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Author Topic: Universal admits American Gangster movie will suck Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 10-31-2007 12:13 AM                     quote: Joe Redifer And that manager or supervisor is watching a movie for free when he would have otherwise purchased a ticket, thus STEALING revenue from the studios and making their box office receipts much lower. I'm telling you, if it wasn't for those god damned movie theater employees, then there would be nothing to blame for box office failure. I was specifically responding to Chad saying that they got rid of letting employees watch, not because they felt it was stealing, but because the employees snuck in friends. I was just saying it doesn't seem that hard to stop them from doing that. Though you're pushing it too hard to make your point seem real. quote: Dennis Benjamin Exhibitors should start sueing the film companies for breach of contract when these screeners get out like this. The article made it pretty clear that this wasn't from a screener though.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-31-2007 08:23 AM                        quote: Chris Slycord The article made it pretty clear that this wasn't from a screener though. Dude - I've seen it. It isn't a cam, it isn't even a telesync. It is a crystal clear DIGITAL version of the film with digital sound. Someone at Universal is lying. Somewhere along the line an executive wanted to see this film in the comfort of their own home and someone made this for them. That is why I am so upset about it. They can spin it however they want in the press, but it is a DVD screener copy of the film. They will never admit to it being a screener so they can avoid any legal issues. Thank you and have a nice day! ..HOLD ON... For those of you who are not aware of why I am so upset about this: let me enlighten you. You see, I opened a new 14 screen movie theatre in Hyattsville, Maryland in June. Hyattsville is located about two miles from Washington D.C. "American Gangster" was slated to be my biggest opening movie THIS YEAR. While we did do very well with "Tyler Perry's Why Did I get Married", I still thought that AG would be the defining moment for our theatre in 2007, being in such an Urban location. With this mess concerning these DVD screeners, I will never be able to figure out the revenue lost. Everyone in Hyattsville has this on DVD now (or almost everyone!).  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 10-31-2007 09:07 AM                     Or they aren't lying and they really don't know how the movie got pirated... edit: And as noted elsewhere and alluded to in the article, the fact that there's no sign of it being from a DVD (like the scrolling text saying that it's not for public viewing or somesuch), it would indicate that it's a copy from a postproduction house. Now, THAT, they don't want to admit to. Cause then it would DEFINITELY be their fault.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-31-2007 10:19 AM                        Dennis: If I were you I would make an educated guess on what your grosses SHOULD be this weekend (be conservative) and then compare that figure to what really happens. If the movie is good, business should still be good....if the movie sucks, then you could really have a problem. I agree, Universal should be held to the fire on this if it was a postproduction screener. Somebody call Kendrick McDowell!* * DC lawyer who works for NATO  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-31-2007 10:35 AM                     Dennis, how do you know that a big part of your customer base is burning pirated movies to DVD? The movie industry has never shown any really dependable hard numbers on just what it is losing to "grass roots" piracy (people downloading data off the Internet and burning it to disc). Sure, some people are definitely doing it. However, I don't think the problem is nearly as widespread as Hollywood is spinning it. For one thing, it's a lot more complicated to download the equivalent of a DVD and burn it correctly to a DVD disc than it is to download a mere MP3 music file. Most people simply don't have the time or patience to learn how to find pirated movies online, download them and burn that complete movie to disc, much less make any habit of it. On top of that, dual layer DVD-R blanks are still relatively expensive. They certainly cost quite a lot more than single layer DVD-R blanks. Complicating things further, many who would like to download such content avoid doing so out of fear of getting their computer infected with the latest of computer viruses. In the end, I think movie theaters are losing out to a few computer geeks and cheapskates who know those geeks. And those folks weren't going to bother going to the movie theater anyway. Anyone who is willing to waste two hours of their life watching a camcorder-based pirated movie is not only a cheapskate, he's an idiot as well. It's still a very stupid policy for Hollywood studios to create very good quality DVD-based screener discs for film critics, actors and other industry people. Those items almost always land in the hands of mass-production piracy operations overseas.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-31-2007 11:21 AM                        We are located next to a regional mall, The Mall at Prince George's Plaza. I was told yesterday that you could go in a buy a copy of AG in the mall. So it's not about an average person actually burning the movie themselves, it's about them paying the $5 or $10 for the copy of it. Please remember if this was a CAM copy, I wouldn't care. But this is not a cam copy of the film. As one of my employees put it "it's a clean copy".  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 10-31-2007 12:06 PM                     Then your mall is either not keeping track of what individual stores sell or has bad security because they aren't keeping track of people selling stuff that aren't vendors for the mall.