Let's stay on topic. I'd like to know from you how piracy protest can force studios to change their business models? Enlighten me.
The way I see it studios will double down on their shitty business practices the more people do piracy. The exact opposite of what pirate's protests intend to accomplish. Because the only people who are left paying are paying for the shitty business models. So shitty business practices become the most profitable way. Instead of not paying at all, a better solution would be to pay for good alternatives. Like buying merch, buying blurays, going to theatres. If everyone does that, shitty business practices will become unprofitable.
I think this is a pretty good take, in line with other forms of effective protest. I don't actually believe that most pirates are genuine protestors, though. They are just people who don't want to pay but feel guilty about it, so instead of just admitting that they don't want to pay they perform some moral gymnastics to rationalise their behaviour and keep the cognitive dissonance at bay. The average pirate's train of thought goes something like this "you didn't give me exactly what I wanted so now I am morally entitled to everything of yours for free until I decide otherwise".