A couple of months ago, a nearly complete cut of Fox's Wolverine was leaked and posted online. Hundreds of thousands of people downloaded it, and many times more than that probably watched it. And how did Fox respond? They went mental. They threatened with lawyers, the FBI, and all manner of fire and brimstone. And they didn't just target those responsible for leaking and distributing the film, but also a significant number of individuals who had merely downloaded it. They claimed it would destroy their profit margin as, not only would being able to see it online stop some people from seeing it in the cinema, the very fact that it was an unfinished cut might lead to inaccurate representations of the film's quality.

What interests me about this is how it's just another example of film studios getting their knickers in a twist about the Internet, when in actuality they should get down on their knees and thank the heavens for it actually coming along at all. Because while the argument that Internet piracy can eat into profits isn't entirely without merit, and while it is true that leaks of unfinished films can give viewers a poorer impression of them than they might deserve, the Internet is an absolute blessing for film-makers.

With online advertising, studios now have the ability to reach entirely different generations of film-goers, and for a fraction of the price of TV advertising. They can adapt their adverts and promotions to the content of the sites they choose to advertise on, and they can even target various demographics if they want to. Internet advertising gives studios and distributors a far greater ability to ram their films into the public consciousness than any other advertising medium. If you happen to visit a film website and see an advert or two, this is essentially as effective from the studios' point of view as them shoving two leaflets in your postbox each day. And which one of these methods is likely to cost them less?

The Internet also affords them the opportunity to experiment with various other marketing techniques, such as the exclusive online trailer launch, secret content you need to register for on dedicated websites for particular films, and cheap and highly effective viral marketing. Films such as Cloverfield and The Dark Knight made effective use of this sort of marketing, and online buzz created by their campaigns was palpable. An interesting fact – the first film to have its own dedicated website was 1994's Stargate.

And what about the moneymaking opportunities the Internet brings? High street rental shops are closing all over the world because people are switching to doing it online. Yes, this makes plenty of money for those who actually rent the films out, but with more people renting and buying than ever before, this can only be good news for studio profits. Moreover, it's now even possible to rent films by downloading and storing them for a limited period, so the technology that allows people to illegally share films has also opened the door to another way by which studios can tap into different demographics and have even more people pay to see their products.

In many ways the behaviour of many studios when it comes to the Internet is familiar from watching how the music industry has dealt with it. That industry has gone to sometimes extraordinary lengths to protect its profits; from taking legal action against those who share music, to developing new techniques to prevent its products from being copied in the first place – there are plenty of CDs out there that can't even be ripped to your own iPod, let alone copied and distributed. And the film studios have replicated this behaviour on nearly every level.

However, at the same time, they also – like the music industry – are learning to embrace the advantages the Internet has to offer. The music industry went nutty about Napster, and then released decades of songs and albums onto iTunes. They took illegal distributors to court, and then started doing online album launches and offering exclusive content on websites. The film industry ruthlessly exploits online marketing, and has even begun offering 'digital copies' of their films – both to download and to take directly off DVDs.

I am not denying that illegal film distribution, copying and downloading can be a problem. Nor, for that matter, am I condoning it – and for multiple reasons. Not only do I think it's morally unsound, it's also cheap and in more cases than not can spoil films that are better-suited to the big screen. However, I also think that the film industry needs to develop its understanding of both the advantages and pitfalls that the Internet offers. They need to accept that some people – however many court cases they bring, however tough their anti-copy software is, and however threatening they make their piracy adverts – will always illegally copy and/or distribute their films. So what they need to do to combat this is actually act like they are in competition with the online pirates; to provide people with a legal alternative that actually makes watching illegal copies no longer worth their while.

With digital copies, rental downloading, online sneak-peeks, exclusive content, dominant advertising and various other initiatives, the film-industry is slowly understanding what it needs to do. But the overriding approach it needs to take must be one that is more encouraging than it is threatening, more liberal than it is restrictive, and more inclusive than it is protective.

© David Mercier
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