[starman]

Star Wars fans "FORCED" to dress down for Episode III
Piracy the issue with the next Star Wars movie

LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - Go to any Star Wars premiere and you're bound to walk into Wookiees, Stormtroopers, Jedi, and even Darth Vader himself. However, local theaters in the Los Angeles area have been quietly asked to not allow anyone who dresses up to be allowed into the theater. "Costumes can hide a lot of equipment" said the manager of a local Loews who didn't want to be identified. "There was an issue years ago where a patron cleverly put his camcorder's lens inside his Borg costume for the premiere of the last Star Trek movie. It was on the internet only a few hours later".

Concerns have arisen because the last Star Wars movie found its way onto peer-to-peer networks before it was released to the public.

Not to be deterred, cos-players (people who dress up in costume) were determined to use the Force and make sure that they're allowed in. "Anyone could wear a hat or put a camera lens in a pair of glasses. If someone wants to copy the movie bad enough, they'll do it with or without a costume", said Dee Johnson of San Fernando who's been cos-playing for years as several different Star Wars characters.

The alternative? "We've been toying with the idea of selling tickets with seat numbers so that we know where the patron is sitting. If something shows up on the internet, we can determine exactly where that person was sitting, and who it was", said the same manager. "This is what we may have to do to protect our business".

Calls to Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox have not been returned.

[tikki]

Is this really necessary? Don't most pirated movies have Japanese subtitles!?

I am tired of this MPAA/RIAA crap.

[starman]

Originally posted by tikki:
Is this really necessary? Don't most pirated movies have Japanese subtitles!?

I am tired of this MPAA/RIAA crap.

Only if they come from Japan

Mike

[dreilly1]

"Costumes can hide a lot of equipment" said the manager of a local Loews who didn't want to be identified.

When I read this line, I thought the theater owners were worried about someone smuggling a bomb into the building. But silly me, I should have known that the ability to destroy a theater is insignificant next to the power of some guy with a camera!

I'm not sure how much longer content distributors can survive when they assume that their most devoted customers are hurting their business. Expecially the Star Wars franchise -- do you think anyone besides the nuts who dress up like wookies will bother to see it on the opening weekend this time around, after the way the last two turned out? Turn them away and it will probably be beat in the box office by whatever Adam Sandler crap is out at the time.

(Yeah, I edited that little blurb, and Mr. Starman cought it before the edit. So there. )

[starman]

Originally posted by dreilly1:
When I read this line, I thought the theater owners were worried about someone smuggling a bomb into the building. But silly me, I should have known that the ability to destroy a theater is insignificant next to the power of the filesharers!

I'm not sure how much longer content distributors can survive when they assume that their most devoted customers are hurting their business. Expecially the Star Wars franchise -- do you think anyone besides the nuts who dress up like wookies will bother to see it on the opening weekend this time around, after the way the last two turned out? Turn them away and it will probably be beat in the box office by whatever Adam Sandler crap is out at the time.

This is true. My guess from reading it is that they want to beat the cos-players at their own game. The scary part was when they said they might implement seat numbers so that they know who sat where. I wonder what the privacy advocates will do about that (if anything...theater owners can do what they want, no?).

Then again, cos-players are rather funny. Ever see the Conan O'Brien clip from the premiere of the last SW movie at the Ziegfeld?

Mike

[Goldfinger]

Originally posted by starman:
Ever see the Conan O'Brien clip from the premiere of the last SW movie at the Ziegfeld?

Mike

If have that clip. It's soooo hilarious .

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by tikki:
Is this really necessary? Don't most pirated movies have Japanese subtitles!?

I am tired of this MPAA/RIAA crap.

And here I'm wondering if it's the costumes that are really necessary ...

[DeathMan]

anyone who would take the time to download and watch a handheld video camera version of starwars is going to see it.

This is the stupiest thing I've ever heard.


DON'T BE EXCITED ABOUT OUR MOVIE! DON'T PROMOTE IT! DON'T DEDICATE YOUR EVERY WAKING MOMENT AND DISPOSABLE INCOME TO OUR MERCHANDISE!

