
What I find amusing is that the guy used his mobile phone to record the movie. How much of a threat to box-office is something that poor in quality? Do people really think, "Oh look, a crummy and barely watchable version of The Simpsons Movie taped off a cell phone ... now I don't have to pay to see it in a theater!" The people I know who boast they can find illegal copies of movies online seem to find these downloads a kind of amusing novelty, and the bootleg files don't appear to have any effect on their desire to see these movies in theaters or on DVD. I can't even stand old commercial videotapes of movies these days -- I can't imagine trying to sit through a cell-phone recording made in a theater.
The Australian who illegally recorded the movie faces up to five years in jail, if convicted. As a longtime fan of The Simpsons TV show, all I can think about is the episode "Bart Vs. Australia" where Bart is sentenced to "the boot" by the Commonwealth Parliament as punishment for international telephone fraud. I know they don't really have "the boot" in Australia, but it would be a delightful irony to watch an online video (perhaps recorded with something higher quality than a mobile phone) of the offending video pirate getting "the boot" from the Prime Minister, or from Rupert Murdoch.