Warner Bros. has canceled all of its advanced screenings following accusations from them that Canada is now the leader of the movie black market. WB claims this is occurring as a result of lax Canadian copyright rules which provide a loophole for crime organizations to make and sell illegal copies of the movies.

Current Canadian regulations (I didn’t want to say “laws” because I’m pretty sure Canada is lawless, and is much like the wild, wild west a hundred years ago or like the Disney version, not sure.) state that it is not a criminal offense in Canada to make recordings in the theaters for personal use. For someone to get in trouble the 5-0 (I didn’t want to say “police” because I’m pretty sure… oh wait, I already said all that.) have to be able to prove the copy is going to be used for commercial purposes.

Just how bad is it? Warner Bros. argues that nearly 70 percent of its releases were subsequently pirated in Canada in the past year and a half. Wow, 70% is a lot. I did some research to find out which movies Canadians prefer and found zero results, so instead I’ll make it up the likely bootlegged victims. My research shows that the WB movies most likely pirated in Canada are: New York Minute, A Cinderella Story, Alex & Emma , Catwoman, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Miss Congeniality 2. Wow, sounds like Canada must be about 70% women. I’d consider heading up there if it wasn’t for that whole lawlessness thing going on.

So what does this really mean for our buddies up North? Not much. Warner Bros. is just cutting their preview screenings and 20th Century Fox has only threatened to hold back on the release dates in Canada of some future films. Oh, and if you’re Canadian, I’m on to you! No, no, not you, that one, yeah, you.

Source: Y! News