Warner Bros.calls Canada "Piracy Haven", cancels movie screenings

[CougarKing]

There are many countries with weak copyright laws and rampant movie piracy (COUGH, CHINA, COUGH, COUGH) where Warner Bros. hasn't cancelled those previews, but then they had to cite Canada above all? :

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070509/ap_en_mo/canada_film_piracy

Warner Bros. cancels Canada previews
Wed May 9, 8:36 AM ET

TORONTO - Canadian film lovers hoping to catch an early peek at "Ocean's Thirteen" and the upcoming Harry Potter sequel will be out of luck after Warner Bros. canceled all of its advance screenings and accused Canada of being at the forefront of the piracy market.

Darcy Antonellis, Warner Bros.' senior vice president of worldwide anti-piracy operations, defended the move Tuesday, saying weak Canadian copyright rules have made the country a haven for organized crime syndicates to make and sell illegal DVDs.

It is currently not a criminal offense in Canada to make recordings of movies in theaters for personal use. In order to prosecute a pirate, there must be proof that the copy of the film is being made for commercial purposes.

"Canada does have the highest camcording rate (by individuals in theaters) of any other territory," Antonellis said Tuesday by phone from Los Angeles.

"This is eliminating one of the avenues of leaks that we have already identified."

Warner Bros. said roughly 70 per cent of its releases have been pirated in Canada over the last 18 months.

The studio's ban on advance screenings, affecting roughly a dozen Canadian cities, will begin immediately. Movies affected include the upcoming        Brad Pitt-        George Clooney film "Ocean's Thirteen" and the hotly anticipated "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

The move is less severe than one proposed last year by 20th Century Fox, which threatened to push back the release date of its films in Canada over the same issue.

Ottawa-based copyright expert Michael Geist questioned Warner Bros.'s piracy accusations, noting that independent reports have suggested counterfeiting is far less severe than the film studios make them out to be.

Film writer Brian Johnson doubted the general public would even notice Warner Bros.' protest.

"I think it's a thin slice of the population who actually goes to those preview screenings," he said.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Hey, morons......yea, over here, ........I'll let you in on a secret, make it so one doesn't have to pawn thier first-born to take the family to a movie and that problem would probably be a non-factor.

No, no....., thank you.
[from a guy who has been to a movie , maybe 5/6 times in the last 15 years]

 

[KwaiLo]

I'm really not sure that I care about this.  As I'm not sure, I'm pretty sure I don't. 

I rent movies, fairly often in fact.  I don't often go to the movies though, as with 2 kids it becomes an expensive night pretty quickly.

As long as they don't change when the rentals come out, I'll be ok.  Given the level of CloneDVD use in Canada though, who knows what the next step will be.

 

[childs56]

Oh well, another Foreign Company bites the dust in Canada

 

[retiredgrunt45]

Who the hell cares, let them keep their crap south of the border. I can count on one hand how many movies I have rented or gone and seen in the theatre over the past 20 years, that were actually worth seeing.

Want a good story, read a book.

Piracy this.... since I can't actually express it here, use your imagination.

 

[proudnurse]

I'm really not sure that I care about this.  As I'm not sure, I'm pretty sure I don't. 

I rent movies, fairly often in fact.  I don't often go to the movies though, as with 2 kids it becomes an expensive night pretty quickly.
As long as they don't change when the rentals come out, I'll be ok.  Given the level of CloneDVD use in Canada though, who knows what the next step will be.

Sounds familiar! I do recall, when Curious George played at the theatre (quite a while ago now) for myself, my daughter and just one bag of popcorn and a couple drinks by the time we were done with our evening it was around $40. This is one big reason, why we do not do the theatre too, too often. It's rentals much more often for us.

~Rebecca

 

[Fishbone Jones]

As with others here, I hate the extortionist prices they charge at theatres. I may go once a year with the wife, but buy only the ticket, nothing else. WB has done me a favour. They've now given me enough reason to quit going to the theatre at all. As with most things, if it's good, it'll be worth the wait (for it to make it to DVD, in this case).

 

[GAP]

WB did nothing but take away free previews....kinda like breaking your foot to teach your running technique a lesson....dumb...

 

[MikeM]

The movie industry is hurting for money already, Warner Brothers will be losing even more, fuck em. Stay out.

 

[Yrys]

I rarely goes to movies, because of the price.

But when I do, I must admit beeing sometimes guilty of
introduction of snacks/water undercover  :-[ !

 

[proudnurse]

I rarely goes to movies, because of the price.

But when I do, I must admit beeing sometimes guilty of
introduction of snacks/water undercover  :-[ !

I think we are all guilty of that from time to time! Especially if you have a "Kernal's Popcorn" in the same mall as your movie theatre. One just opened up at my Mall in the last few weeks. I'm sure alot of people will be doing that with having them so close by! I know we will have to go see Shrek 3... that is one we can't pass that by on the big screen and definately going to "Kernal's" first

~Rebecca

 

[NCS_Eng]

They've only cancelled the advance screenings of movies. The one-night "Sneak Peeks" available 1-2 weeks before the regular premiere date of the movie. WB will still be showing all their movies in Canada at the regular premiere dates. I doubt most people will even notice. Since most of these advance screens come with tons of promotional "free passes" the amount of money that WB will lose cancelling these shows is minuscule.

It kind of sucks for me because I've been to 1/2 dozen of these advance screenings over the past year because a friend of mine works at a newspaper and gets free passes.