Isn't piracy costing movie companies millions?

THE global cinema industry has recorded its biggest summer box office despite, or perhaps because of, the global financial crisis.

The $US5.8 billion ($6.7bn) take improved on the record 2007 summer figures by 7 per cent -- a figure that is surprisingly strong given recessionary malaise in other media.

The headline for the article blames the global financial crisis.

However, I believe the real reason can be found further down the article:

Zoradi believes if Disney is careful with four key factors, it can make just about any movie and be consistent with its brand.

The first is having a positive message. The second is an "unspoken pact with moms and dads around the world" not to have bad language in its movies. The third is that any romance stops short of having parents sitting next to their 12-year-old and feeling uncomfortable about sexual innuendo. The fourth is that action/adventure stops short of "bone-crushing, bone-splitting violence".

"If we do those four things, you can really define a Disney movie broadly," he says.

In short, it you make good movies that don't put large segments of the viewing population off, you'll rake in the cash.

If you ask me, the slump at the box office in recent years had more to do with the utterly execrable content that was being produced than anything else. Studio moguls conveniently blamed piracy when the real reason was their failure to produce a large number of watchable movies.