It looks like another movie studio is taking action against Canadian moviegoers in an attempt to curb piracy. Earlier this year we heard that Fox had threatened to outright delay movie release dates here in Canada because the country seems to be a huge source for pirated films (Montreal in particular). Of course, they have never followed up on these threats, and I’m glad because it would seem ridiculous to punish the entire country for the actions of a few. Unfortunately, it looks like Warner Brothers have taken it one step further and done exactly that. They have announced that they will no longer be showing sneak preview advance screenings anywhere in Canada.

President of domestric distribution, Dan Fellman, had this to say: “We regret having to cancel our screenings in Canada, but our studio must take steps to protect not only our branded assets but our commitment to our filmmakers and to our distributors.” The ban will start with Ocean’s 13 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and will continue from there. The goal is obviously to pressure the Canadian government into legislating harsher sentences for bootleggers and pirates; currently the act is only punishable by a fine I believe. However, it remains to be seen whether or not this is actually a step that will be noticed by anyone. If, as they say, it is only “promotional and word-of-mouth screenings” that will be blocked, then who cares? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a public sneak preview of a movie in Canada (granted, I’m sure there are some that happen in the Toronto area). And let’s face it, they’d be foolish to cut off Canadian film critics from advance screenings. Is this really necessary? Won’t the bad press from this move be more damaging to them than a few pirated films? In general, I think if they put the same energy into making good movies that they put into stopping piracy then I think they’d be a lot better off!

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