Everyone knows that piracy is illegal and most understand it's morally wrong, but that doesn't stop swathes of people downloading unauthorised copies of the biggest films. While it may seem to be just an easy way to save a bit of money, it can directly have a damaging effect on what the industry produces. Whether direct sequels or similar works to film get made depends entirely on its box office haul. It's not the best barometer of a movie's actual success with audiences - everyone who saw it could have hated it - but it gives studios an idea of demand. Clearly piracy would muck up this method. The DVD-quality copy of The Expendables 3 that leaked online a few weeks ago was downloaded an estimated two million times. To the studio that's a potential loss of tens of millions of dollars. Of course, not everyone who downloaded the film would have paid for a ticket, but there's no way to measure that, meaning they may add on those dollars and think a fourth outing may be good. On the converse you could pirate a film that's actually good, but by doing that you're not registering any support of it, meaning getting another one is that little less likely. Piracy removes your ability as an audience member to have your say about what you want to see. What can you do: Don't engage in it. At all.
