In what has the potential to be the largest consumer market in the world, film piracy has reached record numbers. But apparently Warner Bros. has devised a strategy to take on the Chinese pirates. It comprises early home-video releases and record low DVD prices meant to make the original products more appealing that counterfeit copies.

Whereas three months is the typical period for a feature film to go to DVD after it has been released in theaters, Warner Bros. has launched the DVD for Crazy Stone, a low-budget film that debuted on the Chinese market on June 30, just 12 days after the opening. And since this wouldn't have been sufficient, the company is also charging just $1.25 dollars for a copy of the movie.

"We came out here with the aim of competing with the pirates on pricing and timing," said Tony Vaughan, managing director for CAV Warner Home Entertainment Co. "The fact that we've been able to go this early means we've been able to beat the pirates."

So far Crazy Stone was a veritable success on the Chinese market, making an estimated 1.5 million dollars at the box office while the entire cost of the movie project was no more than 400,000 dollars.

Studies of the piracy level on the Chinese market have revealed that in the past year, no less than 93% of all movie sales were pirated copies of films, taking the amount of the damages to a staggering 2.7 billion dollars.