Rodney Charters, the Director for Photography on 24 expressed interest in it via an email sent to planet5D. He also believes that it may have been used on Ironman, although he has no confirmation on that. Either way it would make for some interesting fight and POV scenes, not to mention comical situations on set for anyone trying to pass through a doorway with one of these on. [planet5D]

The movie industry would like to tell you that those 4 million downloads are totally equivalent to 4 million lost tickets at an average cost of 7 bucks a piece according to the Hollywood Reporter’s figures, knocking about $28 million off its weekend total, which was a still respectable $US85 million, though less than X3’s opening weekend gross of $US103 million.

It’s not. Even discounting the few people brave enough for a repeat viewing of this crime against decency—adamantium bullets, really?—pirates who are piratey pirates were never going to pay to see it anyway, and the incredible download numbers undoubtedly drew more of them in. It’s like a YouTube video with 2 million views. It makes you more likely to click.

But 4 million is still something of a watershed number. 1 million downloads was pretty damn good. 4 million is berzerk. The Dark Knight hasn’t even sold 4 million copies on Blu-ray, and it’s like the biggest thing ever on the format.

That’s fairly incredible buzz for a thoroughly lackluster movie that’s a bona fide wolverine fart in summer filled with actually good blockbusters, hype it likely would’ve never achieved otherwise. And being able to talk about all those millions of downloads in the press is just one slice of this illicit hype machine. (If Fox was smart, they would include the bootleg workprint as a special feature on the Blu-ray.)

Would it have made more than $US85 million if it hadn’t leaked? Maybe. But I kind of doubt it. Would fewer people have seen it? Definitely. [Hollywood Reporter via digg]

It’s not the first time Soderbergh has experimented with different ways of releasing his films. His 2006 film Bubble was released simultaneously on HDNet Movies and to theatres, with a DVD release coming a mere 4 days later.

Traditionally, studios have been reluctant to dabble in simultaneous releases because they worry that people will skip the theatres to watch from the comfort of their own home. But as piracy and digital downloads become the norm, that choice isn’t really in the studio’s hands anymore. Yet people still go see movies in theatres for the experience, so why not make some cash via digital sales and rentals at the same time for people who wouldn’t go to the theatre in the first place?

It’s an interesting experiment, one that may become more and more common in the future. It makes sense especially with independent films that are traditionally given limited releases to theatres. And movies staring porn stars, as it’s awkward to jerk off in a movie theater.

[The Girlfriend Experience on Amazon; Fleshbot Review (NSFW)]

Although the intentions aren’t yet explicit, most of the coalition members have openly opposed net neutrality legislation and are in favour of allowing ISPs to have the “freedom” to monitor their customers. But Microsoft is a little bit more squirmy on the subject. Thomas C. Rubin, Microsoft’s chief counsel for intellectual property strategy, told Hansell:

We think that this is an opportunity to work with leaders across industries to put our heads together to discuss the opportunities that exist to facilitate the promotion of the availability of legitimate content on the Internet. We are not in favour of filtering at the network level.

Hopefully that is enough of a bulwark against rampant abuse of power. As the forces align, it’s important for pirates and non-pirates alike to keep watch. Meantime, check out the full article. [NYT]

In Hollywood, the same rule that applies to babies and cars applies to key props: There has to be more than one. In the shooting of Get Smart, there were a total of seven functional Swiss Army knives, three with working crossbows, and two each with working flamethrowers and blowguns. There were also a dozen or so rubber versions for shots where the knife flies through the air or takes some other kind of a beating.

