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Bootleg Star Wars AotC Debuts on Internet
Arctic Fox writes "Matt Drudge is reporting that bootleg copies of the new Star Wars movie have been appearing on the internet one week before the movie's big screeen debut. The article says that they have used a tripod mounted camera at a pre-screening to tape it. Not known is if anyone is seen walking in front of the camera."
I gotta admit, I find this amusing, although I'd never bother downloading it:
I've had 12:01 tickets ready to go and there is no way I'm gonna spoil it watching
a low quality divx.
Having lived in Asia for 15+ years, I can say that this is the way that almost all new movies makes if over there.
Somebody sneaks into a screaning with a camcorder and films the movie. It's always fun to see whether the guy will use a tripod (most don't for fear of getting caught), who's going to stand up during the movie, whether the dude will be eating popcorn (always a little hard to hear the dialogue), and what the audience finds funny.
These bootlegs are almost always sold as VCDs instead of DVDs and they are so low quality that if you have a prayer of seeing the movie at the theater, you don't touch them. Sometimes you get the ultimate surprise of watching "It's a Bug's Life" instead of "Jurrasic Park III", but it's all part of the experience.
P.S. to the MPAA - if you actually sold movies in China that were legal, this sort of thing would never fly with the public.
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Other news, more digital theaters, unfortunately shy on details, but there's a listing of some on DLP.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
"Damn this digital copying technology!" cries the MPAA. "It makes it really easy for a single copy to be rapidly distributed to many sites!"
Which is true, but these early copies are all taken from pre-release showings of celluloid. Given that the studios clearly can't keep control of the celluloid, it's no longer giving them any benefit. In fact, they're a bloody liability, as it takes time to make many celluloid copies and to distribute them, worldwide in this case. Consider the problems of trying to make and ship thousands of celluloid copies all around the world, weeks before the first screenings, while trying to keep an eye on them and stop reviewers filming the showings (or people in the distribution chain just pocketing copies).
Hey, here's a solution that I can think of. Give up on it. Keep a single digital master, say "FUCK the reviewers" ('cause half of them don't watch the damn film anyway before writing their review, and some of those who do are filming it!), transmit digital copies the day before showing start, and only start your celluloid printing there and then. Digital copying technology makes it really easy for a single copy to be rapidly distributed to many sites, remember? Hey, we can figure that out.
George wants to encourage more digital screens, right? Great, do something about it. (Assuming Episode 2 doesn't suck), then consider if Episode 3 screen times were:
Get the point? The digital genie is out of the bottle, and it can't be put back. Celluloid is a security liability. Distributors might as well get with the 21st century and start using digital technology rather than weeping over how much it's costing them.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
...that they're selling the movie theater experience as much as the actual movie? Like Taco said, even if somebody plunked a DIVX copy of AOTC in my hands right now, there's no way I'm gonna watch some shitty DIVX when I can pay 8 dollars for to watch it on a screen that's bigger than my apartment, in a comfy chair, with booming digital sound.
:) I'd pay a few extra dollars for a ticket to a more upscale theater.
In any business, you think about what you're offering that's UNIQUE, whether it be price, quality, features, or convenience. What do theaters have that's unique? Certainly not the movies, since they're freely available via the Internet, or cheaply available via rental several months later. It's the theaters themselves (and the associated trip-to-the-movies-with-friends experience) that are unique. Now, this experience SUCKS in some ways (lines, rude employees, partially-chewed Goobers under your feet in the theater) but that's all the more reason to improve it.
Theaters ARE starting to catch on, with features like comfy stadium seating. I'd like to see them take it a little further. A lot of art-house movie theaters have nice interiors and lounges, with food that's nicer than the usual horrid crap at large theaters, and it often costs less. It would be nice to see slightly more upscale mainstream theaters. Also, they should sell beer.
Sure, lots of people are gonna download this flick off the net, but I really don't think many of those people were gonna PAY to see the movie in the first place.
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Actually though electronic device scanners could detect all cell phones and force people to either put them on vibrate or store tehm, and that would be a very good thing.
I wish they would. Ever since I first had a cellphone or pager (10 years ago) I would always turn it off when I went to the movies so as not to disturb my fellow viewers. Nowdays not only do people not turn their phones off, but they let them ring for a minute or more and then they answer them and proceed to have a conversation during the movie. I was about ready to choke this one bitch to death because her phone rang, her husband answered it, passed it to her, she argued with someone on the other end, and then they passed it back and forth for close to 10 minutes.
I have lost any sense of civility when it comes to that anymore. Usually I yell out something like "Would whichever fuckbrain has the ringing phone turn it off or get the hell out?" Or "What kind of shit-for-brains parent brings a crying baby to a 9PM movie? Get that whining kid outta here!"
I didn't have any desire to see Blow. Then I got a shitty bootleg from gnutella. It looked like a very good movie. So I paid the NYC theater mafia $9.50 to see it on the big screen. So they actually profitted from me downloading a bottleg. I may even buy the DVD one of these days.
But the MPAA doesn't want you to know about people like me.