14 DAY TRIAL // Since the core audience of the newly released Batman movie is made up mainly of tech savvy, PC oriented people, it became imperative for Warner Bros to enforce tight security measures so that a pirated copy of the movie would not leak out on the Internet and spoil the official launch. If a pirated copy were to hit the file sharing web sites, then the movie would be compromised in more ways than one. Regardless of whether you liked it or not, chances are that you would not go to a cinema and see it again, which would drastically impact the amount of money the movie would bring in.
Warner Bros has devoted about six months to a very tight security strategy meant to prevent movie piracy. "Chain of custody" was one of the security measures that have been put in place, meaning that Warner knew at all times who had access to the movie. Other measures involved using varied delivery methods, shipping the reels separately, and conducting spot checks in numerous US and international theaters. One of the strangest methods was employed during the Australian launch, when night-vision goggles were used to detect the infrared signal of a camcorder.
"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. 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," says Darcy Antonellis, President of Warner's distribution and technical operations as cited by the LA Times.
Producing the movie cost Warner Bros a staggering $180 million, but it all paid off in the end, as the amount of money it brought in has exceeded the $300 million mark ($158.4 million in the first weekend alone). To put things into perspective, the Warner security team only managed to give "The Dark Knight" a 38 hours head start before camcorder copies would hit the file-sharing sites. In case you did not already know this, the success of an anti-piracy strategy is measured in the amount of time it buys the movie.
Paul Kocher, president of Cryptography Research Inc. comments: "With rare exception, once you've seen the movie you're unlikely to watch it a second time. You don't have the benefit the music guys have, that piracy can help build buzz. For the movie industry, it's purely a destructive force."