OSCAR SCREENER COPY OF 'AMERICAN GANGSTER' LEAKED ONLINE.

I don't mind telling you all that last week, I was fortunate enough to 'attend' a very high-quality special screening (in the comforts of my own home...but that's neither here or there) of Denzel Washington's new movie, American Gangster, which opens nationwide on November 2nd. Now, will I go see the film, which is 2.5 hours long when it hits theaters next Friday? Probably not; and that decision isn't just based on my opinion of the movie. I can easily see Wahington garnering another Academy Award win for his portrayal of real-life heroin druglord, Frank Lucas.

An Oscar screener copy of Ridley Scott's American Gangster has been uploaded to a popular bit torrent site and has been downloaded thousands upon thousands of times. And remember, this isn't some cheap bootleg job. Oscar screeners are regular DVD quality. Also, bootleg DVDs of the movie are being sold for $5 apiece in Los Angeles, the Wall Street Journal reported last Friday (10/26). The availability of the movie and others earlier this year, the newspaper commented, "shows that Hollywood's supposedly reinforced preventive measures on piracy aren't as reliable as the industry thought."

It also noted that for Universal the problem is compounded by the fact that the bootleg version of American Gangster appears to be in pristine condition and lacks even the "not-for-distribution" scroll that identifies screeners. John Desmond, an executive with online piracy-research company MediaSentry, told the WSJ that if a bootleg copy is going to be offered online, it's best for the studios if it's of poor quality (like movies camcorded in theaters) since most consumers would rather buy a theater ticket than watch a poor-quality bootleg copy. However, the newspaper noted, pristine copies often can be made from prints that have been sent to postproduction houses.