Avengers: Endgame suspense ended early in Philippines

Widespread pirated movie availability is the scourge of the film industry. While a few old titles on DVD is one thing, the prevalence of online copies is another. The security under which new movies are kept and released means that at least initially only bad copies of camcorded cinema versions, with terrible sound are usually available online, in the first few weeks after release. Real fans can avoid these.   

The arrival of the huge Avengers: Endgame blockbuster completed the series. But fans had to hide from spoilers (avoiding news reports, the press and the web for days!) until they could rush to the cinema and see which of their favorite superheros would be back from the dead or newly killed off.  The movie industry's anti piracy Hawkeyes would be ready for the inevitable release of bad camcorded copies with their online takedown notices and siteblocking requests. 

So the sudden airing on local TV of the Avengers: Endgame movie in southern Philippines came as a shock. It seems that a company called Orient Cable, a regional cable TV  company in Dipolog, Zamboanga del Norte, the southern Philippines, showed one of the low end camcorded pirated copies of the film. Local movie theatres are up in arms, with one called Teatro de Dapitan threatening to sue Orient.  

The complaints seem to be equally balanced between the illegality of the pirated broadcast and the fact that fans would be exposed to the spoilers!