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Originally Posted by Giggleton
I liked Avatar in 3D I'll give you that, I don't see how abolishing copyright would not have allowed that move to be made though. ...
Abolishing copyright would enforce a system where nothing is capable of being sold, at least not digital goods like books, movies, video games. You would still be able to sell things of course, and people would probably still buy them, but they would also be able to get them for free.
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The box office doesn't bring a profit to most high budget films on its own -- DVD sales, TV and streaming are part of the expected ROI. As such, the risk of making those films sans copyright increases dramatically. To wit, if downloading movies weren't illegal, a lot more people would do it, making box office receipts even weaker.
If there's little to no return and high risk, there won't be any investors (high risk high return investments are viable, low risk low return investments are viable. High risk low return investments are not.), and the big movies won't get made. Would we still have movies? Sure. By hobbyists. You can go to youtube et al and get that now. Some aren't bad. Ditto for Indie games, but you can't make a $200 million Call of Duty or Halo (or even a multimillion Sid Meier's game) without copyright, and I like them too.
Arguably indie stuff is better when copyright exists because it attracts talent looking to make a name for themselves so they can eventually profit from other projects. Lots of Indie games are pursued with the eventual goal of copyright-based profit, even though early on they may give it away or sell it, but actually encourage piracy. Take away that apple, and some of those artists direct their efforts into areas with better long term prospects.
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If anything, allowing the creators of [Avatar] to more freely sample ideas might have made the movie better.
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Copyright doesn't prevent you from using other people's ideas, merely copying someone else's particular expression of an idea. Half the movies that do come out recycle pre-owned stuff, so I promise, sampling is alive and well. Avatar, for example, was Pocahontas with better visuals and less character development.