quote:

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In a move to curb what the Hollywood studios are claming is a primary source of the illegal pirating and bootlegging of their movies on the Internet, Warner Brothers announced Monday it is cancelling all preview screenings of its summer blockbusters in Canada.

Citing a failure by the government of Canada to make illegal the recording of movies directly from the screen by camcorder, the studio will not issue advance screenings of such audience pleasers like "Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix" and "Ocean's 13." The ban will not affect press screenings.

"It is a big issue because, as you're aware, once a movie is bootlegged in a theatre, it then becomes available through the Internet to anybody that can access it," Ellis Jacob, CEO of Cineplex Entertainment, told CTV Newsnet in January.

"It's a huge industry problem for us in Canada, which is being driven by the fact that we really can't prosecute the people that actually are bootlegging these movies."

Some reports say pirated movies are costing Hollywood studios more than US$6 billion each year. Earlier this year Twentieth Century Fox investigators claimed that at one point in 2006, almost half of all illegal movies originated from theatrical recording.

"In most cases, they're copies where you can see (audience members) standing up through the movie," said Jacob.

"As the cameras get better and more sophisticated, the quality improves dramatically."

He added that technology exists to accurately determine which theatre pirated films were recorded in. But filming inside a theatre is not a criminal offence in Canada, and theatre owners are lobbying Ottawa to bring in tougher laws to combat the practice.

"We're pushing to have a Criminal Code amendment so that if you're caught camcording in the theatre, it's a criminal offence," says Douglas Frith of the Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association.

"That's essentially what we need to do to begin to even put a dent in camcording and piracy in Canada."

Jacob says the same issue existed in the United States until laws in close to 40 states were amended to make film pirating a criminal offence.

"It pretty well eliminated piracy in the U.S.," he says.

Frith notes that the real target of the laws would be organized criminals.

"We're not looking at the individuals who go in for fun to camcord a film in a theatre. It's organized crime. People are going in, they get paid between $5,000 to $7,000 for a very good copy of a film."

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This really sucks, and I think it will start a trend among the ohter big distributors. Apparently Sony has been threatening recently to even delay the release of their movies in Canada by a week or two compared to the US release dates (Have not had that confirmed though).

What is really annoying about all this is that I know that at my theatre we take alot of precautions to prevent piracy, frequently check audience from the ground and the booth... but until the government sees fit to change the laws it won't help much.

[ 05-08-2007, 10:49 PM: Message edited by: Adam Martin ]
 

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Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-08-2007, 04:49 PM:
 
Already got posted in this thread which was originally about Fox's actions along the same lines.
 

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Posted by Josh Rosen (Member # 4291) on 05-08-2007, 04:53 PM:
 
Sorry, I hadn't read that thread.
 

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Posted by Christopher Meredith (Member # 3767) on 05-08-2007, 05:01 PM:
 
Oh yes, everybody watch out! Pirates are threatening our livlihood!
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-08-2007, 05:23 PM:
 
So why does Canada have a problem making it illegal to camcord a movie?
 

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Posted by Josh Rosen (Member # 4291) on 05-08-2007, 05:29 PM:
 
I really have no idea, our politicians often move painfully slow on things. Mayeb they don't feel like it is justifiable to spend the time, money, and resources that would be needed to enforce these laws.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-08-2007, 06:24 PM:
 

quote: Josh Rosen

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Apparently Sony has been threatening recently to even delay the release of their movies in Canada by a week or two compared to the US release dates

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Uh huh, and yet you just watch. If Sony does that, AMAZINGLY enough Canada will receive the used prints from the US. It's all about being cheap and blaming the pirates.
 

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Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 05-08-2007, 07:59 PM:
 
And Brad, just like I said, we'll see the turkeys and the box office gold coming.
 

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