I don’t want to push any buttons or create any waves with 20th Century, so I just offer the link to AICN where you can see a fuzzy, pirate peek at the latest Avatar trailer. I enjoyed it and was happy to see all the actors involved with the movie – particularly Giovanni Ribisi with Sigourney Weaver. I don’t think James Cameron is going to let us down. I am making babysitting arrangements for opening day — December 18, 2009.
I don’t know how long the trailer will be up — it’s already been taken down at YouTube. You better go see it, now, or wait for the super-clean, crisp copy on October 29, 2009 when it hits the Internet.
It might surprise you to know that both Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwartzenegger will be back to take on the action movie world in 2010’s The Expendables. It might be especially surprising since, at last report, California was one bus token away from complete fiscal Armageddon, so what is the governor doing running around in movies?
But anyway! A trailer was successfully bootlegged out of Venice for The Expendables, and we’ve got it directly below thanks to the magic of YouTube.
If you think it looks a lot like every other movie Stallone was ever in, then you’re probably not too far off. Except, of course, this one has Jason Statham. And Jason Statham is pretty much always awesome.
The teaser trailer, meanwhile, is of relatively poor quality but such is the way that all bootlegs pretty much go. You will, however, get to see how very cookie-cutter this action flick will be in advance, so you’ll know in advance if you want to see it. Frankly, I’m probably in because I enjoy this kind of mindless eye-candy. And somewhere, an entire studio hopes against hope that you will be too.
Piracy has pretty much plagued Hollywood since the dawn of VHS, but the ever increasing bandwidth of broadband internet is causing major headaches for studios. Torrent programmes are bypassing laws and methods of tracing pirates, and even new and more intricate ways of getting the latest movies are possible. Almost every Christmas sees the release of Oscar potentials online as screeners are copied. 2007 saw the leak of American Gangster a week before its initial release. But possibly the biggest blow to Hollywood yet is this week’s leak of the forthcoming summer blockbuster Wolverine.
A sort of prequel to the X-Men films, the Hugh Jackman vehicle is now working its way through the internet, a month before its worldwide release. The version is a workprint cut, meaning that many special effects are incomplete, some of the sound needs to be refined, and there are probably scenes that need to be added or cut. But, according to those who have watched it, the quality is quite good.
Needless to say, Fox are pretty unhappy with this, and are estimating that several hundred thousand people have viewed it. The FBI are currently investigating exactly how a workprint was leaked. Meanwhile, most established movie review websites are refraining from posting reviews of an incomplete movie. On the bright side, if those who watch the workprint enjoy it, not only will they most likely watch the complete version next month, but they may generate good word of mouth and actually boost box office intake. American Gangster, for example, went on to make $266 million worldwide.
In yet another display of the MPAA, and government, cracking down on those attempting to pirate movies, a Maryland resident by the name of Michael Logan was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison on Tuesday.
His crime? Illegally recording 28 Weeks Later and Enchanted in a Washington, D.C., theater. This isn’t it though, the MPAA says Mr. Logan could have been responsible for recording more than 100 films from the time-span of January 2006 to January 2008.
“This sentence should serve as a reminder to would-be camcorder thieves that they will in fact be prosecuted and can face serious consequences for engaging in this illegal activity,” said MPAA VP John Malcolm.
Common now Michael, if you’re going to record movies in a theater, at least steer clear of the one district that houses the Federal government. What were you thinking?
As if the war in Iraq isn’t enough, lobbyist are now urging Congress to declare war on everything that is piracy. Claiming that piracy hurts U.S. jobs and economic strength, those opposing piracy are asking Congress to pass the Pro IP Act which will basically put governmental strength behind organizations like the MPAA and RIAA. With major companies like NBC backing this new legislation, those who support piracy may have some hard times ahead of them.
Geremi Adam, a 25-year-old, referred to by the FBI as “a world leader in Internet movie piracy” was recently taken into custody for, you guessed it, movie piracy. It seems that this notorious internet pirate would record movies from a downtown Montreal theatre, with nothing more than his camcorder, touch up the picture, then sell the finished product under aliases and net up to $1,000 per movie.
Adam will appear in Montreal court sometime early next year but isn’t it funny how the Royal Canadian Mount Police succeeded in nabbing a main player in online movie piracy faster than the Motion Picture Association of America?
I don’t want to push any buttons or create any waves with 20th Century, so I just offer the link to AICN where you can see a fuzzy, pirate peek at the latest Avatar trailer. I enjoyed it and was happy to see all the actors involved with the movie – particularly Giovanni Ribisi with Sigourney Weaver. I don’t think James Cameron is going to let us down. I am making babysitting arrangements for opening day — December 18, 2009. 
Piracy has pretty much plagued Hollywood since the dawn of VHS, but the ever increasing bandwidth of broadband internet is causing major headaches for studios. Torrent programmes are bypassing laws and methods of tracing pirates, and even new and more intricate ways of getting the latest movies are possible. Almost every Christmas sees the release of Oscar potentials online as screeners are copied. 2007 saw the leak of 
Geremi Adam, a 25-year-old, referred to by the FBI as “a world leader in Internet movie piracy” was recently taken into custody for, you guessed it, movie piracy. It seems that this notorious internet pirate would record movies from a downtown Montreal theatre, with nothing more than his camcorder, touch up the picture, then sell the finished product under aliases and net up to $1,000 per movie.