[MUD-Dev] Movies bigger than games? (was Re: Digital Property Law)

[Matt Mihaly]

On Wed, 14 Mar 2001, Frank Crowell wrote:

> Tess Lowe wrote:
>> Matt Mihaly wrote:
 
>>> I remember someone opining that they would change the nature of
>>> commerce itself. Clearly that's a little overboard. Movies are way
>>> bigger than games (including merchandising here) for instance, and
>>> movies are a financially nearly insignificant industry.

>> Are you sure that movies are way bigger than games? I was just
>> reading the rant dated 3/2/2001 at
 
> Actually both movies and games goes into the same pot -- the
> entertainment pot.  If you look at businesses in general, it is
> other businesses buying up the entertainment industry, not the other
> way around.  I don't know the size of the computer industry, but I
> would guess all of hollywood could fit nicely in Sun's or IBM's old
> buildings.

Indeedy. IBM alone had revenue last year of 88 billion. All the
companies in the games industry together had what, 7 or 8 billion? 
Hell, GE made more in profit than the entire games industry had in
revenue last year. We'll grow obviously, but I think sometimes we
start thinking we're just a wee bit more important to the world than
we actually are.

> The film industry is Hollywood.  And Hollywood is very good at
> hyping itself.  It doesn't matter that movies get made in other
> places or even by less known studios such as Goldcrest Films
> (Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, the Killing Fields).  There are probably
> dozens of film centers all over the world, but everyone knows
> Hollywood and assumes that everything made comes from there.

The American film industry at least. Bollywood produces the most
movies every year.

> Hollywood is filled with entertainment lawyers, agents to the stars,
> fancy cars and houses, famous people blah blah.  Games are um --
> geeky.  And where is the center?  Can anyone name the top game
> player for the year 2000?  Or even what game he plays?  Ask your
> aunt to name one famous game designer, programmer, project manager,
> animator, producer.  The software industry, even bigger, is even
> geekier.  Geeks are by nature introverted.  Hollywood is filled with
> brash, loud- (er extroverted) people.

Hey now, let's not be a-lumpin' us all into the geek category, thank
you very much. I may be a geek, but I'm not out of the closet about
it.

> But when it comes to movies/films/cinema, ask anyone -- probably
> even your dog.  What is the current box office smash hit and where
> was it made.  Crouching something hidding something.  Hollywood!
> Who was the producer? Spielberg!  Who was the director? Spielberg!
> Who was the main star?  Anne Nicole Smith!

Well, similarly to who is the main star, my aunt certainly knows who
Pac-Man or Mario is. And though Spielberg may be known, how many other
producers or directors can most movie goers name? I bet almost none. I
bet director-wise most people couldn't name 10. I bet the average
person couldn't name one full-time producer.

And, as Richard pointed out earlier, a lot more people saw Hannibal
than played Final Fantasy <pick a number>.

--matt

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