February 2006
Will Warner be out of the Frying Pan and into the (Goblet of) Fire over Harry Potter China DVD Release?
TIn an unprecedented move Warner may be planning to launch the DVD version of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” in China first in a bid to avoid the level of piracy that has plagued the launch of such films in the past.
The tendency in the industry is to launch in the US first followed by other English speaking countries then follow on in other countries in due course. This leads to pirate copies of US releases hitting the shelves in China before the Chinese launch.
Warner plan to go one step further than a mere DVD release by also launching a “silver” DVD soon after the cinema launch of the actual film to avoid really bad quality piracy where a video camera is taken into the cinema.
The “gold” release will then follow at the same time as the worldwide DVD launch but will include extra features etc.
Briffa Comment:
This strategy will assist in protecting the film distributors from the effects of piracy but will lead to a situation whereby the Chinese market ends up benefiting from the effects of illegal piracy in that they will have access to legitimate copies of films a good deal in advance of the rest of the world which hardly seems fair on those people who lawfully await the official release of a DVD copy of a film. Arguably the advent of the “silver” release may also lead to an influx of parallel imports and sales of such DVD’s on sites such as eBay and may result in a situation where Warner are out of the frying pan and into the (goblet of) fire.
Sarah Jeffery
Sarah@briffa.com