Michael Moore's 'Sicko' Leaked Onto Web

[seriousstan]

Source: adage.com

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- Michael Moore's new documentary "Sicko" has been pirated and is now widely available for download on peer-to-peer content sites like www.thepiratebay.org.

Canada stash
Last week, the Oscar winning director announced that he'd decided to stash a copy of "Sicko" in Canada, in case the Federal government decided to impound it over an apparently unauthorized trip to Cuba made during its filming. As it turns out, the hard part won't be getting the film released, but getting audiences to pay to see it now that its available for free.

If the breach is as wide as it appears -- and this reporter downloaded a copy and watched it late Thursday night with ease -- Moore, and his distributor, The Weinstein Company, have a every film maker's worst marketing nightmare on their hands -- how to persuade people to go to the theater to see a show that's available free on the Internet. (Officials at the Weinstein Company were unavailable for comment late Thursday evening.)

---cut---

While it remains to be seen if that is simply Moore's famous showmanship and posturing, or actually true, what is clear is that the blogosphere isn't reacting to the leak with anything approaching apolitical neutrality: One pirate link encouraged potential downloaders to view the film online saying," Watch this free copy and keep $ out of that fat f-cks hands."

"Sicko's" general release date is June 29.


edited for another link

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/15/the_skinny/main2933538.shtml


Read more: http://adage.com/article?article_id=117350

[Occulus]

1. Gee, I wonder what sort of person would say

"Watch this free copy and keep $ out of that fat f-cks hands."

Wasn't the download link published at Druge?

[MADem]

3. And ya gotta wonder who put it out there on the web, too?

I dunno if we can write this off as your typical "anarchist asshole" type stunt.

[liam_laddie]

5. NSA at work?

My chronic case of terminal cynicism suggests this is a Rovian-type leak to hit Mr. Moore in the pocketbook. Hope he and Weinstein will discover who leaked/posted it. Nothing is too rotten for these administration bastards.
Impeach the entire lot!!!

[live love laugh]

7. I am with you on that. No matter, though. The message will get through

and I suspect Moore will survive financially.

[MADem]

9. Naw....I'm thinking some ideologue/true believer/tighty rightie who saw an opportunity

and took it. For "the CAUSE" of course. Some idiot who thinks that MM is all things evil because of F/911.

Here's the irony, though. My understanding is that this film gets raves from left, right, far right, and center. Even wingnuts pay too much for health insurance. Even wingnuts have trouble affording prescriptions. So, the wingnuts who might refuse to pay to see the film, but who watch the film online may just find out, to their shock and awe, that they AGREE with this guy they regarded as a nemesis.

The effort may have, as efforts often do, unintended consequences!

[rainbow4321]

20. Almost every release is on the Net

**Every** movie that has come out this summer hit the Net's free movie sites within days of coming out in the theater. Pirates, Disturbia, Oceans, Knocked Up, Hostel II. Not just clips, but the whole movie. I'd be more surprised if Sicko didn't.

[MrPrax]

22. No kidding...

I first saw it listed 3 days ago as DVDrip (not a CAM) and I didn't think it was news except folks like Matt Drudge
:shrug:

I stopped counting after 17 different torrents...one has nearly 4000 seeds!

I saw Spiderman 3 like moments after it was released, but it sure didn't hurt it's box office.

Same with Disturbia -- that's a big sleeper hit, but I noticed copies of that weeks ago. If anything, for smaller movies like Sicko, the usually scaled down torrent version (.avi) of a movie is a Preview....people want to make sure they are not wasting their money.

[slampoet]

30. 4000 seeds doesn't happen for even Star Wars Movies

Obviously there are some Freep-types willing to break the law to seed this film.

[fujiyama]

36. Yes it does

The huge number of seeds are fairly typical of a highly anticipated film by a controversial director, especially when it's leaked weeks before the release. Remember, torrents have gained in popularity as well over the years. And torrent sites are in large part international. Moore has a huge international fan base.

