Psst! Eight Bits Gets You "The Two Towers" In China

rocodipoco writes "CNN reports on this article about DVDs of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" were available in Shanghai two weeks ago for about $1 a pop, according to one Western film industry executive who visited that city. The film opens in North America on December 18. Interviewed at the CineAsia movie convention, the executive said as many as 40 street vendors were openly offering DVDs outside a Shanghai mall; he declined their offers, and thus can't verify the quality of the counterfeit copies. I personally want to wait for the movie to hit the big screen...it's all about the suspense. What do others think?"

Lies

[MisterFancypants]

I realize that movies are sometimes released to the net and/or street vendors (primarily in Asia) before their official release dates, but like the false reports of the second Harry Potter movie being available months before release, I think this is just some bullshit the industry exec invented out of whole cloth to prove again how 'damaging' pirating is to his industry. I'm not pro-piracy in any way, but a line of bullshit is a line of bullshit.

LotR...

[Hanno]

call me naive, but LotR is one of those movies that people don't _want_ to pirate.

I know several people who had a SVCD-rip of the full movie and yet they still got the full DVD set half a year later...

Pirated?

[HeX314]

Wasn't this available for download through KaZaA a while back? Why would you order a questionable-quality version from China if you could pull (possibly) the same thing from a P2P network?

Not like I have the will (or the bandwidth for that matter) to pull the movie, but it shouldn't be such a big deal if it was already available.

All about the suspense?!?

[trotski]

Dude, read the book....

Suspense is sitting at the edge of your seat wondering whats going to happen next. I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but I think most people reading slashdot are going in to these movies knowing more or less whats goign to happen. The suspense factor just isn't going to be there.

I think the exciting part about seeing these movies is comparing how the movie compares to what the story looked like in your own imagination. Just as an example, I pictured the great river as a river as wide as the Columbia, winding through a dry wasteland. In the movie it was portrayed in an entirely different way. Thats what excited me, to see what another person imagined the story to be like.

I think if your watching the movies for the suspense, do yourself a favor and read the book. Sometimes knowing whats going to happen is even better.

Sad...

[tomknight]

All about the suspense? Jeez, that's nearly as bad as saying Star Wars 2 should be viewed on a big screen with surround sound. A good film doesn't need all of that stuff. A good film should be able to be viewed on any crappy screen (but not from a crappy recording,i.e. a dodgy rip off DVD).

For a film to have its amazing SFX used as a selling point is pathetic.

Anyway, where's the suspense? I can hardly believe that anyone here really doesn't know the LoTR storyline by now?

Not trolling, just pissed off at the way films are made and sold sometimes....

Tom.

Re:Just say No! :)

[jericho4.0]

I think that kind of mentality is common in all cultures, China not the least. The Japanese, after all, have a marked appitite for the newest and greatest.

I think it's a universial trait, that manifests itself diffently is every culture and sub-culture.

Re:suspence

[DennyK]

Not everyone can afford a big-screen TV and surround sound system. Without those, the experience watching at home doesn't really compare to the theater. An afternoon ticket around here can be had for $6-7 at the best theaters, and if you skip the concession stands and bring your own munchies (not that I would ever do such an Evil Thing, of course... ;-D ), when you consider there are only a handful of movies I consider worth watching coming out each year, a few trips to the theater is not a bad deal. Of course, I do have a DVD player (well, a PS2...), and I own many VHS and DVD copies of my favorite movies for repeated viewing at home on my cheap 19" TV, but sometimes there are still films I want to see in the theater.

The only downside to the theater is that I can't adjust the volume. Has anyone else noticed that most theaters these days turn the sound up to truly nasty levels? I have rather sensitive hearing, and the last several movies I went to, the sound was loud enough to really cause pain until I stuffed some napkins in my ears. These days, I just bring along earplugs to most movies. (While you might think that detracts from the whole immersive "surround sound" experience, the movies I've been at actually sound fine, and sometimes even a bit too loud, through a set of earplugs, which is really scary considering the plugs are lowering the volume by a few dozen decibles... ;) )

DennyK

Re:Lies

[20_ooodbye]

I think this is just some bullshit the industry exec invented

Well I'll give him the benefiet of the doubt.
I doubt however that a real copy of The Two Towers was actually in the DVD cover. It would be just as easy to sell a copy of FOTR or anything else then make sure they are selling their wares somewhere different the next day as to avoid irate customers.

