Actor Morgan Freeman to start selling movies online
Posted on 08/07/05 11:50 by Quakester2000                             
Actor Morgan Freeman to start selling movies online

Movie actor Morgan Freeman star of such films as Sum of all fears, Shawshank Redemption and Batman Begins is to start selling downloadable films online. The actor hopes that his company Clickstar Inc will sell downloadable movies before they are released in the cinema, as well as this the company will sell entertainment programs for download. The actor said the goal of his company was to sell films to fans around the world and to make it easier to buy than pirate versions.

Clickstar Inc is founded by Morgan Freeman's production company Revelations Inc along with Intel. Freeman said that his company would address the demand for digital content from internet users. At this current moment of time no studios have signed up to distribute content via Clickstar Inc. No pricing model or cost for the service has been outlined as of yet.

It is estimated that the industry lost (£4 Billion pounds) $7 billion dollars to movie piracy in 2003.

Clickstar INCActor Morgan Freeman has launched an online service to let people download movies before they are released on DVD. ClickStar Inc will sell "premium movies" and entertainment programmes to internet users, the Oscar winner said. Freeman said: "Our goal is to deliver first-run premium entertainment to film fans around the world and to make film easier to buy than to pirate."

It was founded by Freeman's production firm Revelations and Intel computers but no film studios have yet signed up. Freeman said the new service would address "the growing worldwide consumer demand for digital content - especially filmed entertainment". Revelations' production credits include Levity, starring Billy Bob Thornton, and Under Suspicion, starring Freeman and Gene Hackman.

Earlier this year, the European Film Piracy Summit in London was told movie piracy cost the industry $7bn (£4bn) in 2003.

Well if Clickstar hopes to beat piracy they better be competitively priced and not the same price as a cinema ticket. If the movie industry didnt charge so much for cinema tickets then maybe piracy could be cut in half. At £5.80 a cinema ticket in some places you can see why people are looking elsewhere. If people either cant afford or dont think its a fair deal people will find another way of getting what they want weither its movies or any product.

 

Source: BBC

Reactions
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By crustyteacup, Friday 08 July 2005 14:03
crustyteacupthis time last year, to get into the cinema down town cost me £4 (i'm a student), this year its £4.90, with the cost of an ordinary ticket well above £6 now. i used to go like once a week, but now i go once every couple of months.
By GristyMcFisty, Friday 08 July 2005 14:08
GristyMcFisty"At £5.80 a cinema ticket in some places..." Bloody Hell you get in cheap! I expect no less than £7.50 a ticket, therefore for two people to see a film you can buy the DVD! Infact insome case you can buy the DVD and have change over for a beer! OK you may have to wait to see it, but very often the DVD follows on very quickly to try to beat the pirates. So you can spend your money on the DVD, if you don't like it sell it on eBay...chances are you'll get half or more than half the cost of the disc back if it's a popular new release. So now the movie industry know why there aren't more bums on seats...it's not piracy, it's simply the cost!
By jef195, Friday 08 July 2005 14:31
In US you can see Film in Cinema for 2.8 pounds if you go before 6PM or you can wait one month(sometimes less) to three(maximum)and see it for 1.7 pounds in a Discount theater(of compareable quality not crap theater)
By Quakester2000, Friday 08 July 2005 15:35
Quakester2000Wish it was like that in the UK, but the cost of film going is spiralling out of control how long before we see tickets at £10. When they hit that price you may as well wait for the DVD release. Lets face the downturn is because people are buying the DVD as the cost of cinema ticket is close to the dvd price sometimes.
By nwg, Friday 08 July 2005 16:30
Except for the odd film. I have stopped going to the cinema. The last one was Revenge of the Sith and before that it was Return of the King. Since getting my own projector, I have even less desire to go. Also, the last time I went, the screen looked small. I get a bigger image when just sitting a few metres away from my screen. It costs £6 before 5pm where I am and £9 after 5pm. I never go in the evening. I have seen tickets go as high as £20 when going to a big city cinema multiplex.
By Sherrif, Friday 08 July 2005 18:24
Hear Hear Gristy.....I can remember when going to the movies was a family thing, sometimes spur of the moment, ofttimes planned, but never like today where one has to budget for it. Yep, I'll take the DVD, esky to my left, pisshouse to my right...........cool
By n3r0, Friday 08 July 2005 18:46
well i'll still go to theatres, cause here if i have club card or smth then i'll get club premiere tickets about 35% cheaper than normal ticket and the price is like £3 this goes only for premieres though there's only 300 seats for the premiere Big Grin
By u_n_s97, Friday 08 July 2005 21:18
A cinema ticket costs 5-8 euro in my area, deppends on the theatre and movie. The extra costs to get in some multiplex is an extra 4-5 euro. If I buy some corn and coke, the cost is above 20 euro each person. The small theatres were closed because of no visitors (no wonder why) so to be honest I have not seen any movie for a year compared this to 10 years ago when I went to cinema once or twice every week. For these cinema prices one easily can buy 2 DVD's. Sad that movies are released on DVD's so late compared to the cinema release. Hope this will change soon. regards, Stephen
By heystoopid, Friday 08 July 2005 23:04
But then again, with so few good movies being released these days, where special effects budgets, are being used to enhance crap formula copycat , stale and unoriginal Hollywood ideas, together with the fact that within 6 to 12 months release on dvd, the price drops by over 50%, I rarely go to cinema. Yet once upon a time I used to go to the film theatre every saturday, when I was child. Ah the times they are a changing!
By CORRSA, Saturday 09 July 2005 13:02
greed is a certain downfall thats for sure cinemas will soon be history good cos hidef is coming down home cinema is preety cheap for the average house and i cant wait to see the studios take a kick in the b***s cos they are the ones that have caused all this Frown
By Stingerman, Saturday 09 July 2005 17:11
StingermanYou know what if the price and the quality are good and these are newly released movies this work to some extend to curb the piracy issue. I don't think piracy will every go away but ideas like this will help to reduce it. I can't stand going to a movie theatre puke you always have people that talk and then there's the kid behind you who is kicking your seat and the big ape in front of you who is blocking the screen. NOT TO MENTION THE STICKY FLOORS. I haven't been to a show in so long that I can't even remember the last one that I saw. I hope this takes off and more studios see the light and start offering the same services. I'd love to see the day when a movie theatre is a thing of the past.
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