20th Century Fox are threatening to delay releasing their studio’s output in Canada because of the rise in illegal recordings at screenings, especially in Montreal and elsewhere in the country.

Bruce Snyder, the president of domestic distribution at Fox, said…

“Canada has become a hotbed for film piracy. It’s a serious problem,”

He went on to say that cinema’s where the public have been caught using a camcorder will be instantly withdrawn from their release schedule, and failing that he said….

“If taking cinemas out of the system doesn’t work, we’ll move Canada back a couple weeks and no longer do day-and-date releases for our movies,”

I know what your thinking, why aren’t the culprits just arrested so the rest of the country who are honest cinema goers just wanting to watch the latest movies won’t be effected?

Well I can tell you it’s because unlike the U.S., current Canadian laws do not allow the arrest or prosecution of moviegoers with camcorders. Stupid, isn’t it?

The police in Canada are ignoring calls from cinema operators when those with camcorders recording the movie are caught.

Snyder went on to say…

“We have sent people up there to try to train the exhibitors on what to look for. But the local law enforcement has no authority. When a theater finds someone with a camcorder, they just come back the next day,”

Piracy is a serious problem for sure, but why punish the 98% of people who just want to go and watch a god damn movie. Delaying the release of movies will lead those that are honest cinemagoers, to venture out and purchase pirated DVD’s from other places because they can’t go and see the movie they want in the theatre.

Can you imagine if they delayed the release of 20th Century Fox’s upcoming Simpsons movie in July by a month? Those honest fans of The Simpsons who would have quite gladly paid to see the movie on the big screen on it’s opening release, may now be tempted to purchase an illegal copy because they are that desperate to see it.

This is a dumb more from Fox, and will surely do their studio more harm than good.

source – the hollywood reporter, dark horizons