TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) – In a pre-emptive strike against movie piracy originating from Canada, Warner Bros. Pictures said Monday it will cancel preview screenings of its movies north of the border.
Frustrated with unauthorized camcording of its new releases in Canadian cinemas, the studio said it will immediately halt all “promotional and word-of-mouth screenings” of upcoming releases.
Source. While drastic, let’s see who is hurt by this:
Canadian Movie Critics: They don’t get to preview films in advance, in order to release reviews in time for the movie’s actual theatrical release.
Film’s Financial Interests: In this I include the cast, the director, the crew, etc. Simply said: films with no [positive] reviews make less money than films with positive reviews. They are in essence being used as pawns to armtwist the Canadian government to enact legislation it allegedly already has.
Consumer: Well, they don’t get reviews from the papers. At which point some will turn to the Internet. So there’s little consumer collateral, but the message sent is clear: enact legislation.
It’s a drastic move. Do I think it will work? To enact legislation: yes. To curb camcording in Canada: no. Nevertheless, if it’s already illegal, I don’t see anything wrong with making it illegal again. After all, what is there to lose by enacting such legislation?
I will, however, raise hell if they try to push through a DMCA equivalent along with this anti-camcording bill.
I’m sure the directors will appreciate their films being sacrificed as tools to armtwist the government into enacting [arguably] ineffective legislation.