`Spider-Man 3's' first conquest: film pirates
The Paris premiere for "Spider-Man 3" was a hot-ticket blowout. Stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst were on hand for the late April screening, as were throngs of paparazzi. Once the movie began, the real fireworks started when Sony Pictures security guards spotted a premiere guest secretly recording the movie.
Even though the guest said that only one scene was taped, Sony wasn't taking any chances. With actions that included urging some Canadian theaters to patrol their "Spider-Man" auditoriums with night-vision goggles and splitting up film cans sent to theaters in piracy havens such as China, Russia, Poland and Hungary, Sony launched an especially aggressive campaign to keep its expensive sequel off the black market ahead of the film's worldwide release this week.
Sony's multimillion-dollar security plan seems to have worked. Although the studio admits that bootleg copies of "Spider-Man 3" could be available for sale and download as early as this weekend, the studio appears to have blocked the release of any illegal copies before the film landed in theaters. "Spider-Man 3" DVDs that turned up on Chinese streets in late April proved to be pirated copies of "Spider-Man 2" in boxes decorated with "Spider-Man 3" artwork.
In part because unlawful versions were unavailable, "Spider-Man 3" has broken a number of overseas box-office marks, topping single-day records held by the first two Peter Parker films. "No question about it, no question about it," that the anti-piracy campaign augmented overseas ticket receipts, said Jeff Blake, Sony's head of worldwide marketing and distribution.
Sony said the sequel set new sales marks Tuesday in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. When the film opened in some European markets Wednesday, it generated huge returns in France and Italy.
"It's really important that there not be pirated copies before a movie opens," said John Malcolm, director of the Motion Picture Assn. of America's worldwide anti-piracy operations. "Because if there is, there's something else out there competing for the public's attention."
