Comment Re:we've known this for a while (Score 1) 214
You see, that's exactly it.
If you released the movie for free (even low quality) before the theatrical release, then two things happen.
1) All that money they spend on marketing is worthless
2) If the Movie is bad then nobody goes to watch it
At the moment, they can spend lots of money on marketing to fool people into going to see it in the cinema. The money they give to the marketeers can be written off against the 'profits'. If you got access to the whole movie prior to release, then they couldn't hide the lemons they produce under millions spent on bribing critics. If they couldn't bribe critics, then they would be forced to make good movies. Their ability to churn out shit movies is vital to their money laundering organisation.