The Dark Knight

A Missouri man was sentenced Friday to two years in federal prison for illegally recording The Dark Knight in a theater and selling the movie on DVD.

U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan also ordered the defendant, Robert Henderson of Grandview, Missouri, to pay $24,738. The prison sentence will be followed by three years probation.

Henderson pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement for using a digital camera to record The Dark Knight on July 18, 2008 — opening day for the Warner Bros. blockbuster. He was caught as part of an investigation by the Motion Picture Association of America.

“This is an appropriate sentence for a very serious crime, and we hope it will serve as a warning to would-be movie thieves that they will face severe consequences for engaging in these activities,” Mike Robinson, the MPAA’s senior vice president of content protection, said in a press release.

In December, the FBI arrested a New York man suspected of uploading an unfinished edit of X-Men Origins: Wolverine to a file-sharing website for the film’s release. Earlier this month 20th Century Fox filed six lawsuits against several dozen people the studio claims sold DVDs containing unfinished versions of the movie.

(via The Wrap)

New Moon

Move over, Joker and Green Goblin: Edward Cullen’s here to give you a real run for your money.

New Moon, the second in a series of adaptations of author Stephenie Meyer’s teen-vampire Twilight saga, stunned Hollywood and shattered box-office records this past weekend by taking in $140.7 million over its opening weekend. As best I can tell, the film is now the box-office record-holder for Biggest Advance Ticket Sales, Biggest Midnight Screening, Biggest Opening Day, Biggest Friday, Biggest Two-Day, Biggest November Opening, and Biggest Non-Summer 3-Day Weekend. The movie currently ranks third on the list of all-time opening-weekend box-office champs, behind only the summer superhero blockbusters The Dark Knight ($158.4mil, 2008) and Spider-Man 3 ($151mil, 2007).

In shattering all those other records, the movie leapfrogged claims previously staked by such fanboy-beloved franchises as Batman, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. In particular, New Moon‘s dethroning of The Dark Knight as the reigning opening-day record-holder caused much agita among nerds of my acquaintance. Fortunately for them, the movie ultimately came up short for the weekend title — proving that when push comes to shove, audiences prefer serious stuff like billionaires who dress up as bats to fight evil clowns or young men whose spider-like superhuman abilities interfere with their love lives to all this emo-vampire-werewolf silliness.

Then again, when No. 3 in the series, Eclipse, hits this summer on June 30th, who knows what’ll happen?

Replica Dark Knight Motorcycle Suit

Universal Designs has released more information and few more promo images for the replica Dark Knight Motorcycle Suit that Larry Young linked to a few months back. According to the press release, the suit includes “a full-leather jacket that includes lightweight interior lining, as well as molded-leather and Kevlar armor sections; pants that include heavy-duty, four-way stretch Spandex inserts and CE-approved armor; authentic gloves and boots that replicate the amazing on-screen design.”

They only plan to create 1,000 of them, and they cost $998. You can order one — and check out all their Dark Knight-themed merchandise — here. It’s pricey, but takes cosplay to a whole other level. More promo images and a video of the suit can be found after the jump.

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You can watch the complete episode at South Park Studios.