I see no RW conspiracy. The seeds are actually indicitive of the interest his films have, which by this measure is a good sign. I don't think pre release leaks onto torrent sites will really hurt the film's box office receipts either. H

[SayWhatYo]

37. and how many people here will be willing

to break the law so they can get a preview? You wont hear me complain because I, like many others, are living in a glass house when it comes to this issue.

[slampoet]

41. currently there is 1340 seeders for sicko at 6:am GMT

Why is someone claiming that there is 4000?

[LeighAnn]

38. What's wrong is the fact the Drudge linked to it

Sure, people who pirate movies would have been able to see it, but Drudge made sure everybody knew that they could watch it for free, to try to f-up MM's box office sales. Hope he gets sued.

[Bonobo]

2. Fuck that! He's getting my money! Well deserved.

[Nomad559]

4. :- )

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x288338

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x34684

:)

[onehandle]

6. How is this a surprise? Just about every bit of film and audio ever recorded...

...is out there and reachable by anyone with a computer.

Non-news.

[xilet]

10. Standard Practice

Most films (as well as albums) are leaked the same day, and in some cases weeks before they are released to the general public. It only takes one insider to leak a copy of the film, or even a screener then the entire world gets it. This is par for the course.

[Epiphany4z]

19. yep

If Moore's movie had not been leaked out to the net it would have been an exception to the rule.

Love MM's work and hope makes some nice $$ but just about any movie you want is available on the net if you know where to look.

[mnhtnbb]

8. I will happily pay to see it at my local theater.

[LifeDuringWartime]

29. After seeing it I definitely will.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to pay to see the movie. I wasn't a big fan of Bowling for Columbine or Fahrenheit 9/11, but Sicko is really a great film.

[Rottenmac]

11. I'm sure it was...

an 'anarchist asshole' or maybe a student obsessed with the P2P system, or maybe just some kid who had nothing better to do with his time. P2P doesn't mean significantly less profits for many movie studios. Xmen, Spider-man, and many others (aside from Spider 3, which was horrible...) will do fairly well regardless of how much it is shared.

Watching a film in a theater is a wholly different experience than on your tiny monitor at crap resolution with bad sound.

That said, whomever made the comments is probably a minor who has no idea of how something like this affects him/her directly. If he was over the age of 25 in his own crap apartment, with a minimum wage job, he might feel differently.

Or maybe not.

Let's not dive into the deep-end of the conspiracy pool just yet folks. There are enough of those people 'out there' already. Pun intended.

/rant

[LifeDuringWartime]

28. doubtful

Moore has said in the past that he cares more about people seeing the films. The files online are ripped from DVD screeners, which are distributed to reviewers.

[Occulus]

31. I always wondered how the MPAA etc could justify

going after people who download the screeners, when it is the studios themselves putting the screener DVDs in the hands of the reviewers.

Doesn't that seem a bit... well, counterproductive? Why aren't they showing the films to reviewers in special closed theater sessions? It's as if they're inviting their own reviewers to put it up for download or something....

[Tuttle]

42. This was a big issue with 'Roger and Me'

Moore refused to let a reviewer, Pauline Kael have a private copy of the film for a preview-review session: he insisted she watch it in a theater, like everyone else. So she boarded a bus, on a snowy afternoon in Great Barrington, Massachusetts and rode to NYC and there, she gave birth to the Michael Moore Bashing phenomena by panning it and pronouncing it "all out of sequence". This, then excluded the film for consideration as an Oscar nominee, to the chagrin of Moore and to the delight of the right wingnuts in the late 80s.

Tut-tut

[LifeDuringWartime]

46. This is actually commonplace sometimes.

If there's a big movie that hasn't been leaked before release, that's probably why.

I remember reading an article a few years ago about major music labels sending portable CD players glued shut to reviewers so they couldn't rip the disc.

