p2pnet - rss feed: Hollywood bans Canada
p2pnet.net news:- Warner Bros, one of Hollywood’s major studios, has escalated the phony ‘piracy’ war launched against Canada.
Fronted by their their MPAA, and backed by the George W. Bush administration, Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney are claiming up to 50% of movies which show up online illegally are Made in Canada.
Notwithstanding claims that its owners are being ruined by movie pirates, in its eye-popping annual theatrical market statistics report, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) said global film audiences, “boosted the worldwide box office to an all-time high of $25.8 billion, compared to 23.3 billion in 2005,” an 11% increase.
And the US box office, “rebounded in 2006 to finish the year at $9.49 billion in revenues compared to $8.99 billion in 2005 - a 5.5% increase from the previous year, with 1.45 billion movie tickets sold in the U.S., ending a three-year downward trend in ticket sales,” it says.
Now, “In a pre-emptive strike against movie piracy originating from Canada, Warner Bros. Pictures said Monday that the studio will cancel preview screenings of its movies north of the border,” spins the Hollywood Reporter.
“Frustrated with unauthorized camcording of its new releases in Canadian cinemas, Warner Bros. Pictures Canada said it will immediately halt all ‘promotional and word-of-mouth screenings’ of upcoming releases.”
In the US, Hollywood rules, sponsoring one self-interest bill after another. The studios want things to be the same in Canada but so far, entertainment cartel efforts to have Canadian laws changed have been unsuccessful
The ban will start with the upcoming release of “Ocean’s Thirteen” and continue with the July 13 release of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” says Reuters, going on:
“Warners said it is reacting to the failure of the Canadian government to introduce legislation here to make camcording of films for trafficking around the world illegal and a punishable offense.”
Canada is the, “No. 1 priority in terms of anti-camcording legislation,” it has Darcy Antonellis, senior vp worldwide anti-piracy operations at Warner Bros. Entertainment, declaring.
“Within the first week of a film’s release, you can almost be certain that somewhere out there a Canadian copy will show up,” Antonellis says, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Neither story bothers to make the point that Hollywood insiders are directly responsible for many, if not most, of the movies which show up online.
And they’re much better copies than the inferior (ask the MPAA) cam-corded versions the studio claim are ruining them.
p2pnet reported recently:
“A man who allegedly uploaded a copy of the film ‘Flushed Away’ onto the Internet after getting a copy from an Oscar voter faces a felony charge,” says Associated Press, continuing:
“Salvador Nunez Jr., 27, was charged with copyright infringement and faces up to three years in prison if convicted. He was scheduled to appear in court March 1. Prosecutors said he obtained a copy of the movie after it was sent in advanced to his sister, an Oscar voter and member of The International Animated Film Society.”
But Nunez isn’t alone. Far from it. A now famous AT&T Labs report says of a total of 285 movies researchers sampled on the p2p networks, 77% were leaked by industry ‘insiders’, and Mel Gibson’s Icon company sued a Hollywood post-production house for the unwanted online appearance of his Passion movie.
Russell Sprague got 130 movies from Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences member Carmine Caridi, who was ordered to pay Warner Bros a paltry $300,000 for providing Sprague, who died in an LA jail cell, with the copies.
When Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, showed up online, “There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorrent providing users with illegal copies of Revenge of the Sith,” MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) boss Dan ‘Jedi’ Glickman raged.
However, it wasn’t kids. It was insiders. Marc Hoaglin and friends were charged with leaking Revenge of the Sith, having appropriated it from a post- production facility.
And there are plenty of other similar examples.
In this latest revelation of Hollywood culpability, according to the FBI, “Nunez acknowledged he uploaded ‘Flushed Away’ and the Oscar-nominated film ‘Happy Feet’ onto the Internet, court documents said. However, investigators only found a copy of ‘Flushed Away’ in his computer hard drive.”
And in a now famous report, AT&T Labs report said of a total of 285 movies its researchers sampled on the p2p networks, 77% were leaked by industry ‘insiders’.
