I can’t help it. I just find this amusing. It seems to me that Hollywood would have learned by now that an advanced premiere, especially in a foreign country, costs millions of copies in the digital age. Once upon a time, the movie premiere was a marketing necessity, but today it’s just stupid.
China’s infamous movie pirates have done it again — “Spider-Man 3″ is already being sold on Beijing’s streets almost two weeks ahead of its U.S. premier.
Costing just over $1 (50 pence) apiece, the pirated DVDs appear to be of the actual movie, complete with a picture of the hero in a new, black spider suit which he wears for some of the film.
There is even a warning on the back, printed in Chinese, against pirating the product.
Early pirated copies of Hollywood blockbusters are sometimes filmed in cinemas and viewers can see people walking in front of the screen or hear members of the audience coughing. Other DVDs show totally different films to what may be advertised on the cover. China has been riled by U.S. complaints to the World Trade Organisation that it is not doing enough to tackle piracy, such as the billions lost each year by Hollywood to copyright pirates.The government says it does take the problem seriously, but faces a multitude of problems such as convincing the man on the street not to buy fakes.
“It’s too expensive to go to the cinema to watch movies,” said Beijing resident Duan Nana. “This has a lot to do with why people are rushing to buy fake DVDs and watch movies at home. It’s very common and it’s logical.”
“Spider-Man 3″ debuts in U.S. theatres on May 4 with the original cast of Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco reprising their roles.
The movie had its world premiere in Tokyo earlier this month.
Update: Sadly, last night Reuters contradicted itself, just hours after initially running this story. According to the new article:
Sony Pictures Entertainment on Tuesday said DVDs in China that were reported to be pirated copies of widely anticipated “Spider-Man 3″ are in fact copies of its predecessor, “Spider-Man 2.” “Contrary to news reports about stolen copies of ‘Spider-Man 3′ being sold illegally on the streets in China, our investigation in China has revealed no case of the film being pirated to date,” Sony Pictures said in a statement.
Original Source: Reuters
Update Source: Reuters
|
|
|
