Hollywood Still Bathing In Money

New York mag's Daily Intel blog is on the case with a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to the Motion Picture Association of America's financial report from 2008. First, they wanted to hide it altogether lest we find out that they're not actually struggling. Today, the New York Times is reporting that sure, the report came out but it was curiously a lot shorter than previous years, and actually omits all marketing and production costs.

Tax incentives are obviously at the heart of all of this, but what strikes me, of course, is the piracy angle. With computers getting faster every year, the file-size issue -- which initially relegated online piracy to the much smaller music files -- is become nil and the online pirating of movies is obviously on the rise. Of course, they have been warning us about this "plague" for at least five years now, but I can say that personally the new ease with which I can download films has not gone unnoticed.

In the final quarter of the last two years, what with Academy Award screeners slithering their way online, I have made a few forays into previously foreign waters. Releaselog is an interesting resource and that's all I will say about that.

In New York City, a movie ticket will cost you at least $12.50. As we know, a torrent is free. And yet, if this financial report is any indication, the MPAA is still riding high.