[Uncle Skeleton]

Seat numbers? Is there only one screening, at one theater? Will they patrol the aisles during the movie to check ticket stubs? This is the stupidest idea I've ever heard.

[Millennium]

I can't say I've ever cosplayed Star Wars before, nor do I really have any intention of doing so. I cosplayed an anime once, though, at Orakon 2003; a bunch of my friends got together and we did the entire cast of Saiyuki.

I've got to say, this smacks of paranoia getting in the way of people's fun. Isn't fun supposed to be what entertainment is about? Isn't Star Wars supposed to be entertainment? It seems to me that the RIAA and MPAA have forgotten just what it is that they sell.

[Demonhood]

that'd never fly here.
1) 10% of the people at the premiere are dressed up
2) searching everyone would take forever
3) pissing off your fanbase (more so than you do with the actual product) is a bad idea.

they wanded us at a recent early screening of Sin City. they wouldn't let anyone in with a camera phone. not only is the idea of distributing a camera phone version of a 2 hour movie absurd, they didn't do a very good job of searching us. i got in with my camera phone and two pocket knives without incident.
so i'm inclined to believe that they're just giving lip service to this anti piracy stuff. besides, everyone knows that's not how most pirated copies come into existence nowadays.

p.s. all of this still applies if this is an April Fool's joke.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally posted by starman:

Holy obvious april fools batman!

Re-read this again:

"There was an issue years ago where a patron cleverly put his camcorder's lens inside his Borg costume for the premiere of the last Star Trek movie. It was on the internet only a few hours later".

Makes sense? No. If they found out the guy had a camera lens in his Borg, would they allow him out of the theatre to "post his pirated film on the internet only a few hours later"???

[Oisín]

Originally posted by - - e r i k - -:
Holy obvious april fools batman!

Re-read this again:

"There was an issue years ago where a patron cleverly put his camcorder's lens inside his Borg costume for the premiere of the last Star Trek movie. It was on the internet only a few hours later".

Makes sense? No. If they found out the guy had a camera lens in his Borg, would they allow him out of the theatre to "post his pirated film on the internet only a few hours later"???

Perhaps they tracked the leak back to him later on and he was arrested and confessed how he'd done it?

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally posted by Oisín:
Perhaps they tracked the leak back to him later on and he was arrested and confessed how he'd done it?

And perhaps the next version of Mac OS X really is called Wombat.

[Eriamjh]

Movies are stolen by insiders. It's a scientific fact.

[starman]

Originally posted by - - e r i k - -:
Holy obvious april fools batman!

Took long enough

/bows

erik wins a cookie

I've been wanting to post this for WEEKS. I'm glad it fooled people.

Mike

[OwlBoy]

Originally posted by starman:

Ever see the Conan O'Brien clip from the premiere of the last SW movie at the Ziegfeld?

Mike

http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/2536/

-Owl

[Obi Wan's Ghost]

They will never be able to undress a Jedi's phantasm.

[AppleOptionFour]

Originally posted by starman:
Took long enough

/bows

erik wins a cookie

I've been wanting to post this for WEEKS. I'm glad it fooled people.

Mike

I called bs on this at 8:39AM CST.

http://forums.macnn.com/postings.php...postid=2462936

[hart]

Originally posted by OwlBoy:
http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/2536/

-Owl

thank you for posting that. gave me a good laugh

[Link]

Ah yes, the RIAA/MPAA -- they're the equivlent of walking out of a store and the store patting you down before you leave, saying "WE THINK YOU'RE STEALING FROM US!" -- and then blame you anyway because you stopped shopping there.

They're so greedy they have to blame loss of profit on their customers. Why people like this don't get a clue and boycott them is beyond me.

[DeathMan]

Originally posted by starman:
Took long enough

/bows

erik wins a cookie

I've been wanting to post this for WEEKS. I'm glad it fooled people.

Mike

n1

[- - e r i k - -]

Cookie for me! Yay!

In your face, non-sceptics!

[starman]

Originally posted by Link:
Ah yes, the RIAA/MPAA -- they're the equivlent of walking out of a store and the store patting you down before you leave, saying "WE THINK YOU'RE STEALING FROM US!" -- and then blame you anyway because you stopped shopping there.

