Behind all this, I feel is an increasing disengagement with the cinema as more entertainment
is to be found in front of the computer (YouTube games, networking sites etc). Fewer people need to leave their computer to be entertained or to do the shopping or pay bills, why should they leave their computer to see a new film? Disgruntlement with Hollywood; poor films and the ever-increasing cost of seeing them, both at the cinema (up to 15, when it was 5 in my youth) and on DVD (and the yet more expensive BluRay) may also encourage people to illegally download films. Dominic Wells argues that people are using downloaded films as a test of brand value; i.e. that people will go to the cinema to see another film by same director or will a DVD of a film they have downloaded. This is certainly a much more economically efficient way for the consumer to find the film they want to own or pay to experience in the cinema. A look at the summer's hit films show that it was not the star driven heavily marketed films that did well and created a buzz, it was smaller films such as 'The Hangover' and 'District 9'. Some studies on the music industry (which has also been massively affected by online piracy) argue that pirated tracks encourage people to buy the song legally. However, some will see this as mere wishful thinking, arguing that people will never go back to paying when they don't need to.