Industry condemns movie camcording

Thailand is the second worst country in Asia after the Philippines for illegal camcording of films in cinemas, with four cases reported so far this year.

"Piracy will kill the movie industry," Edward Neubronner, director of Asia-Pacific operations for the Motion Picture Association (MPA), said yesterday.

"The number of illegal camcording cases has increased from only one case found last year - 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'. We are gravely concerned that this kind of illegal recording will continue to make Thailand a pirate heaven and finally moviegoers will be affected, as no movies will be made," he said.

The four films found surreptitiously recorded in theatres by the MPA's members in Thailand this year are "10,000 BC", "Shutter", "Ironman" and "Speed Racer".

In the Philippines, the MPA has uncovered 10 illegal camcordings this year.

The problem in Asia-Pacific grew very fast from about 20 cases in 2006 to 33 cases last year, he said.

"The film industry has been particularly damaged because the piracy occurs at the very start of the distribution cycle, affecting the economic opportunities for the film throughout the rest of its existence.

"Films are camcorded in the first few days of their release in the cinema and then distributed in digital form worldwide on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks and other online outlets.

"Optical disc-replication labs use the pirated films to create illegal DVDs and other optical discs, then sell the physical copies to bootleg dealers around the world," he said.

Jareuk Kaljareuk, president of the Federation of National Film Association of Thailand, said the illegal copies of Thai and Hollywood films, both VCDs and DVDs, had been discovered in many areas in Bangkok and major provinces only a few days after the films were screened in theatres.

"The piracy problem in Thailand's film industry is quite critical," said Jareuk, who is also the CEO of Kantana Group, a major production house.

The local film industry was worth Bt27 billion last year, but total ticket sales should actually have reached about Bt100 billion without the copying.

"Many Thai films are supposed to achieve at least Bt100 million in sales if they faced no illegal camcording," he said.

Illegal camcording had been observed in many areas in Bangkok, including Lat Phrao, Rama II and Pinklao, and almost 80 per cent of the films being camcorded were Thai movies.

Times are difficult for the local film industry, as it has been buffeted by not only the piracy problem, but also the economic and political turmoil, he said.

"We expect that the Thai film industry will witness a 10-per-cent slowdown in box office sales this year. Major film studios such as Saha Mongkol Film have started to reduce the number of films to be produced next year as they have no confidence in the local economic and political situations," he said.

Only 40 titles are expected to be released by local studios next year, which is lower than a normal year when more than 50 are made.

"In my opinion, the local law regarding piracy should be revised and individual consumers, who buy those pirate CDs and VCDs, should be fined for their illegal behaviour," Jareuk said.