SubscribePirated copies of newest Oscar films are already on the web
Here's yet another reason why Hollywood studios must release their Oscar contenders before late December. In the cases of "The Great Debaters" 
and "The Bucket List," DVD screeners had to be sent to academy members even before those films opened in theaters. At this point we don't know if those DVDs were the source, but pirated copies hit the Internet before those pix hit cineplexes. Oscar screeners are embedded with the names of recipients so they can be traced, but if they're the source and the culprits are never fingered, then it's obvious that pirates have found a clever way to hack through.
According to VCDQuality.com, which monitors illegal cyber-releases, these other December-released Oscar films are also in cyber-circulation: "Atonement," "The Kite Runner" and "I Am Legend." But so are popcorn pix "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks," which are contenders in the Oscar tech categories.
Luckily, "There Will Be Blood," which debuts in theaters on Wednesday and was shipped via DVDs to voters on Dec. 16, hasn't been leaked yet. Neither has "Sweeney Todd," which opened on Dec. 21 and arrived in Oscar voters' mailboxes on Christmas Eve.
However, all of these earlier derby contenders have been ripped off: "American Gangster," "The Brave One," "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," "Eastern Promises," "The Golden Compass," "Gone Baby Gone," "I'm Not There," "No Country for Old Men" and "3:10 to Yuma."
Have the Studio's make a deal with Netflix or Price Waterhouse to send the DVDs in a numbered return envelope to those that can't attend free screenings. Let them check off which films they want to see and return them.
Posted by: don keegan | December 27, 2007 at 11:02 AM
Does anyone see that the source of piracy are the studios and their members? A week before American Gangster hit the theaters it was available as a DVD for download off the net. Not a video cam version, but a studio released DVD.
Control your own people before you sue old grandmas for downloading what's freely available to begin with.
Posted by: slav | December 26, 2007 at 02:42 PM
1) Why don't the Academy Members watch the movies in a theater, just like the rest of us?
2) Maybe the Academy should set up a website with a special security key for access and then they can download the movie into the Academy member's computer.
Posted by: reasonablecomplainer | December 26, 2007 at 02:02 PM
yeah, Denzels management and the Weinsteins has really been working hard bridging the digital divide this year. Oscar silly season starts earlier and earlier.
jwells
Posted by: jefreywellls | December 26, 2007 at 11:39 AM
why not ship the dvd 2-4 weeks, eg, after the release? the first year will have a lag time but thereafter there will be a full year - just a shift in the time frame. Which system is more costly?
Posted by: van | December 26, 2007 at 07:26 AM