No one can dispute that movie piracy has not hurt the local film industry ('Arnie and Jackie take on the pirates', November 19); however, the pirates are not the only ones to blame for the industry's woes.
Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger joining forces to educate the public about movie piracy is a noble effort, but a wasted one. It is well known where movie pirates originate from (the mainland, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia, even Macau). But really tackling it involves dealing with the triad problem, and can that really be solved?
Chan says that in six months this year only 40 medium-budget movies have been made locally, and he blames the pirates. Could it be that fewer movies are being made because of the noticeable decrease in quality?
Aren't audiences demanding better quality? It has been years since I have seen a locally made movie in the cinema, paying full admission price. Of the Hong Kong movies made this year, how many could be released overseas? How many are made with foreign markets in mind?
Look at the proliferation of Korean and Japanese movies. These seem to do well regardless of the market. How would a movie starring the latest Canto-pop singer do in foreign markets? Would American movie audiences want to see 10 films all starring Britney Spears every year? No way, but that's the system Hong Kong has been using for years. Blame the system.
I would like to know how many movies have been released in Hong Kong this year. How many were local; from Asia; from Europe; and from Hollywood? Without a doubt, there have been fewer and fewer releases every year; switching to DVD seems to be the norm. With fewer choices at the box office, how does one catch a movie one has been waiting months to see? I have no choice but to rent or buy locally, or buy online.
With Hollywood studios resorting to simultaneous worldwide release of movies in order to combat the pirates, why is Hong Kong lagging behind? Why is the new Harry Potter movie being released in Hong Kong five weeks behind the rest of the world? Blame the film distributors and cinemas as well.