In a season filled with sequels,
this is one plot twist that everyone saw coming.
Within an hour of the first U.S. showing of Sony Pictures'
"Spider-Man 3," police arrested a man videotaping the film inside
New York's AMC Loews Lincoln Square theater shortly after the
Thursday midnight screening, the studio said Friday. The suspect
was spotted by theater employees, who summoned the police.
Police made similar arrests in Malaysia and Argentina.
Sony also reported that it had recovered pirated "Spider-Man 3"
DVDs in Chicago and New York, tracing them to a recorded screening
in Hong Kong. The studio said at least three pirated versions of
the film were circulating on the Internet. One had originated in
Hong Kong, one in France and one in Italy.
Because the movie opened overseas earlier in the week, the first
Web versions of the movie surfaced as early as Thursday
morning.
Sony has fought hard to keep bootleg versions of the film from
hitting the streets or the Internet.
"It's gone better than it could be," said Jeff Blake, head of
Sony's marketing and distribution arm. "I guess we can take comfort
in the fact that no one has a really good copy. And I think the
theaters are really in enforcement with us because they know it
hurts revenue."
