The big splash made by the unauthorized P2P release of Michael Moore’s new documentary “Sicko” is no doubt intensifying Hollywood’s paranoia about film piracy. It’s almost a sure thing that this episode, which reached its peak when the film was posted on YouTube, will be trotted out as a horror story before Congress and the FCC when the movie business comes asking for tougher copyright laws and regulations.
What’s interesting about this particular episode, however, is that the filmmaker himself seems less concerned about the financial impact of having his work appropriated apriori and more concerned about the political and economic motivations of the people behind the leak. In short, he thinks political adversaries, or some other enemies, leaked the film to hurt its box office take.
According to The Guardian, Moore said that “I think the people who probably linked [the film] had a vested interest in hoping that this movie would not do well at the box-office.”
The Hollywood Reporter quotes Moore basically saying the same thing:
“Every filmmaker intends for his film to be seen on the big screen,” Moore said. “This wasn’t a guy taking a video camera into a theater. This was an inside job, a copy made from a high-quality master and could potentially impact the opening weekend boxoffice. Who do you think benefits from that?”
But Moore’s paranoia and Hollywood’s paranoia are two different non-intersecting sets of fears. In fact, Moore doesn’t even like the copyright laws and hopes that P2P’ers don’t get punished. “I’m happy for people to see my movie. I’m not a big fan of the copyright laws in this country,” he told Reuters.
Cynthia Brumfield at 8:14 PM|Comments(0)
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