[NoodleyAppendage]

12. Sounds like an act of Right Wing Corporate Espionage. They can't refute the message, so they kill it

Moore's movie being leaked is likely the result of right-wing activity. They so hate him and his message that they will do anything to damage his ability to make a profit and turn out more TRUTH TELLING films.

I could easily download the film, as could others here, but I say that we should make it our mission to see it in the theaters to rob the right-wing assholes of any espionage victory.

J

[SayWhatYo]

24. Not really... This is nothing new

I mean, I'm failing to see why this being "leaked" is any different than every other movie that seems to get leaked.

[arcos]

33. It is not different...

But people here always love a good conspiracy theory.

[Dora]

13. I don't think this will hurt box office receipts.

People will not watch streaming two-hour movies. I've tried it multiple times, and it does not hold my attention. I can watch a streaming video for maybe 10-15 minutes. The eye perceives monitor images differently from how it perceives an image projected onto a screen.

This will turn out to be a gift of free publicity - and I've heard there's no such thing as bad publicity in the movie business.

Hell - I wouldn't put it past Moore to approve putting this out there himself. It's information that must be shared.

[EFerrari]

15. People like theaters, I agree. n/t

[Tunkamerica]

16. People do all the time.

Hundreds of sites for that singular purpose. I doubt they would exist if people didn't use them.

[Dora]

26. I'll assert they're not a significant proportion of the movie-going population. n/t

[bikebloke]

18. Agree

I've been watching some of PBS's Frontline on the Internet. Luckily they break it down into roughly 10 minute segments. I watch one segment a night.

I've sampled the odd film and teevee series via streaming to see if I'd be interested in buying partially blind.

[SayWhatYo]

25. Also, how many people will watch the whole thing from the net

then go to the movies to watch it, or at least rent or buy it when it comes out on DVD? I know I do that a lot.

[Lorien]

44. Me either. Part of the fun of a MM film is seeing it with a large group

the audience reactions are sometimes as memorable as the film.

Like you, I can't sit at my Mac for a two hour movie. And I think it would be a bit savvy of Moore to leak it to the pirates ahead of time; creates a real buzz, and ensures that it's OUT there! (Not that I endorse piracy. I've worked on a number of major motion pictures myself and box office is what paid my salary)!

[JCMach1]

14. Watched it from the net today, but will buy a copy and/or see it in the theatre

when it is released.

I wouldn't put it past Moore to release it undercover himself, especially if there was distribution difficulty.

The quality is DVD... it isn't a theatre screener.

[fazoolius_2006]

35. I too saw it

today and I must say, I really was not impressed. It never really hits home like some of his other work. The whole thing seemed to just drag on and on. Anyway, I am surprised that this is even an issue as just about every single movie hits the web before it is in theaters.

Best of luck who go and see this in the theaters, I am going to see Die Hard 4 so that I can numb my mind and escape the insanity that is the world today.

Cheers!

[Cronopio]

55. SiCKO has a gentler and more serious tone, but it's more immediate and scary.

People looking for the entertaining, and entirely justified MM stunts like bringing a group of ex-smokers with tracheotomies to sing "Jingle Bells" in the lobby of R.J. Reynolds might be disappointed.

The health care fiasco is an act of slow, deliberate corporate genocide for profit and it directly affects everyone. Most people will make a more personal connection to this movie than Moore's previous films. I don't know how Michael could have taken a "TV Nation" tone to it without slighting the topic, and the moviegoers in a personal way.

It will be very scary to many people because it deftly alludes to something far more fundamental than even the health care fiasco.

[Gman]

17. I'm not real sure Moore cares

he wanted people to download/pirate Fahrenheit 9/11.

[Book Lover]

21. It is adorable that people think this is news

Someone above mentioned that the theater experience is vastly different from the pirated at-home experience. You bet it is: privacy, cold beer in my hand, volume not at ear-splitting levels, clean floor, ability to stop and start film at will, screen I can see all of at once. Yep, vastly different quality levels.

