Bad analogy. Assuming you're referring to a truly "local" video store and not Blockbuster, if you steal, the store loses both the sunk cost of the disc and the associated potential revenue stream. And if they choose to replace the disc, the movie company actually _makes_ money (while the store loses even more).

Buying a bootleg may deprive the movie producers (and actors with a revenue-sharing agreement) of revenue they _might_ have earned if you'd paid to see the movie in a legit fashion. But it also supports the hard-working DVD pirates who produce the actual physical disc (and may have added value like subtitles).

A better analogy would be paying a third party to steal the disc from Blockbuster. Blockbuster stores don't own the DVDs (the movie studios do), so the store suffers less damage from the theft, and the thief makes a buck. But even then, there's a cost of reproducing the physical good of the disc, not just the content.

That said, I am certainly not an advocate of buying pirated DVDs. In China, people do so for a variety of reasons. Many good movies are still at least nominally banned--unavailable through official channels. Or they are unavailable with Chinese subtitles (value added by the pirates). And the $15 pricetag of a "cheap" DVD in the US is equivalent to a week's salary for many Chinese.

Here we have the luxury of freedom of speech and press, of relatively good rental networks, and of having the cash in the first place to help support the "artists" in Hollywood who make the movies.

I'm not an advocate of piracy. As stated above, I think it's stupid to buy bootleg DVDs not just because it's illegal, but because you don't get your money's worth. But to say that buying a bootleg is tantamount to stealing from my neighborhood store... Maybe I just like to nitpick.