Asserting that our neighbors to the north have become major suppliers of pirated pics around the globe, Warner Bros. is taking the unprecedented step of canceling all promotional and word of mouth screenings there until the Canadian government makes it illegal to take camcorders into theaters.Thank goodness for that last sentence.
According to Warners, more than 70% of all pirated Warners titles released over the past 18 months originated in Canada.
"Within the first week of a film's release, you can almost be certain that somewhere out there a Canadian copy will show up," said Darcy Antonellis, Warner Bros. senior VP of worldwide antipiracy operations.
Policy, coming just as the busy summer box office season gets under way, will take effect beginning with "Ocean's Thirteen," which bows June 7. Ban also means that Canadian auds won't get a sneak peak at "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which bows in July. Warners Bros. Pictures Canada will still hold press screenings for credentialed media.
But wait a minute -- about 95% of the Warner advance screenings I have been to in the last dozen years were promo screenings (e.g. screenings attended by people who won tickets via radio contests, usually at night or on weekends) and not press screenings (i.e. screenings attended by professional critics only, usually in the morning). Does this mean Warner plans to replace promo screenings with press screenings? Or does this mean credentialed media will see only a handful of Warner movies in advance?
Is this really as much of a problem as the studios make it out to be? Who wants to watch a freaking CAMCORDER recording of a movie anyway?
ReplyDeleteThe camcorder versions of movies never come from screenings, anyway. They are almost always packed houses and have security (with video recorder-seeking equipment). As far as I've heard (as well as exercised "common sense"), most camcorder pirated videos are done during near-empty matinees where nobody notices the devices.
ReplyDeleteThis is just such a ridiculous rule. Do you think the Canadian government even gives a crap about some ultimatum given by a U.S. movie studio regarding advance screenings? It's not going to hurt business on movies like Harry Potter and Ocean's 13, but for the smaller flicks that need good word of mouth, I think they'll lose significant business north of the border.
Of course, I haven't been to a WB screening since Batman Begins, so it doesn't really affect me directly. But it probably means all the local WB Reps across the country will be out of jobs, which is too bad.
To quote South Park: "Blame Canada!"
ReplyDeleteIt's crap, a major source of pirateing is Taiwan and Hong Kong according to people who have actually lived there. This is a case of over-reaction. How tight is the security at the theatres south of the border?
Every preview opening thingy I"ve been to as of late they ban all electronics, scan you for them and lock them away until after.
ReplyDeleteThis is crap. The situation in Taiwan and China is way worse than here...noone is going to go buy a badly recorded camera phone or handy cam version of a film.
It's a pretty hamfisted way to get their way...hopeit backfires and they reneg.