Warner Brothers to Ban Advance Movie Screenings in Canada

Piracy has long plagued the movie industry. Just last week the new hit-film Spider-Man 3 was leaked onto the internet before it was released to the general public. And just about every new movie is available online within days of its release. Needless to say, major movie studios such as 20^th Century Fox and Warner Brothers are not happy. Not one bit.

As most know by now, movies are often leaked early by people who use camcorders to record movies. By sneaking in their video recorders into a theater, movie-goers can store new movies and transfer them onto their computer. From there, all it takes is a simple file conversion and the movie is ready to be uploaded online. Some movies are even formatted to a format which allows them to be burned and viewed on DVDs.

One of the main sources of this piracy has been tracked into the country to the north; Canada. Unlike the United States, it is not illegal to bring a camcorder into the theater and record a movie; so long as the recorded tape is only for "personal" use. With such lax laws, it is no wonder why the aforementioned studios are fuming about Canada.

Unfortunately for Canadian citizens, these careless laws which promote piracy are beginning to have a backlash against the community as a whole. After hearing threats from 20^th Century Fox of delayed release dates of new movies, Canada now has to deal with the ban of advance screenings imposed by Warner Brothers.

This lack of advance screenings should help fix two major problems; before-release leaks and early leaks. The former problem refers to the one faced by Sony with Spider-Man 3, where internet downloads allowed some fans to view the blockbuster movie for free in advance to the release. As Warner Brothers estimates that seventy percent of their leaks originate from Canada, this move should certainly solve that problem. The latter refers to the fact that all movies are online within two-three days of the movie's release date. With longer waiting periods for new hits, it is possible that some may be discouraged from downloading for bigger movies.

Either way, one thing is for sure. Canadians will be watching Ocean's 13 and the new Harry Potter at the same time as all of us. And they certainly will have to work harder to once again thwart the major movie studios from America.

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