Pretty cool scam really

Re:suspence

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course "counterfeit" movies may not as high a quality but it's not giving money to MPAA.

You know, "giving" money to the entity which spent huge sums of its money (that it makes from sales) to make this movie you wish to watch.

You want to steal from people because they're richer than you and you're petty and jealous and cheap, you can go right ahead and do so. But don't try to justify it to others. Just stand up and be honest with yourself and ./ community members that you are simply taking something which doesn't belong to you.

Don't Trust the Label

[rdmiller3]

I can vicariously second this fellow's note.

I know several people who described identical experiences buying DVDs in China. It seemed too good to be true, near-cost prices and titles which had sometimes only been rumored to be in production. The labels looked authentic at first glance but often contained spelling errors... possibly composed of images gleaned from promotional material.

The movie inside was not at all the one which was advertised. Usually it was an old movie with a similar theme.

-Rick

Re:suspence - smupence

[deathcloset]

To the contrary, I love my movies loud, to the point a contract-signing-worthy hearing damage. That THX sound is something cosmic, it's HUGE!!! sometimes I stand up and scream, "THAT SOUND IS SO FUCKING HUGE! HOLY SHIT!" Thats how loud I like my movies :)
But I digress, Would it hurt the theatres to have showings at different volume preferences. Because I want the voice of Saron to pierce my living - likely high and scared - soul :D
also I am going to download this new one.

you get what you pay for, and sometimes more

[weiyuent]

I bought these plenty of these pirate DVDs on my last trip to China, and the quality varies. You can more or less apply this rule of thumb:

if the movie hasn't been released on DVD yet, it is usually of the theatre-screening-captured-on-a-camcorder variety. Just like the theatre experience, complete the sounds of the audience coughing and chewing popcorn, but obviously terrible picture and sound quality.

if the movie has been officially released on DVD, then these are usually perfect copies. The discs are sometimes flawed, though, as they are cheaply laminated. I don't know what their shelf life is.

If you don't care about the moral issues of piracy, then these DVDs are a great deal. You can expect about one of every three that you buy to be duds, but even then at less than $1 a pop, I ended up with well over 50 movies for less than $100 spent.

Re:LotR...

[Alan Partridge]

that was a little hyper, but your point is valid. Not only is it pathetic that Slashdot geeks would refuse to pirate a LOTR disc and yet merrily d/l as many mp3s as they can get their grubby little hands on. Pirating is acceptable or not - it's NOT content dependent. As to Star Trek - amen. I work with some gekky fucker who is well on his way to having bought EVERY FUCKING EPISODE of Stargate SG1 on DVD. I continually point out to him that it's on TV three times a fucking day for FREE (and that it's crap) but the very idea seems to bring him almost to tears...

Being in Asia right now...

[greendot]

[Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam]

I haven't seen any LotR DVD's anywhere here. And yes, I do look and buy. ;-) (when in rome..) This is THE movie I want to see. I almost want to fly back to the states to see it.

As for what movies ARE here.. Harry Potter 2 and Die Another Day showed up on the streets here the day after their release. I haven't been able to watch the DVD's yet cuz my laptop went belly up, but I did get to see a VCD of Harry Potter. It sucked.

As far as my intentions go, and I tell people here all the time, I will watch all of the movies back in the theaters in the US when I get back... if they're still on. I'm pretty sure the LotR:TT and Potter will be still there, but I doubt Die Another Day will, which makes me kind of sad.

People here can't understand the western facination with the "theater". People are always asking me what I miss most, and I tell them without evening thinking - the movies. They ask me, "why? You can get any movie for $1 right now and watch it at home!" Then I explain to them them the sheer size of the screen and the massive sound system. The theaters here suck. Very few people go to them. 5.1 surround sound systems run for $20 a pop so everybody has them. Home theaters are what they want.

Families just can't "go to the movies". A few family members maybe. Getting the family out would require the renting of a car or van.

