Mumbai: As the Akshay Kumar – Deepika Padukone starrer Chandni Chowk To China gets ready for release, Warner Bros. Worldwide Anti-Piracy Group, will be mounting a targeted campaign to protect the worldwide release of the film.
The movie will open simultaneously in select theatres in more than 35 markets on 16 January, 2009. These countries include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany and Malaysia.
"We know that audience excitement and anticipation for Chandni Chowk to China is high, especially in the North American Hindi and UK community. Unfortunately, this means that pirate demand for the film will be high as well. But anyone trying to illegally cam cord, selling or distributing our film on the Internet should be aware that we will be very, vigilant in our efforts to protect this film. We have many ways of preventing and identifying those perpetrators who would steal our content. They have proven successful in the past and we will take action against those who are caught", said Warner Bros. Entertainment vice president worldwide anti-piracy operations (Latin America & Asia Pacific) Lucia Rangel.
IN PICTURES: LA Premiere of Warner Bros. Chandni Chowk to China
Warner Bros. Anti-Piracy plans include monitoring screenings to catch possible camcorders, scanning the Internet to identify illegal uploading of the film and files and raiding stores and markets to ensure that they are not offering illegal copies of the film.
"While the film is still in theaters, sellers and consumers should note that any DVDS of the film are not legally authorized, and if found, retailers may face the legal action," added Rangel.
Raids of stores and markets for a previous film, Saas Bahu Aur Sensex resulted in the seizure of thousands of counterfeit discs, including many other titles. One seller in the UK received court ordered curfew.
A study by the Motion Picture Association showed that in 2005, the major U.S. Studios lost $ 12 million, while a recent prepared for the US Indian Business Council by global accounting firm Ernst and Young showed that India’s entertainment industry lost as much as $ 4 billion and 800,000 direct jobs each year due to counterfeiting and piracy.
