NP Da Gool Bug

[Spencer Thiel]

Slow day at work.  Thought that this story might be of interest to members
of the list who are Richard Powers fans:

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>From Daily Variety 12/10/98:

Theaters expecting prints of "The Prince of Egypt" for advanced critics
screenings were caught off guard this week when two yellow, padlocked
canisters labeled "Edgar Allen Poe" arrived by courier.

Had someone in the shipping department gotten a Gothic thriller mixed up
with DreamWorks' new animated retelling of the Moses story?

"I figured we'd gotten the wrong print and was ready to call the number on
the canister," said Dennis Skaggs, co-owner of the Camera Cinemas arthouse
in San Jose.

But then Skaggs worked it out: POE is an acronym for "Prince of Egypt."

Nervous about unauthorized duplications of their $75 million ... gamble,
Jeffrey Katzenberg and the folks at Dream Works are excersing extra-special
caution prior to "POE's" Dec. 18 opening.

Hence, the trick tag and the combination locks.  Reps with Technicolor
Entertainment in Wilmington, Ohio, called theaters with different
four-digit combinations.

"I've never seen these things padlocked before," Skaggs said.  "You
couldn't get these (locks) off with bolt cutters.  I guess they're
concerned about piracy."
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-Spencer T.