DVDs hurting theatres

Cinema operators hit hard by falling attendances are fighting back with discount deals as they attempt to stave off the rise of video and DVD piracy.

Cinema attendances fell by more than one million last year, from 18.3 million tickets sold in 2003 to 17.2 million.

Many movie theatres are now offering bargain deals in a bid to woo back their audiences.

Rialto Cinemas recently released a deal giving the buyer and a friend bargain-basement entry to movies. Village Skycity chief executive Joe Moodabe said such initiatives were among many attempts to maintain an audience in the face of increasing competition from other forms of entertainment.

"Nobody likes to be down. But the industry is trying very hard to bring the price down to the consumer," he said.

While people still preferred to watch new releases at the movies and older films at home, cinema operators needed to make sure they kept the consumer happy by keeping prices down and providing a more luxurious, welcoming and personal environment.

"The latest release on the big screen, with comfy seats and surround-sound is far superior to sitting in the living room with the dog barking, the kettle boiling, the phone ringing," Mr Moodabe said. "The experience at home is no match to the big screen."

Industry experts say the biggest threat to the big screen buck is the rise of video and DVD piracy.

Pirated DVDs are now believed to account for up to 12 per cent of total DVD sales.

Motion Pictures Distributors Association executive director Bill Hood said New Zealand and Australia had become a dumping grounds for pirated DVDs.

He said it was becoming easier to get hold of good quality DVDs of just-released movies. A copy of Shrek 2 had crossed his desk at the same time the film hit the big screen, he said.

But Mr Hood was not concerned about the drop in the number of people going to movies. Blockbusters like Return of the King, the final instalment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, made the huge numbers of 2003 difficult to repeat.