An average movie cost $98 million to make and market and fewer than one in 10 films managed to recoup their investment from ticket sales, while six in 10 never manage to cover their costs.

Los Angeles / AFP
05/20/2005

Hollywood’s chief lobbyist warned Thursday that pirates peddling bootlegged copies of the just-released “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” will be tracked down and caught.

The stern words from Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) president Dan Glickman came as the final installment of the 28-year-old “Star Wars” franchise opened on screens in countries across the world.
Even as US cinemas played the film around the clock for the legions of fans who have been anxiously awaiting its release, some file-swapping websites claimed to already have copies of the film.

“Fans have been lined up for days to see ‘Revenge of the Sith’,” Gilckman said.
“To preserve the quality of movies for fans like these and so many others, we must stop these Internet thieves from illegally trading valuable copyrighted materials on-line.

“My message to illegal file-swappers everywhere is plain and simple: You are stealing, it is wrong and you are not anonymous,” said Glickman.
Pirating movies, such as George Lucas’s final “Star Wars” offering, hits the cinema industry hard, costing jobs and thwarting innovation and creativity.