Movies Are Actually Doing Pretty Well

The Motion Picture Association recently sent out a report on just how well the six major Hollywood movie industry has been doing across the entire spectrum of theatrical, home video and TV sales around the world. The upshot: pretty healthy.

In fact, Disney, Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Warner did so well in 2006 compared to 2005 that it calls into question some of the claims made when they weren't doing so hot. As the rate of revenue growth slowed over the last few years, movie studios -- much like their music-industry counterparts -- were quick to blame DVD piracy and file-sharing services like BitTorrent. Yet when a banner year like 2006 rolls around, there's no mention of either of these factors, even though they're not declining.

First interesting point: Canada showed the biggest increase in revenue outside of the U.S. -- and yet camcorder piracy in Canada has been considered so rampant (though the numbers, like many in this arena, are questionable) that Warner has stopped showing public advance screenings up here.

Second interesting point: DVDs still dominate the industry's market share, making up 44% of the industry's revenue. This despite the fact that DVD encryption was cracked years ago, file-sharing continues, and bootleg DVDs are available on the street the same day as the movies hit the cinemas.

So where's the promised apocalypse?

Let's just make this clear: the movie studios, like all copyright owners, have a right to complain about piracy. But I'd like for their decisions (and lobbying) to be based on fact, not doomsday scenarios. I'm hoping someone remembers to bring this up whenever the movie industry starts talking about, say, using more government resources to fight piracy.