They're so greedy they have to blame loss of profit on their customers. Why people like this don't get a clue and boycott them is beyond me.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by Goldfinger:
If have that clip. It's soooo hilarious .

"Which buttons Calls your mom to come pick you up? "

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by Demonhood:
i got in with my camera phone and two pocket knives without incident.

Did you purposely grab the two pocket knives just to sneak them in? Because I don't see you as the pocket knife type.

besides, everyone knows that's not how most pirated copies come into existence nowadays.

Clue me in.

[Mithras]

Originally posted by OwlBoy:
http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/2536/

-Owl

Oh God. Wonderful.
You have to be a serious Star Wars nerd to show up dressed up for Episode II, after the Lucas suckiness cat was well out of the bag...

[Zimphire]

Eh, people get dressed up and go see The Rocky Horror flick, and it was a really sucky movie.

They even go multiple times!

[dlefebvre]

I don't believe that stopping people to dress up for the Star Wars premiere is a question of piracy, it's more a question of dignity.

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by Zimphire:
Eh, people get dressed up and go see The Rocky Horror flick, and it was a really sucky movie.

They even go multiple times!

Yay! I'm not alone. I f*cking HATE that movie.

[Oneota]

Originally posted by OwlBoy:
http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/2536/

-Owl

God I love that bit. Anyone got it in standalone form so I don't have to stream it every time I wanna see it? Thanks!

[Oisín]

Here:

mms://ifilm.wmod.llnwd.net/a65/o1/portal/2439321_200.asf

[Oneota]

Originally posted by Oisín:
Here:

mms://ifilm.wmod.llnwd.net/a65/o1/portal/2439321_200.asf

Yeah, I had actually found that URL embedded, too. Unfortunately, it's just a little reference movie, not the actual file. The real thing's hidden pretty well. Darned-near inaccessible.

[Oisín]

Originally posted by Oneota:
Yeah, I had actually found that URL embedded, too. Unfortunately, it's just a little reference movie, not the actual file. The real thing's hidden pretty well. Darned-near inaccessible.

Erm... no, it's not, that is the actual file. I put that exact url (the MMS one) into my download manager of choice (which is NetTransport), and it immediately downloaded a 15 MB file which now rests peacefully within my video folder

Edit: No, wait, you're right, it's not the actual file (oops)! But I guess it relocated automatically, 'cause it downloaded just fine...

Double-edit: No, wait, I was right, it is the file! I got my threads mixed up (got this video mixed up with the Tiger intro video).

[Oneota]

Originally posted by Oisín:
Double-edit: No, wait, I was right, it is the file! I got my threads mixed up (got this video mixed up with the Tiger intro video).

Ahh...I see. I used wget, and replaced the mms: with http: because wget doesn't know what to do with the mms protocol. If you use http with that URL, you'll get a reference movie. I'll try using somethin' else to download it with.

Thanks for the clarification!

[Oisín]

Apparently there's no Mac version of NetTransport, so that won't work... I could host the file temporarily on my own space, if you want?

[Oneota]

Originally posted by Oisín:
Apparently there's no Mac version of NetTransport, so that won't work... I could host the file temporarily on my own space, if you want?

Thanks, but in digging around my random video clips collection, I discovered I already had it in standalone form. Otherwise I'd take you up on that (though others on the forum might appreciate it).

[Trygve]

Many, many cinemas outside the US have seat-numbered tickets. I know in the last year I have been to see films in Singapore, Dubai, Prague, Wellington and probably a few others. In all cases (except maybe Wellington - can't recall), you choose your seats on a small LCD screen. Of course they don't ask for any ID, but picking your seat jsut seams to make sense once you've done it that way.

[Demonhood]

Originally posted by Zimphire:
Did you purposely grab the two pocket knives just to sneak them in? Because I don't see you as the pocket knife type.

one was a small Apple keychain knife. the other was an all purpose folder. you never know when you might need to cut something.

Clue me in.

piracy happens at the theater level, at the editing level (think people who make the trailers), and at dozens of other points where the film might need to be distributed. whether its in another form (screen tapes/dvds), or the people simply have access to the equipment to convert it to digital.