Breaking News: Warner Brothers Preempts Chinese DVD Pirates

According to the Los Angeles Times, Warner Brothers released 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' on DVD in China the same day it appeared in North American theaters:

...several industry executives said they believed it was the first time a major U.S. studio had taken a movie scheduled for a wide-scale theatrical run and released it simultaneously on DVD in another country.
"It's a necessary move," said movie industry analyst Tom Adams of Adams Media Research. "It's obviously not as good as having control of the Chinese market, but it's about the next best thing that you can do."

The move comes during a recent debate over DVD release windows here in the United States. Another recent experiment in the Chinese market, which is widely known as a bootleggers paradise, included Sony's svelte 45-day release window for 'Kung Fu Hustle', which resulted in an impressive 2 million copies sold.


[Via the Los Angeles Times]