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Slumdog Millionaire: £1 DVD fakes flood market
Amar Singh10 Feb 2009
Slumdog Millionaire is set to become one of the most counterfeited movies of all time, anti-piracy experts warned today.
The British blockbuster's award-winning streak means the international DVD black market is flooded with illegal copies of the film, which is still showing in cinemas.
An Evening Standard investigation found that £1 copies of the movie, favourite for an Oscar later this month, are already being sold in London.
Eddy Leviten, of the Federation of Copyright Theft, said: "Any new release is camcordered and duplicated straight away. Slumdog Millionaire has real global mass appeal so is going to be targeted on another level."
He said the mass appeal "massively increases" the number of people who want to watch it illegally as well as legally. "It is a film that's used some relatively unknown talents on a modest budget and all those who worked on it deserve to not be cheated."
Bollywood film expert Anil Sinanan said the availability of 20p copies of Slumdog Millionaire in India meant it failed to do well at the box office. He said: "This film is unique in its appeal to the Bollywood and Hollywood audiences, so it is likely to be counterfeited on a scale we have never seen before."
Gennaro Castaldo, of HMV, the high street giant that has suffered financially by the increase in people buying pirate DVDs, said: "Consumers may think there's little harm in it, but they may unwittingly be funding criminal activities that may, impact on their families in some other way."
The Evening Standard was able to buy three illegal Slumdog DVDs in one hour on a 100-yard stretch of Green Street, Newham. One hawker was also selling copies of other Oscar-nominated hits including The Wrestler, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and The Reader. A manager at Music Movers, a popular Bollywood DVD and CD shop, sold the Standard a copy of the film for £2. "We've had to move the pirate DVDS to underneath the counter because the police raided us recently," he said. Several yards away from Music Movers, a market stall owner was selling copies for £2.50 - with another Bollywood film on the same disc.
A spokesman for Music Movers said: "We do not sell pirate DVDs any more. We were raided recently by police and must have had just a few left over, which somebody here must have sold you. All other shops in the area sell pirate DVDs. It is common practice. But we apologise and will not sell pirate DVDs any more."
Movie piracy is estimated to have cost the film industry £486 million in the UK in 2007.
Reader views (11)
I agree With Peter Bach that too many people take far too lightly their Acquisition of DVD Fake ,I here of lots of people who view DVDs befor there even released to the public ,I myself hardly ever view films either on tv or on DVD ,but I think that most people buy them mainly because of the price ! .this also goes for a lot of computer software as well.
In this day and age I know producers of these type of products have to earn a crust for development costs etc but if they retailed them for a more realistic price they would sell far more copies ,and Im sure sales would increase
Manufacturing costs of a CD-DVD are relatively cheap but out their the cash hungry share holders are rubbing there hands for more and more cash all the time.
I have been in the production industry most of my working life and found by reducing production cost the
anual turnover and profit went up considerably .
- Alan Larkin, Corby Uk, 11/02/2009 11:21
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it only cost 20p for a single dvd 10p for case and 10p for photo qulaity paper so all in 40p to make a dvd...and that's me not buying in bulk. it would be less than 20p to create a good quality copy.
- John Hogg, glasgow, 11/02/2009 08:01
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The reason why the pirates can sell it for £2 or £3 is that they don't have to pay royalties to the original film company or any tax, NI, liability insurance etc etc or any other cost that a legitimate company has to pay.
What I want to know is why these people aren't being arrested?
- Adrian, Surrey, 10/02/2009 16:49
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Too many people take far too lightly their acquisition of DVD fakes. From the well-heeled to the simply indifferent, too many have no idea of the cut-backs and job losses taking place within the film industry all because of their head-in-the-sand ignorance.
- Peter Bach, London, 10/02/2009 14:40
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Produced in the slums no doubt.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 10/02/2009 14:29
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There is no evidence that by buying a pirate DVD we "may unwittingly be funding criminal activities that may, impact on their families in some other way". I do not support intellectual property theft in any way but the industry should should stop lying at the same time.
- Jonathan, London, United Kingdom, 10/02/2009 13:16
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walk down kilburn high street most days and you'll see three or four dvd sellers with their wares on the pavement...
- Marino, london, 10/02/2009 13:04
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You could give it away,I still wouldn't watch it.
- Steve, London, 10/02/2009 12:38
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If pirate can sell for £2-£3 then why do shops sell for £15.
The movie has already made massive profits by the time it is released onto dvd so if they were cheaper many more would not buy copies.
They know this already so rip off the people who buy the genuine article
- Dave, cardiff wales, 10/02/2009 11:05
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I certainly don't condone the action of the pirates as they harm the film industry. However the film industry needs to be much quicker off the block at distributing legal copies into the shops once an outbreak becomes apparent. Legal niceities and delays are always friends to the pirates.
- Paul B, London, 10/02/2009 10:59
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i bought a perfect copy of slumdog and lots more last december in manila market . 3 for one euro. happy days .
- John Hamilton, waterford , ireland, 10/02/2009 09:41
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