This is topic STEAL THIS MOVIE in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-01-2000, 03:12 AM:
I just noticed tonight Lion's Gate films is releasing a movie in August titled "Steal This Movie". Is it me, or would that be an incredibly stupid label to put on the cans? I mean, just think about those cans sitting in the lobby awaiting pickup when some teenagers decide to "steal this movie". I wonder if they will be shipping it under an alias a little less tempting. Say for example: "Ten thousand dollars in cash inside this can!"
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 06-01-2000, 03:22 AM:
No...(pause)...That's just what they'd be _expecting_ us to do. 
Posted by Tom Ferreira (Member # 70) on 06-01-2000, 08:22 AM:
Steal This Movie is the story of 60's activist Abbie Hoffman, who once wrote a book called Steal This Book. I'm sure it's going to be a limited release, as IME has it listed that way. As far as actually caring about this movie, I have to quote Eric Cartman-"A bunch of tree hugging hippie crap".
Posted by Rob Brooks (Member # 186) on 06-01-2000, 09:05 AM:
And "Steal This Book" had the distinction of being the most stold book in history. No kidding. Maybe they'll code the cans with a different name as is often done with pre-released screenings. If they don't, you know they're asking for it.
Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 06-01-2000, 01:17 PM:
"Steal This Book" was a classic. It was a guide to hippie-style activities and survival in the late 60's early 70's. Their little electronic circurt for getting your coin back from a pay phone worked until only a few years ago. How to make a safe Molotov cocktail was another.I had a copy, but (don't laugh) someone stole it!
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-01-2000, 02:11 PM:
Well, there prints may be VERY limited after it's release. See what happened to John Walsh above! I hope they have about 20 variations on the CAP code protecting this one. Never heard of the book before.
Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 06-01-2000, 05:39 PM:
It will be labelled, "Blue Harvest" ------------------
Better Projection Pays!
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 06-01-2000, 05:54 PM:
Mine was labelled 'CHIMERA'...no wait, that was something else...
Posted by Rob Brooks (Member # 186) on 06-06-2000, 03:19 PM:
Actually the book prior to "Steal this Book" that Abbie Hoffman wrote in the late 60's said Steal this book on the back cover. It was such a success at people stealing that book(I forget the name) that Abbie Hoffman decided to actually write a book called, "Steal This Book". I know because my brother came home with the prior book one day and told me he was on line to pay for it when he read on the back cover steal this book, so being a good 60's radical that is what he did.
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 06-14-2001, 07:30 PM:
Brad, you nailed that one on the button. Steal This Movie was a major league FLOP -- in and out of the UA Union Square in 2 weeks!Just as irritating is the fact that Lions Gate mishandled Jesus' Son AND But I'm a Cheerleader 
I had to go into Manhattan to find a decent theater showing those 2 movies.
Posted by Barry Hans (Member # 477) on 06-15-2001, 01:32 PM:
We screened this film awhile back- you'll be begging someone to " Steal this Movie"!BTW- Abbie had said that he would sue if someone made a movie about him and if he died his lawyer was to sue on his estates behalf. Both he and his lawyer are dead.
Posted by Linda Learn (Member # 562) on 06-15-2001, 04:31 PM:
Wasn't that called "The Anarchist's Cookbook"?
Posted by Barry Hans (Member # 477) on 06-15-2001, 06:48 PM:
Linda- I think it was one of his books that he wrote about sueing. Seems to me the tittle was ( for real ) "Soon to be a major motion picture " or " Woodstock Nation "
Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 06-18-2001, 06:22 AM:
I did occasionally get films with a totally different title on the cans and leaders, usually of highly publicised blockbusters. Examples I can remember include Godzilla being labelled 'The Big Fin' and the last Star Wars was 'Perfect Timing'.I guess the reason for this was so that people would be less likely to 'steal this movie' if a Securicor lorry got robbed or if a print were left in a theatre foyer waiting for collection. It backfired bigtime though - with Godzilla, there were reports up and down the country of cinemas sending their prints back to the depot unopened, assuming that they had been sent the wrong film in error. The only reason I didn't was that we'd been forewarned by another cinema in the chain I worked for.
Posted by Tom Kroening (Member # 201) on 06-24-2001, 08:26 PM:
Well, I actually think that someone grabbed one of our Freddy got Fingered cans that had been sitting out for 2 months (they never came to pick it up even when i called them). We now keep our cans locked away during the day.