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WB Took Pains To "Delay" Pirating of Dark Knight
Jay writes "The L.A. Times is reporting on a new studio tactic — not to prevent piracy, but to delay it, as was the case with special tactics used with Dark Knight. 'Warner Bros. executives said the extra vigilance paid off, helping to prevent camcorded copies of the reported $180-million film from reaching Internet file-sharing sites for about 38 hours. Although that doesn't sound like much progress, it was enough time to keep bootleg DVDs off the streets as the film racked up a record-breaking $158.4 million on opening weekend. The movie has now taken in more than $300 million. The success of an anti-piracy campaign is measured in the number of hours it buys before the digital dam breaks.'" You know what else helps to have a big opening weekend? Making a good movie.
Why so serious??
You know what helps to prevent piracy?
Making a really terrible movie.
There are people out there who will track you down, smear you with honey and stake you out on top of an ant hill if you catch you distributing copies of "Alone in the Dark" or "BloodRayne". It's how the community polices itself.
They used the Disappearing Camcorder Trick© to "persuade" would be pirateurs to go elsewhere...
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
"If the movie's a stiff, and word gets out too early that it's a stiff, it's devastating to the business model," Garland said.
here come the tears...
www.purevolume.com/martyd
I'm sorry, but I'm just not capable of managing that level of suspension of disbelief.
Hehehe. I know what you mean. I can suspend my disbelief long enough to imagine a guy in a bat costume flying and swinging around a darkened city fighting the forces of evil, but I can't figure out how a 38 hour delay makes any sort of dent in stopping piracy.
Shhh, Europeans know everything. Bow down before their mighty wisdom.
They can take any measure they like, pirated or not, I'll not waste money on a Hollywood movie, especially not when most movie experiences are polluted with:
(partial list)
# assholes talking
# assholes farting
# assholes laughing at the wrong time
# assholes gesticulating wildly
# assholes getting up during the middle of the movie and explaining loudly to the person near them why they're leaving and what do they want to eat or drink while they're blocking part of the screen
# assholes talking on their cell phones
# assholes allowing their cell phone to ring several times before touching it
# assholes not talking on their cell phones, but fondling them and waving them around so the light shines in your face and distracts you from the movie
# assholes coming in late and looking for seats
# assholes spoiling the movie by bragging about the ending because they've seen it before
# assholes who don't bathe or just arrived from their construction job and smile as they sit down next to you, as if you were happy to see them
# assholes who make out with hotties in front of you
# assholes who snack loudly
# assholes who stick their camcorder right next to you
# assholes who hold up their cellphone and aim it at the screen and move it around several times
# assholes who can't sit still and move around in their seats constantly
# assholes who start talking during slow or quiet parts of the movie because they're too stupid to take in the movie unless it's full of nonstop action so their mind starts to work again and they must fill it by talking and/or moving
# assholes who put their feet/legs over the back of your seat
# assholes who are sick and should stay home, but you hear them coughing throughout the entire movie
# assholes who bring their annoying families with them, mistaking it for a play area
# assholes who ask everyone in their row several times mundane questions and repeat themselves "what did you say? WHAT?"
# assholes who come for air conditioning only and take out their laptop or other work and shuffle papers and other objects
I'm not paying to see a movie in public, not with the assholes. I'm not paying to rent it, either. Instead, I'll wait a few months until it comes out to the public library on DVD, and check it out for free. FREE. I'll watch it in my own home without the assholes, and without wasting time and money in the process.
Fuck you MPAA, and fuck you assholes, I win.
The congressmen can't be that stupid right?
Morgan Freeman was in it. You fail.
I, for one, would never have paid to see this excellent movie on the big screen in full surround if I could have downloaded a crappy camcorder copy with someone's head blocking 1/3 of the screen... nosiree!
Here in Spain
Does Spain offer asylum for refugees from the U.S. copyright regime?
That's because of all the cameras (at least, in Britain).
SIG: HUP
Morgan Freeman is a fine African American citizen. Are you calling him a nigger? You racist bastard!!
Just wondering if pirated copies of The Dark Knight would look best using TDK media?
Smivs on the intertubes!
I'll tell you what. If a movie producer gives me their planned list for the director and the actors and a copy of the screenplay, I'll turn that around in 1 day and tell you if your film will suck or not.
Now, after a few years of me depriving Uwe Boll, SNL spinoff actor, and a few Wayans brothers of their livelyhood, eventually I'll reach a point where I won't immediately recognize the crap. At that point, I may be out of a job, but the films will be better.
So there isn't some 'hit-movie' button, but there certainly should be a lever to flush the crap.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
Hey, now. The Wayan brothers and Rob Schneider have to eat, y'know.
You're making me think. You won't like me when I'm thinking.
Oh my... my Mac, with all smoothing turned off, rendered that "cl" in "click" exactly like a "d." At first I thought there was some awesome new simile I was learning...
Dude, I think I can see my house from here.
I am a racist bastard you insensitive clod!
I may or may not get alot off USENET. I may or may not have an unlimited account because the 50 gig a month account just wasn't cutting it. I may or may not have gotten "The Love Guru" because I may or may not actually "try" and watch anything. So a few weeks ago, I may or may not have been in my living room, folding/sorting socks with the Love Guru on in the background. It may or may not have been so bad that I actually stopped it so I could concentrate on folding my socks.
A hypothetically free DVD quality version of a new supposed Hollywood movie, in the air conditioned comfort of my alleged home was theortically so bad that I may or may not have turned it off so I could focus on sorting socks.
Oh, and Sock monster 5, Me 0.
I wish. I just feel like a TV is an investment I'm going to have for 10 years and may as well get something good. I also got lucky bought a floor model so it was about the same price as most of the 42" or 46" TVs that my friends have. I don't think an HDTV is considered a luxury item these days any more.
Yep. By those standards, the new Mike Myers film was phenomenally successful: Love Guru comes out as the least pirated major studio release in a decade.
So, they credit those 38 hours for the record-breaking $158.4 million they made on opening weekend, but they've made another $150 million since the pirated copies have been available (according to the article). So, the pirated copies becoming available didn't seem to have much of an affect, did it?
Hey, 8.4 million dollars is nothing to sneeze at!
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
That's appalling. It should of course be "Go to see this film".
This concludes the FOX News Commentary on this article. Next up: Barack Obama, secret muslim, or just a terrorist?
+5, Truth
Depends on who you are as to whether watching a movie at home is better though. For me, if I'm watching at my place, alone, then it's good. I watch a movie as intently as possible picking out every single little detail that I can.
However, me, my brother & his wife, and my sister head over to my parents house once or twice per week to watch movies (my brother has a Netflix subscription and usually brings over some new release that we haven't seen yet). Big screen TV, surround sound, 3 couches, etc. Should be great, except that my family tends to look at viewing a movie in a home setting as a release from the constraints of the theater. The movie just becomes something to fill in background while they talk (either with each other or on the phone), play with the dog(s), wash dishes, or clean the house.
When I can convince the whole family to actually go to the theater (maybe once a year, if that) it's nice, because they will typically behave themselves in an actual theater, and the antics of the other viewers pale in comparison to what I'd have to endure on a family movie night.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
or a "drug dealer" who sells oregano.
This explains the sudden Italian accent I developed after the last bowl...
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx