What the hell is going on out there in film wonderland?

It certainly has been a tumultuous week. I don't even know where to start with all the film industry related havoc. Hell has been raised.

Hollywood's lobbying efforts failed to result in anti-piracy legislation SOPA passing in the US congress. It turns out that in the face of swift internet backlash and protest, some politicians don't stay bought.

Hollywood mounted a large sting operation against Megaupload, one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, its founder Kim Dotcom arrested in Auckland, and several company executives charged with violating piracy laws, as TV3 reported.

In a profile on its founder, Kim Dotcom, TV3 journalist James Murray said “Dotcom is a colourful character to say the least” with stories of his extravagant lifestyle and checkered past. This dude is so seedy.

It doesn't matter what your ethical stance on piracy is. It doesn't matter which way you look at it. Hollywood needs a villain. You know Dotcom will be used by the lobbyists as "the villain made rich by enabling piracy" in the PR war.

But, if US authorities can use our extradition laws and get our local police to do their bidding, what the hell do they need SOPA for?

Still from anti-piracy ad.

Meanwhile, the sequel to the heavily pirated Sione's Wedding was released. The first film was so famously pirated in fact that it led to anti-piracy ads with Our Tem and a seedy bogan trying to flog Sione's from the back of his car.

The premiere of Sione's 2 led to a news story about the anti-piracy measures Paramount Pictures was going to by forcing cinema-goers to surrender their cellphones at the door, a practice which isn't unusual at advanced screenings. In spite of the threat of piracy, it didn't stop the film from beating Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy to the number one spot earning $723,092 at the local box office.

The poor reviews didn't stop kiwis from paying to see the film either. In a heartfelt piece, film critic Dom Corry articulated what I'm sure many have felt for years as the "critic's conundrum" when it comes to reviewing local films. Here South Pacific Pictures executive John Barnett and Academy Cinemas proprietor John Davies weighed in with their comments, in response to Corry.

The week's events also pitted local distributors and net neutrality advocates against each other. It all started when (in a story relating to Megaupload) Internet NZ's chief executive Vikram Kumar was quoted as saying:

"Hollywood has made up its mind to give it to us six months or two years late. It isn't available to us quickly, legally or at an economic cost" as a reason for rampant film piracy.

The Motion Picture Distributors' Association of New Zealand then issued a press release, in response to Kumar, which nobody can seem to find?

They took issue with his statements saying that:

"For movies that grossed over $1 million at the NZ box office in 2011, the average delay between the US cinema release and the NZ release was 16 days. 44 percent of the films were released in NZ before the US, including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn."

The Motion Picture Distributors' Association of New Zealand spokesman Robert Crockett then appeared on the homegrown Cinematica podcast to explain his position but host Dan Slevin remained skeptical about his claims.

This spurred on a big discussion between Dan Slevin, Hugh Lilly, Doug Dillaman and myself on Twitter about the 16 day average.

Eventually Mike Dickson released a collaborative Google Spreadsheet which anyone can update so we may find out exactly how long kiwis have to wait for movies compared to overseas release dates.

It's a mad, mad world.