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-31-2007 01:17 PM                        Have you called the cops, MPAA, NATO and anyone else you can think of and give them the directions to that store in the mall? I would be over there with my camera taking pictures of the DVDs if possible. Do it NOW before the movie opens.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-31-2007 11:35 PM                     Yeah, I have to raise my eyebrows at that one. A store in a freaking high priced mall selling pirated movies? That's just downright risky. I can see pawn shops and fly by night booths at a flea market pulling the stunt. But a store in a mall with a contractually binding lease and a lot to lose is taking one hell of a flagrant risk by offering any kind of pirated movie content on their premises. If I saw a legit store pulling that sort of stunt near where I live I'd immediately call the local police and FBI just for the entertainment value of the bust!  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 11-01-2007 01:55 AM                     And even if it weren't a store, I'd think it'd be extremely suspicious if anyone who wasn't in a store were selling stuff. I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to set up shop inside a mall without the mall's permission, plus it'd be illegal for them to sell anything regardless (since they wouldn't have a business license anyway).  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-01-2007 04:40 AM                        There were several stores that were selling them. The authorities were notified. Not that anything happened to the people that were doing it. Typical.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-01-2007 10:07 AM                        Sorry Dennis, but you're being awful vague on this. What "authorities" were called? Local cops aren't always that well-informed about copyright issues and such. Did you call NATO or even e-mail them? What about the MPAA piracy hotline? The mall's management office? How about your film booker? Your contact at Universal exhibitor relations? This employee of yours who said it's a "clean copy." Did you ask this person to bring the offending DVD in so you could send it to the authorities? I'd think you would be more proactive about getting something done. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't stop yelling until someone did something.  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 11-01-2007 11:26 AM                     Dennis, Have you seen this DVD yourself. While excellent quality bootlegs have been around for years, it is very unusual for a mall based retail store to carry them. Are you sure it is not the DVD of the TV series "American Gangster", which is out legitimately from Paramount Home Video? The release date for the TV series DVD was 10/23/2007, and i'm sure video stores are capitalizing on it having the same title as the current movie.  |  IP: Logged Brad Allen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 688 From: Evansville, IN, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 11-01-2007 01:39 PM                     As far as wide spread computer downloading goes, I know of a town of population of 5800, 40 miles from any semi-major city, the assistant manager of the theatre in that town is a school teacher during the day, he regularly has students telling him that "Daddy watched that movie on his computer last night, that your playing at your theatre." (first runs) Remember, the vast majority of people could care less if it was a "clean copy" or not, their tv's have crappy pictures on them, many people are getting used to watching films on freakin IPODS, they don't care if the picture is prestine or not. I think this is a wider problem than we realize/want to admit. And yes, I think the film co's should be held accountable for "letting" this happen. Sounds like breach of contract to me.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-01-2007 02:14 PM                        O.K. - let me explain: Prince George's Mall (mentioned above) is the epicenter of crime in Prince George's County, Maryland. My theatre is located across the street from it. I was told that various people were selling the DVD's while they walked up and down inside the mall. Some of them may have been employees and some of them may have been just mall rats. Anyways, it was a law enforcement officer who told me the story about how people were selling them there. Apparantly, when a police officer has to make a decision to arrest someone robbing a store and someone selling bootleg DVDs - they made the obvious choice to chase the DVD peddlers out of the Mall and arrest the suspected robbers. OK. For those of you who live in Rural America - that's how it goes in the big city. They don't have time to arrest and detain people who are not committing violent crimes. For the record - I am friends with this law enforcement officer and completely understand and respect his responsibilities as an officer of the law. Reports were made - that's it. As far as this WHOLE situation is concerned - I am only upset with whomever let this DVD quality video out of the bag and onto the streets - that's all. Yes I've seen it and yes it is top quality. I have turned plenty of people into NATO for bootlegs - and guess what - NOTHING EVER HAPPENS. I have had candid conversations with John Fithian himself. Guess what - NATO and the MPAA have no clue what is going on out there with Movie Piracy. The teens on the Internet are so far ahead of everyone else - it doesn't freakin matter. It's not even about money anymore - it's about who can get the best quality version of a film on the 'Net first. Apparently that's how you are considered "cool" in today's f-ed up society. I'm done. Thank you. Have a Nice Day  |  IP: Logged

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