[conspirator]

23. A lot of movies are pirated before the release and a lot of people still go see it nt

[KurtNYC]

27. Attention RIAA -- Claude Brodesser-Akner is daring you to fine him

He admits to breaking the laws listed below and he is ancouraging others to do so in order to "keep $ out of that fat f-cks hands"

Well Claude congratulations you investigative genius. You just qualified for:

up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Repeat offenders can be imprisoned for up to 10 years. Violators can also be held civilly liable for actual damages, lost profits, or statutory damages up to $150,000 per infringement, as well as attorney’s fees and costs.

Wow that was an expensive little article to write eh? I'm just glad he wasn't investigating how easy it would have been for OJ to kill his wife.

[Lisa]

32. Either way, Michael wins!

The pirate who was urging people to view it for free, out of spite, doesn't seem to realize that those who might not otherwise see the movie could well be swayed by its arguments!

Anyway, watching a Moore film while huddled over your computer is just not the same as seeing it in a big theatre, and hearing the audience's laughter and gasps of outrage. I'm hoping that many of the downloaders will go to a public screening once the movie is released, to experience the full effect.

In fact, I am planning to donate DVD copies of "Sicko" to the local library, once it's released. People with restricted incomes, and those who have to stay at home due to health issues or small kids to look after, will have a chance to view it then. I have done this with his other films ... I checked with Michael when he was in Vancouver several years ago, and not only did he approve, he wrote a special note to my favourite librarian!

[fujiyama]

34. Right wing conspiracy theory? LOL

Really c'mon. This is just another summer movie, meaning it WILL be pirated.

Seriously though, almost all movies are pirated now. Has anyone been to a torrent site and seen how many movies are available? Want F 9/11? Bowling for Columbine? Roger and Me? They're all there...

What about the summer's biggest hits? Spiderman 3, Pirates, Oceans, etc. EVERYTHING IS AVAILABLE. Now the question is, would you rather see a copy at home or in the theater, possibly hearing audience reactions? It might be an interesting experience.

And this movie is not solely about making a profit. Moore wants as many people to see as possible. It's about a message. My hope is that the distribution is also wide, which will get it good enough box office receipts though I'm sure even on a smaller scale it will do well financially. Moore knows he's financially set. The success of this film won't determine whether or not he'll continue to make movies that go after the powerful and greedy.

So the RWers are idiots if they think by pirating this, it will hurt it in the box office. All the above summer films have been pirated and have made a ton of money.

[durtee librul]

39. Well geez,

now the RW'ers can all watch it in the privacy of their homes....well ok, they might have Agent Mike watching too while they download it.....but really, this way they don't have to go 'public' to see the movie so their rw neighbors see them at the cineplex.

Wonder if Georgie has one of his email hacks downloading it for him?????

[HuffleClaw]

40. something like HALF of what is out there is a bullshit freeper virus-ridden trojan

be careful

[Triana]

53. That's the thing about downloading this stuff...you don't know what ELSE...

...you're downloading with it.

We had an idiot come in the other day with TWENTY THREE damned spyware programs on his system, TWO keyloggers and several viruses.

WHY? Because he was downloading films at BitTorrent.

He was told to save his data and format the disk and start over.

What an idiot.

[rainbow4321]

58. Easier to wait til everything gets to one of the free sites

Ahem, least that is what I hear....every release makes it there, sometimes within **hours** of the first theater showing.

Allegedly directs to you another site that lets you allegedly watch it without downloading..it just streams the video, like you would watch on YouTube or sometimes it is full screen.
Usually good quality...from what I have heard, that is.

[Chovexani]

60. I love my Mac. (n/t)

[KansDem]

43. Well, *I* for one will see it in the theater when it opens amid the cornacopia...

of high-fructose corn syrup based soft drinks, artificial popcorn butter, and artificially favored and colored snacks.

Mind you, I won't be consuming any of this crap, but I thought the irony would be delightful!

on edite: overpriced irony at that!

[TroubleMan]

45. This happens to every single movie that comes out....nothing special about this.

This is really a non-issue. Every single album, video game, movie, and computer program is available for download from as early to a month before it comes out (sometimes it doesn't come out until the day of release).