Also See:
Made in Canada - Hollywood’s war on Canada, May 4, 2007
all-time high of $25.8 billion - Hollywood reports record revenues, March 6, 2007
Hollywood Reporter - WB bans previews in Canada, May 8, 2007
Reuters - Warner Bros. bans Canada previews in piracy move, May 8, 2007
Oscar voter - Hollywood insider in upload scandal, February 23, 2007
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May 8th, 2007 at 9:19 am
If they eventually stop releasing movies in Canada it’ll just ensure that 100% of all American movies will be bootleg. Once people get a taste of DRM free first run movies on their home theater they won’t want to go back to the olden days. I also think these people will demand better quality now that HDTV is begining to gain steam. Street vendors will step up to the plate and fix that too.
Money that would have been wasted in theaters will be spent in back alleys buying pirated movies.
May 8th, 2007 at 11:35 am
I wonder what the real issue is?
Is it:
- Canadia politicians need more excuses to invoke the law the studio want (and most likely have paid for)
- Are Canadian critics (I assume they would be at the advanced screenings) harder on the movies than their American counter parts?
- Is there some cost savings benifiet to them to to not screen in Canada?
Hell, Arena’s ban cameras/video recorders etc. I assume theaters can as well, and throw you out for having one…. and it’s already illegal to record a movie and make money off of it.
INAL: But my best guess is the ‘copyright’ cartel are doing everyhing they can to get one law on the books in Canada, where they do not have to actually prove the ‘criminal’ made any money. So once ‘for profit’ is no longer a requirement and the fines are high enough, they have a foot in the door to add t to other laws.
I’m also sure they will continue their attempt to whittle away the whole burdon of proof ‘thuing’ that has kept them from suing in Canada…so far anyway.
They will not be happy untill they no longer have to prove anything. They make accusations and the acused has no option but to pay them, that’s how they want it and to me that’s extortion, pure and simple.
May 8th, 2007 at 11:36 am
sorry for my spelling, was in a hurry.
May 8th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Let the local filmmakers release more movies.
May 8th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Let the local filmmakers release more movies.
May 8th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
“Mel Gibson’s Icon company sued a Hollywood post-production house for the unwanted online appearance of his Passion movie.”
This just proves that Mel Gibson only made The Passion of the Christ for the money. Anyone who says that he did it because of his devout Christian faith apparently does not know about this lawsuit. If Mel truly did it for Christianity, he would only care about making enough box office money to pay back expenses, and care more about converting non-believers. Who’s to say that this lawsuit didn’t surface long after the Passion was out and making its millions? And even if it DID surface before the theatrical release, Mel should have been encouraging the movie’s distribution instead of thwarting it if he really cared more about the message than the money. I’m sure that he man had other ways to pay for the movie if it was indeed a flop.
May 9th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Yeah, Ironic how Hollywood says it wont pre-screen movies anymore, and how Canada is such a piracy haven, yet they always come here to film their movies just to save a few bucks. Maybe Hollywood should be banned from further filming American movies in Canada until they get their heads out of their asses regarding trying to blame us for crappy camera rips that nobody really cares about downloading. Honestly I’m sick of seeing movies filmed in Canada but portrayed as American locations.
May 9th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
This camcorder stuff is all just one big smokescreen anyways, they want to draw all of our attention away from the real deal, which is them trying to screw us all over with an Canadian DMCA and forcing their Anti-Circumvention and American made WIPO laws down our throats. This Camcorder legislation is just one of many anti-consumer things they will try to push on us. They want to get their first anti-consumer based bought and paid for law in the Canadian lawbooks, and once thats done, they will have their foot in the door finally, and many many more draconian laws will follow shortly thereafter.
Nevermind the fact that camcording in a theatre for motive of profit and distribution is already illegal. They just wanna make you guilty until proven innocent.
November 3rd, 2007 at 5:22 pm
This message is for READER’S WRITE.
I am Canadian, and after reading article after article and then your comments afterwards I just have one thing to say. YOU ROCK!
Is it that we are not (yet) under the US’s thumb or the 51st state yet, that the RIAA and MPAA feel they need to make Canadians look like the worst criminals in human history? Don’t they see we are a peace loving country that believes in peaceKEEPING, not peaceMAKING. Besides, we get ripped off royally for anything we buy. Especially anything electronic, including DVDs and CDs.
Now that the Canadian dollar is on par with the US dollar, the G.W. Harper government is scrambling to come up with reasons why we pay so much. We even have some kind of SPECIAL TAX on our blank optical media because we are such supposed pirates!!!! LOL
I salute you READER’S WRITE and I really hope you get a chance to read this comment.