Movie giant acts to curb 'aping'

"Apes" was available on the Internet three weeks before its UK launch

By CNN's Graham Jones

LONDON, England -- As guests arrived for the glittering London premiere of "Planet of the Apes" in London on Tuesday, few realised they were by no means the first in Europe to see the hit film.

They may have paid thousands for stunning gowns and dinner suits -- but they could have stayed at home, turned to their PC and watched the film for as little as £5 ($7.10) -- or even for free.

Even before the $100 million remake of the 1968 classic, this time starring Helena Bonham Carter and Mark Wahlberg, hit Leicester Square, bootleg VCDs of Apes were on sale at London markets and on the Internet.

But a trend now worrying movie bosses already hit for $2.5 billion a year by the pirates, downloadable copies of the film are also being offered free, Napster style, on Web sites.

"It is a real problem," said Spencer Mott, operations manager for the UK's Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), a movie industry body that investigates film piracy.

Now 20th Century Fox has announced it is taking legal action against a number of sites offering copies of "Planet of the Apes."

London premiere guest: Apes star Wahlberg

The movie was being offered on the Internet in Britain three weeks ago -- even before the July 27 opening of the film in the U.S. and Hong Kong.

Other recent big money-spinners for the pirates have included "Shrek," "Pearl Harbor" and "Tomb Raider."

'Marginal' quality

Last weekend British police and trading standards officers mounted a number of raids on addresses and market stalls to seize counterfeit "Apes" VCDs from Malaysia -- "very good quality telecine" according to Mott, being copied straight from masters of the movie.

But the growing threat is from Web sites where youngsters have spread the news and the tricks of swapping for free.

CNN was able to download free Napster-like file-sharing software to gain access to a number of movies currently in cinemas.

"Shrek took a couple of hours to download and the quality was marginal," said CNN's Casey Wian. "But it didn't cost a dime." He added: "Even more embarrassing to the studios is that recent instances of daily footage and rough cuts of movies not even in theatres yet are appearing on the Internet."

David Remnitz of Vigilinx, which provides digital security services to Hollywood studios, said the biggest threat in the digital revolution comes from within the studios themselves.

"Pearl Harbor" was a big money-spinner for the pirates

"They are more vulnerable in most cases to internal hacks. That is, disgruntled employees, industrial espionage activities ... folks who have access to internal systems that may be holding digital films, may be holding copies of digital audio, may be holding copies of scripts and contract deals. These are all areas that need to be better secured in most Hollywood studios."

Jeffrey Logsdon of Gerard Klauer Mattison added: "They need to be assured that there's a security system that at least minimises the ability of someone to break in without paying for it. But that's been somewhat illusive because whatever you can create, you can uncreate."

A young movie watcher called Chris told CNN why Internet film downloading is such a growth area. "If one guy has it then someone else gets it from him and then it goes on and on and so everyone has it. It's really easy."

He would keep on watching, he said: "Unless someone stops it."

Casey Wian of CNN Financial News, Los Angeles, contributed to this report