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Disney uses night goggles to guard "Nemo"
Reuters, 05.29.03, 6:59 PM ET
By Holly McKenna
ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - With the widely anticipated computer animated movie "Finding Nemo" set to debut in theaters Friday, The Walt Disney Co. has found a novel way to guard against people illegally taping the film in advance showings.
Disney has hired security firm Burns Pinkerton, a unit of Sweden's Securitas AB , to screen audiences using metal detectors and night-vision goggles. The aim is to catch people using video cameras to make bootleg copies of the movie for resale on the black market.
"Most people think the extra security is just for terrorism reasons," said Robert Kendrick, a Burns security guard at a recent screening for "Finding Nemo" in Albany.
The practice is relatively new. Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. Ltd.'s Fox Entertainment Group also used night-vision goggles in early screenings of May's "X2: X-Men United" and more recently with "Down With Love," starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.
The heightened measures point to increased scrutiny the studios are taking in early screenings to prevent black market tapes from ending up for sale on city streets around the world.
"It's estimated we lose between $3 billion to $4 billion a year to this problem despite strong anti-piracy actions by the movie industry," said Rich Taylor, a spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America which represents Hollywood's major motion picture studios including Disney and Fox.
A warning about unauthorized recording has been printed on preview tickets for the last nine months telling violators that if they enter with their video equipment they will be denied admission. If the devices are used, they will be confiscated.
In April, a 33-year-old California man was arrested and charged with illegally videotaping movies in sneak previews. If convicted, he faces up to 26 years in federal prison.
Kendrick and his partner first check movie patrons using the metal-detecting wands because digital cameras are small and compact but they do contain metal parts.
Once inside, the guards sit 25-minute shifts monitoring the projection room's camera and the entire theater. The night-vision goggles are used to span the audience to see if there are any strong lights coming from a video recorder.
"These goggles magnify the light and make the image glow," Kendrick said.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
Reuters, 05.29.03, 6:59 PM ET
By Holly McKenna
ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - With the widely anticipated computer animated movie "Finding Nemo" set to debut in theaters Friday, The Walt Disney Co. has found a novel way to guard against people illegally taping the film in advance showings.
Disney has hired security firm Burns Pinkerton, a unit of Sweden's Securitas AB , to screen audiences using metal detectors and night-vision goggles. The aim is to catch people using video cameras to make bootleg copies of the movie for resale on the black market.
"Most people think the extra security is just for terrorism reasons," said Robert Kendrick, a Burns security guard at a recent screening for "Finding Nemo" in Albany.
The practice is relatively new. Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. Ltd.'s Fox Entertainment Group also used night-vision goggles in early screenings of May's "X2: X-Men United" and more recently with "Down With Love," starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.
The heightened measures point to increased scrutiny the studios are taking in early screenings to prevent black market tapes from ending up for sale on city streets around the world.
"It's estimated we lose between $3 billion to $4 billion a year to this problem despite strong anti-piracy actions by the movie industry," said Rich Taylor, a spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America which represents Hollywood's major motion picture studios including Disney and Fox.
A warning about unauthorized recording has been printed on preview tickets for the last nine months telling violators that if they enter with their video equipment they will be denied admission. If the devices are used, they will be confiscated.
In April, a 33-year-old California man was arrested and charged with illegally videotaping movies in sneak previews. If convicted, he faces up to 26 years in federal prison.
Kendrick and his partner first check movie patrons using the metal-detecting wands because digital cameras are small and compact but they do contain metal parts.
Once inside, the guards sit 25-minute shifts monitoring the projection room's camera and the entire theater. The night-vision goggles are used to span the audience to see if there are any strong lights coming from a video recorder.
"These goggles magnify the light and make the image glow," Kendrick said.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
26 years in a federal prison for bootlegging a movie? Sounds extreme to me, especially with those comimiting much more serious crimes getting less time. Is hollywood running the legal system now? I smell a PAC rat!
