Warner Bros. Fed Up With Canada
Filed under: Warner Brothers, Distribution, Newsstand, Politics
Ah, where are the boys from South Park when you really need them? Upset over the fact that an increasing amount of movie piracy is originating in Canada, Warner Bros. has decided to take immediate action. No, they haven't sent Trey Parker and Matt Stone to wreak havoc on our friends from the north; instead, they've decided to place a ban on all future "promotional and word-of-mouth screenings." This tactic, they hope, will put pressure on Canada to introduce some sort of legislation that makes "camcording of films for trafficking around the world" an illegal offense. Apparently, as it stands right now, any moron can walk into a Canadian theater, record a movie, sell it, and suffer no consequence.
This new ban will begin with the upcoming release of Ocean's Thirteen and continue with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The good news for all those who enjoy reading your local Canadian critic is that it doesn't appear that this ban will affect press screenings. The Hollywood Reporter story clearly points out that only promotional and word-of-mouth screenings are being cut off for now. Here's what I don't get about this whole thing -- if the studios are so worried about international movie piracy being born out of these early screenings, then why are they releasing, say, Spider-Man 3 in a number of countries around the world weeks before it was set to arrive here in the states? How is it that a film like Danny Boyle's Sunshine gets a worldwide release this spring, yet will not hit here until winter? Although I refuse to download anything off the internet and watch it, I know for a fact that Sunshine is already available online. While Canada certainly needs to step up and join the fight against piracy, I also think we need to evaluate these ridiculous trickling release schedules. What do you think?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-08-2007 @ 4:39PM
Jette said...
Warner says this won't affect press screenings -- but in some cities, online film press are often invited only to preview screenings. I don't know if that's true in Canada. I hope this won't present a problem for film bloggers in Canada.
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5-08-2007 @ 7:05PM
Tom said...
Well, first off, I don't really think it's that easy to walk into a movie theater in Canada and record a movie. I don't know if you're patted down or searched before going into movie theaters in Canada, but they do have pretty strict rules about bringing in big bags of stuff (usually more for food than anything else; that one DOES bug me). Do you get patted down or searched in the States? Also, do they really expect this to impact like...anyone? I mean at worst it might effect some film critics, and I feel for them, but if you're looking to stop movie piracy, this is not the way. Explore alternate distribution, time the distributions right, encourage theatres to lower prices, sign up with iTunes (we don't even have TV shows in iTunes yet).
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5-08-2007 @ 8:04PM
L said...
Michael Geist provides a nice write-up. Essentially he says that Warner Bros is full of shit.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1929/125/
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5-08-2007 @ 9:19PM
Kim said...
Actually, in the case of "Sunshine," I think it's a rare case of the USA and Canada being smarter than Europe. I think a US rep saw it and realized what a dismal pile of junk it is. It's not just bad: it's fabulously bad.
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5-08-2007 @ 9:59PM
Mark G said...
booo friggin hoooooo, what a crock of shit. Cinema security is the same here as it is in the states. Kiss my ass WB with this trumped up bullshit
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5-08-2007 @ 10:43PM
Derek said...
Actually, there's no law in Canada against taping a movie with a camcorder. That's the objection. The movie theatre can kick somebody out for recording a movie, but the police can't arrest them. The U.S. wants Canada to create a specific law against this type of piracy. I don't blame them. We get every American movie as soon as it comes out, and export camcorded copies over the internet more than every other country.
I think the fine for taping a movie in America is - what? - $5000? In Canada, the fine is $0 - but you are politely asked to leave.
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5-09-2007 @ 12:37AM
Steve said...
While there is no specific law against bringing a camcorder into a movie theatre, there are definitely copyright laws which apply to the illegal recording and distribution of movies in this manner. Don't think a theatre wouldn't call the police if they saw someone attempting to tape a movie. And given the potential fines available under those regulations ($25,000 and/or 6 months in prison per incident with secondary criminal offences potentially adding up to 1,000,000 per incident and/or up to 5 years in prison), I'd hardly call it being "polietly asked to leave".
I suspect it's just easier for Warner Brothers to try and make an example out of Canada, using their own self-serving statistics. What else are they going to do? Pull all the promotional showings in the US?
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5-09-2007 @ 7:20PM
James Waite said...
I was at ShowCanada and there was a seminar on piracy. In Canada they can only prosecute under copyright law if it can be proven the copy was to be sold which is pretty much impossible. It is technically legal to make a copy for your own use. For the same reason music filesharing is legal in Canada.
There is an 'invisible' watermark on each print which can be used to track pirated copies back to which theatre they were camcorded in. I think the woman from Sony said 40% of the copies came from Canada and were usually the best copies. Montreal is a favorite place for pirates since they can get both French and English versions in the same place.
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