What is a studio to do when they have a dog in the can and no hope of raking in bundle$ from the normal venues of theatrical release, DVD, syndication, and merchandising?
Not to worry: with nearly 2 billion people riding the Internet, the odds are that at least a few thousand rubes around the world will download your embarrassing intellectual property without your permission. In the past, the Motion Picture Association of America has taken a hard stand against those who used file-sharing services to bypass the box office.
But, times, they are a'changing: studios are discovering that if you can't persuade viewers to burn a sawbuck to see their movies, they can instead take their cars, homes, and college savings by suing the daylights out of them when they pilfer a copy from the Intertubes. The economics are interesting: the contents of the average wallet are small 'taters compared to the value of a downloader's entire net worth.
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| Let the dog run wild. |
But, times, they are a'changing: studios are discovering that if you can't persuade viewers to burn a sawbuck to see their movies, they can instead take their cars, homes, and college savings by suing the daylights out of them when they pilfer a copy from the Intertubes. The economics are interesting: the contents of the average wallet are small 'taters compared to the value of a downloader's entire net worth.