Plus, I doubt Hollywood would release movies here. The average income is $50/month and they're not going to spend it on a movie when they have a huge family to feed.

Hollywood has nothing to worry about here. They're not losing money here because they don't release movies here. Westerners buy a few DVD's because they can't see the movies here. Now, if AMC put a nice big screen here in the middle of Saigon - it would be another story.

They're a bunch of cry-babies if you ask me.

Like eating out of the dumpster

[ewg]

No apologies for the content industry, but I think buying pirated DVDs on the street is the cinematic equivalent of eating out of the dumpster.

Re:Also available on DivX

[perlyking]

Just because you found something called Two towers (as you say) doesn't mean it actually is.

Re:We was right

[Library Spoff]

the point is he's a *movie executive*

not just a punter wanting to see the movie...

taking this copy home may of helped the movie industries PR about pirates/DRM etc...

I must admit I watched the spiderman screener b4 it came out. it amused us at 4am off our tits...
(people standing up, coughing etc)

Still went to the cinema to see it "properly" though.

Re:The only bad kind of Theft?

[perfects]

> Most of what's labeled as piracy nowadays is simply acting
> in accordance with the laws of information physics at possible
> detriment to the financial standing of companies that have a
> vested interest in maintaining the status quo with regards to
> content-centric business models.

That's the most absurd statement I have heard since "Information wants to be free".

How is that any different from saying:

"Most of what's labeled as burglary nowadays is simply acting in accordance with the laws of mechanical physics at possible detriment to the financial standing of companies that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo with regards to inventory-centric business models."

In other words, you are using big, important-sounding words to say "since it is inherently possible to steal, it's not really theft".

Just because information has no physical reality, and just because it can be copied at virtually no cost, that does not mean that the information has no value.

IMO that's the key point that most anti-copyright proponents miss: Information Has Value. If it didn't, nobody would want to steal it.

Secondarily, and just as important: Information costs time and money to produce.

Third: Companies and individuals often spend time and money producing Information in order to sell it and make a profit.

Fourth: There is nothing inherently evil about that.

When you acquire something that has value without compensating the owner, that is Stealing. When you do it in violation of the current law, whether you agree with that law or not, that is Illegal.

Re:Lies

[gvonk]

That 15 people had it is a litmus test, if it was purely bogus, would 15 people have the same thing?

You've obviously never used Kazaa before.

Gets up, calls shanghai..

[Anonymous Coward]

Read story, call friend in shanghai who knows a lot about the scene there, says that TRAILERS COLLECTION has been available pre-burned for quite awhile. He doesn't know anything about a release there. Says if it is available to please call him back :)

VCD Sites have no sign of a LOTR:TTT release.

[PanDuh]

There has been no sign of the TTT VCD on any of the VCD/SVCD release sites, like http://www.vcdquality.com and http://www.isonews.com nor on any of the Usenet newsgroups. I tend to believe that these reports are untrue. Episode 2 was out and all over the place 2-3 weeks before the actual theater premiere. The Two Towers, however, is nowhere to be seen except in reportedly in China in news releases and anecdotes only.

I don't believe it.

The only reason

[AUsBandit]

I go to the theaters for any movie is because their screen is bigger than mine. I have the surround sound and great resolution on my computer but hands down a 60 ft screen is awsome. As soon as HDTV projectors drop to an affordable price I will get one and NEVER return to the theater again. And I imagine many of of the populus will begin doing also. The information age is finnaly settling into its own and businesses are starting to realize how big this change is. 100% of the media industry has to re-learn everything it knows about how is manages itself. It has been ignoring East Asia because it never had that market to loose. All our markets are turning from product based to service based. How good the movie of the week is does not matter anymore. How good the service gets that movie to me is what matters.

Re:Some insight into chinese culture

[glesga_kiss]

created an economic and political system that values knowledge and ability rather than seniority

Delusional rubbish. Our economic and political systems are based around two things:

• How much money you have
• Who you have the ear of

With the two of these at your side, you can change the law if neccessary to achieve your goals. If knowledge and ability are important, how can you explain George W Bush?

Okay, so let's suppose...