This has never affected movies before and it won't affect his.

[SpikeTss]

47. He will get my money, I'll go to the cinema to see it

I like his films, but I would also do it just to show the rightwing nutjob,

who tries to damage a progressive filmmaker,

that this kind of action results in exactly the opposite

of what he intended.

[Egnever]

48. Story is interesting, Sicko is not WIDELY available

This story seems to be ahead of itself. Usually pirated movies show up first in either IIRC or Usenet binary groups. Usenet doesn't have it at all, if it was WIDELY available it would be there. I haven't looked on IIRC but the fact that its no where to be seen on Usenet leads me to believe that this was leaked with the authors knowledge and is an attempt to get it widely distributed.

[Occulus]

50. Bittorrent

Someone either in this thread or another on the same subject said that there were something over 4000 seeds. That's the widest availability I've ever seen; even the pay content via Azureus has only a few hundred seeds at best.

I should point out that the download bitrate of Usenet has in my experience always been slower than the rate of my HTTP and FTP connections. I suspect they intentionally dial it down to prevent exactly that use.

Bittorrent has made Usenet a bit... irrelevant for handling large files.

[Tuttle]

54. It's on alt.binaries.movies.xvid

also alt.binaries.multimedia and
alt.binaries.xvid.movies

http://www.newzbin.com/search/query/p/?q=sicko&Category=-1&searchFP=p

The advantage that usenet has over the torrents is how users will flame a posting with malware/spyware attached.

Tut-tut

PS: search for other blockbusters at newzbin: if you know the right lingo, they are all there

[rainbow4321]

59. It's on Youtube now, actually.

In 13 different parts. Video is like 15 seconds ahead of the audio but still watchable/understandable.


I will still go see it in the theater, though..same reason I bought 2 of the Dixie Chicks CD (their movie soundtrack) instead of burning one of them...one for my daughter who listens to it in the house, and one for both of us to listen to in the car. Cuz I am more than happy to give $$ to artists who expose the current US regime for what they are...

[Coventina]

49. Yeah, cuz everyone has high speed internet access, and the

software & knowledge to do peer-to-peer sharing.
And everyone would prefer to sit hunched in front of their computer, listening to their crappy little speakers rather than in a theatre with dolby or THX.

whatever.

:eyes:

If that were the case, all the movie theatres would be closed long before now.

[lakeguy]

51. bah, this happens with many movies...

anybody who hates moore enough to 'encourage' others to download illegal copies won't watch the movie anyway. neither will his or her friends that actually listen to the creep.

[Triana]

52. I will PAY to see this film thankyouverymuch....

...AND I will BUY a legit copy of my own when it is available for sale.

[Missy Vixen]

56. "Nobody" would see Bowling For Columbine or Fahrenheit 9/11, either

We live in a small rural town. I went to the DVD rental place the morning "Fahrenheit 9/11" was out on DVD. We'd seen it in the theater, we wanted to see it again, and I wanted to buy a copy. The employee there firmly told me that "nobody" would be interested in that movie, that they wouldn't be stocking it, and why did I want to see "lies," anyway? I'm happy to say that the employee must have had to eat her words, because the owner told me they couldn't bring in DVD's of "Fahrenheit 9/11" fast enough, and they were continuously rented for six months after release.

My husband and I have a date on June 29th to see the movie in the theater. We're more than happy to spend $20 to see one of the more important films of the year.

Julie

[JTFrog]

57. Anyone who thinks that the RW

would leak this film is freakin nuts, roflmao. They certainly do not want this movie being spread far and wide.

Moore has handed out free copies of his movies in the past and has leaked his own movies in the past. He's a real smart guy. This could only be good for him. Why on earth do you think he would pick a town of 1000 people to premiere the movie if all he was after was record box office sales?

Like I said, he's a smart guy. It's one of those things where no one has to do anything, the players just play their natural parts.