Warner Brothers executives are claiming a huge win in the war against piracy was instrumental in ‘The Dark Knight’ becoming a huge hit. According to company representatives they spent months ensuring that no copies of the film would disappear, and no one was recording it in Australian theaters in the two days it ran there before its US opening.

“One of the reasons why it’s so important to try to protect the first weekend is that it prevents the pirate supply chain from starting,” said Darcy Antonellis, president of Warner’s distribution and technical operations. “A day or two becomes really, really significant. You’ve delayed disc manufacturing that then delays distribution, which then delays those discs from ending up on street corners for sale.”

The problem with this reasoning is obvious. Tickets for opening day showings across the country were sold out far ahead of time. The record box office results were being predicted weeks in advance. Oh yeah, and people like the movie. It’s entirely possible that might have some sort of impact.

Eric Garland, chief executive of BigChampagne Online Media Measurement, was quoted in the LA Times saying “If the movie’s a stiff, and word gets out too early that it’s a stiff, it’s devastating to the business model.”

Maybe Hollywood should concentrate on the part of that equation where the movies don’t suck, rather than the part where people find out how bad they are.

It looks like the MPAA has come up with a novel approach to getting consumers to stop downloading illegal movies on the internet. Well novel for them anyway. Instead of concentrating on lawsuits like the RIAA they’re apparently developing a website to help consumers find legal ways to watch movies.

According to an anonymous source the MPAA is building a new website where consumers can search for a movie and be presented with options to buy, rent, or view it legally. For example, a search for a movie that’s still in theaters might result in links to online movie ticket sites, while an older release would give you options for buying or renting the DVD, and perhaps others for downloading or streaming it.

Variety was reportedly told that the project was initiated after research showed that consumers often have a hard time distinguishing between legal and illegal sources for movies online.

The very much hyped and well received latest Batman film The Dark Knight broke the opening weekend box office record for any movie raking in over $250 million in three days. The Dark Knight was also a big score for Imax, as $6.2 million was earned from just 94 Imax screens, working out to be $67,000 per theater which is twice the average any Imax movie earns. A few lucky moviegoers were treated to the being able to see the Batmobile in full glory. No word on whether this was actually used in the movie or not, but it’s awesome to see the thing close up. Read more »

Brendan Laroux: a true hero for mankind.

Lost his limbs as a child (hands and legs) but even that doesn’t stop him from his dreams. Inspired me hella a lot

Could the iPhone get any better?

The Founder of Digital Playground, Joone (creator of Pirates and Island Fever) has allied with Apple. He’s planning to create a website just for the purpose of porn for the iPhone. Read more »

The After Hourse Party at Chucky Cheeses, ….word

We’ve official word from Activision that more than 92 percent of Activision shareholders gave their approval to go through with the Vivendi acquisition in a special meeting held yesterday. Vivendi, which includes high profile game studios Blizzard Entertainment and Sierra Games, will now become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision after the merger is finalized on or around July 9, 2008. This means that Blizzard and Sierra are now subsidiaries of Activision as well. After the merger Activision will be known as Activision Blizzard but will continue to operate under the “ATVI” stock symbol which is quite convenient because it can stand for “Activision Vivendi” just as easily as “Activision.” The whole deal cost about $1.7 billion worth of shares to be exchanged to go through.

For more information, check out the official press release.

ESPN and ABC have announced that they will be adding video content to the Veoh Web video service.

The agreement will allow Veoh to present hit shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost,” “Ugly Betty” and “Desperate Housewives,” as well as ESPN programming and game highlights.

Matt Murphy, the senior vice president for digital media distribution at Disney and ESPN Media Networks, added: “These types of partnerships allow us to reach our fans and viewers in a much deeper and more meaningful way…This is a world where you have to constantly re-evaluate your business and constantly look at partners and how they are running their businesses.”

There was no word on any of the financial aspects of the latest deal.

An oft forgotten and little known feature of your Sony PS3 is its media server capabilities which allows it to stream videos off your computer and display it on your TV. Too bad, because those who’ve overlooked this feature are missing out on, in my opinion, one of the best features about the PS3 besides its Blu-Ray playing and awesome DVD upscaling capabilities. What prevents people from using their PS3s as media servers is not anything to do with the PS3 itself, but rather they don’t know that they need their PCs involvement to act as the media server and they don’t know how to turn it into one to begin with.

Let’s rewire your preconceptions a bit before proceeding. Read more »