[Crash Culligan]

From the sound of it, many people here don't believe that the pre-screen piracy actually took place. But let's suppose for a moment that it's true: that "The Two Towers" DVD hit the streets in Asia even before the movie is due to hit the theaters.

Shameful! Shocking! The movie is pirated even before it's released here! How could such a thing happen? Why, the only organization who has the film is the studio itself. Hmmmmm...

This could have been accomplished either of two ways:

1. Someone snuck a camcorder into one of the test showings and recorded it. In this case, the studio didn't have enough security at their screens to check for recording equipment. This would produce a really low quality movie since there's no way to set up a tripod. Odds are it would not produce a good DVD, so there's only one other option:
2. Someone within the studio itself pirated it. This is a monstrous accusation, I know, but think how easy it would be. These big films are already digitally mastered, and sneaking a single disc out of the studio probably wouldn't be so hard. Or there's email. I don't know what kind of computer security the studios have working for them (it can't be that good given how they're universally reviled on /.) but someone could probably pack up the film (or even the contents of the finished DVD) out of the studio.

These are the only ways that I can think of (reply with your own ideas, please!), and in either case, the piracy is due to the studio's own negligence and/or delusions of invulnerability. Bottom line: There's no way they can pin this on Joe Consumer and his tricked out VCR/DVD rig, or Joe Geek with his Linux box running DeCSS.

Perhaps we should believe them, and help them to understand where their problems really lie. Because I bet they're too thick to figure it out for themselves.

I'm anti-piracy, pro-fair-use, and anti-bullshit. Just like 98% of everyone else out there.

Re: Psst! Eight Bits Gets You "The Two Towers"

[Bob Bitchen]

The fact that the guy didn't spend the $1 to buy the DVD is more proof that it's a story that's been made up in an attempt to bolster the cause for movie studios to clamp down on these egregious acts! If the guy saw a copy he certainly would have a bought a copy and then had someone look it over in an attempt to determine its origin. It really stinks of FUD and will no doubt be used to sway senators and congressman when it's time to vote on legislation to prevent this from happening in all areas in the delivery of entertainment media.

The story from China

[marhar]

Here's the real story... I worked in China and lived in Beijing for four years (see my url for details).

DVD's cost anywhere between US$1 to US$6, depending on how familiar you are and how good you are at bargaining. If a film has been released on DVD or LD, then it is most likely a copy of the Hong Kong DVD/LD. This means no extras, making of, etc., which for some reason does not seem to be in much demand in the asian market.

If the film is only in theatrical release, then it is either a copy of a promo tape (in which case it will have hilariously ironic messages about an 800 number to report piracy scrolling across the screen), a pre-release (it will have the hh:mm.frame id on the bottom), a copy shot in an empty theater, or a copy shot in a theater during a showtime.

The PROC film board (I don't know the official name) limits the number of imported films to ten per year. Theoretically it's to prevent the local film industry from getting clobbered, but as a practical thing it makes it easy to censor politically incorrect films without having to single them out.

In addition to DVDs, Video CDs are quite common (probably even more common coz they're cheaper). Most VCD copies are put on two disks, some long shows take three. The Chinese Govt. tried to support the Super-VCD format, but DVD beat it handily.

Re:Lies

[gvonk]

Yeah, it sure is gonna be mislabeled by 15 people. See, first some dude thinks it's would be cool to save Max Payne as Halo_PC_Beta334.zip and throw it on their server. Some idiot says "Hmm, Halo, there's a game I don't have on my PC..." and downloads it. The download (to their shared folder of course) finishes the next morning, but he doesn't even remember to open the file til two days later. At that point, he may or may not decide to delete it. Even if he does, it was served for a whole day as Halo. And people DON'T delete the fake crap out of their shared folders.

Re:Lies

[syd02]

It's not because people in other countries are so poor that they pirate American movies. It's mainly a law enforcement issue. The cops in these countries could care less about the number of cars in the garages of our hollywood studio execs. I'm sure that they get their movies on the street like everyone else.

It's the same thing here in the states for movies made in other countries. I go to an Indian grocery where you can rent Indian movies. The wall behind the cash register is just covered with hundreds of VHS tapes, all with Sony, Memorex, Maxell, etc. covers.

Do our cops care? Not at all.