Wiles—whose prop mastery has been seen in everything from Magnolia to You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, and whose inventory includes USPS-friendly sex dolls, magic remote controls, a diver stuck in a tree and a “crazy hair stimulator” for Jack Nicholson—was naturally excited to be on the Get Smart gig. As you’d expect, the script called for numerous gadgets:

• Dental floss detonator, explosive floss
• Tooth transmitters (”We got fake teeth from a dental supply company, embedded microchips and hollowed them out to make them look like toothcaps,” says Wiles.)
• Bracelet receiver made from an existing Marc Jacobs watch, with a slide-out antenna and compartment for wireless bugs
• Smoking compacts
• Glowing coin transmitter
• Piano bomb with countdown timer
• Violin tuning peg laser for cutting holes in walls
• And of course, the Cone of Silence

But it was the knife that was the centre of Wiles’ attention. He got clearance from the companies who own the Swiss Army licence (Wenger and Victorinox) to feature a souped-up version in the movie. “Then we bought 50 or 60 big fat Swiss Army knives and gutted them—took them apart and built frames to house the mechanisms to do what we needed it to do.”

As you can see in the sketches above, the crossbow concept requires a little “suitcase” for the bolts, while the flamethrower makes sense only when the knife has its own propane tank, so Wiles had to add both, on either side.

When it came time to deploy the functional units for scenes, some trickery was still required. For instance, the flamethrower did manage to shoot a jet of fire four to six feet, says Wiles, but it was assisted by a line to an actual propane tank that was hiding just off-camera and controlled by “the effects guy.”

The crossbow totally worked, but its bolts were rubber tipped. Even though Carell appears in the stills below punctured with bolts, Wiles and the crew assumed the real ones probably wouldn’t have done too much damage. Nevertheless, on the day of shooting, the crossbow turned out to be all too powerful, and they had to “back off the tension” before someone lost an eye.

“Even though they were rubber harpoons, they still hurt if you got hit by them. In that confined space [an aeroplane bathroom], while we were shooting, they ricochet all over the place,” says Wiles.

It’s great to know that Hollywood isn’t all CGI these days, and that actors are willing to put their lives (or at least their eyes) on the line for a solid visual gag. Below, you can see the knife featured in its various configurations—and hopefully in the movie, which opens on Friday, June 20, we’ll get to see the knife (or knives) fully in action. Now, if they could just install an electric screwdriver, I’d be sold. [Get Smart]

My second “ooooh” moment was exactly the opposite. I was watching a movie on something like HDnet. And I was worried for a moment—what were all those little spots on my television screen? I looked closer and realised that it was film grain. And then I absolutely knew that my TV had been a good “investment.” But not all people feel like I do. And Hollywood is accommodating them for Blu-ray releases.

The Digital Bits reports that to accommodate for those with no taste who hate film grain, studios are doing one of two things to back-catalog Blu-ray rereleases:

1. Sharpening film to death through copious Digital Noise Reduction
2. Simply not releasing especially grainy movies at all

Film grain is not a problem to be eliminated. While sometimes a production limitation altering decisions on film stock and lighting requirements, it’s long been seen as another tool in a cinematographer’s arsenal. And, ironically enough, it’s important enough to the viewing experience that digital productions tend to add the stuff for theatre release.

Part of what’s amazing about new display and codec technologies is that the consumer can come closer than ever to re-creating the theatre experience at home. When I saw film grain so clearly on my screen for the first time, I bought in to that truly incredible and empowering phenomenon, a sort of technological manifestation of divine marketing BS. And I realised that, no matter what better-than-HD technologies were around the corner, we were quickly approaching the point of diminishing returns. Our eyes would be bested by our displays. There’d be more information than we could see.

But if we destroy a by-product so intrinsically (and often artistically) linked to the film medium, our enjoyment of film will become said case of diminishing returns. So let’s just not do that. [The Digital Bits via Gadget Lab]

You can tell Belzberg interned with Frank Gehry, can’t you? For more window-licking images of Belzberg’s interiors and exteriors of this eye-opening LA pad, follow the link. [Coolhunter]

First, it opens the door for other organisations to make demands as to what should and shouldn’t be allowed. Verizon doesn’t feel the internet should be excessively policed. Second, it sets a precedent that would make networks and service providers liable for future cases where they fail to block content. Third, Verizon sees content filtering as an invasion of privacy, and they try to balance the wishes of customers with the necessity for content protection. Amen. [NY Times]