Sony CEO blasts net's effect on Hollywood

Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton has blasted the internet for having a detrimental effect on the movie business, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Speaking at a 'Future Of Filmmaking' panel at Syracuse University's Newhouse School, Lynton also slated Hollywood studios for recycling ideas.

"I am a guy who hasn't seen any good come out of the internet. It seems to have done damage to every [part] of the entertainment business," he said, adding that online marketing isn't as effective at getting the public into cinemas as it should be.

He continued: "As the economics of it get tougher and tougher, we tend to get more and more cautious. And that's a very bad pattern to get into...That would be a pattern that we should resist."

Lynton called for new copyright rules to be introduced that would offer stricter protection not just for films, but also for books and music.

Director Norah Ephron and actress Anne Hathaway also discussed the current financial climate's impact on Hollywood at the event.

Ephron claimed that "everyone is overpaid, including the executives", insisting that across the board pay cuts were necessary, while Hathaway noted that she dropped her asking price for Rachel Getting Married - a movie that earned her an Oscar nomination - because she had faith in the quality of the script.