can anyone help with advice regarding Region 5 releases of Hollywood movies prior to Region 1 releas (1 Viewer)

[Johnny G]

Before I start, I want to be 100% legitimate here, I don't want to get into discussions about piracy so please keep that for dedicated threads.

It has come to my attention that many Hollywood movies are released on Region 5 before Region 1 & just as people used to import DVD from the USA into the UK to take advantage of the early release, I'd like to find out which country these Region 5 DVDs come from & hopefully find a source to buy them from.

Titles I have seen released on Region 5 include:-

Surrogates
Pandorum
Jennifer's Body
Zombieland
A Perfect Getaway
Number 9
District 9
Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

According to Wikipedia, Region 5 includes Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Africa, excluding Egypt, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and French overseas territories; Central and South Asia, Mongolia, North Korea.

Does anyone know which of these countries these movies are coming from?

 

[Simon Howson]

They are probably Russian bootleg copies. It just doesn't make any sense for a Hollywood film that is released theatrically in the U.S. to be issued on DVD before the U.S. market.

 

[Johnny G]

Here's just a few of the recent Hollywood movies coming out on Region 2 before Region 1 DVD:-

Angels & Demons
Bruno
Four Christmases
Night at the Museum 2
Terminator Salvation
Public Enemies
G-Force
Hangover
Inglorious Basterds
The Final Destination
Hurt Locker
Moon
Sorority Row

Figure that out if you can!

 

[Serega_M]

Most of R5 discs are Russian, I suppose, and yes, most of the titles which are released before R1 are pirated stuff, although there are some legit releases as well, which our distributors dump to official DVDs early in hope to beat pirates. Two of the biggest online stores in Russia for books and media are www.bolero.ru and ww.ozon.ru. So, if you'd like to be sure that the discs are legit - shop there, if you know Russian, of course

 

[Johnny G]

Thanks very much for your help Serega, I found the new Roland Emmerich movie "2012" for 363py6 on ozon & 303py6 on bolero so I tried registering using google to translate but it didn't make much sense to me.

It shows their phone number as +7 (495) 916 98 84 so I'm gonna phone & hope they speak English.

 

[GregoryMesh]

It doesn't come out until December according to ozon. I didn't find it at bolero, so maybe you were looking at different movie...

 

[Sumnernor]

Originally Posted by Johnny G

Here's just a few of the recent Hollywood movies coming out on Region 2 before Region 1 DVD:-

A few other region 2 examples of films released in Europe before the US:

The Godfather
Pink Panther cartoons (US had the correct versions)
The Pink Panther fils and cartoons such as "The Inspector 2"

 

[Serega_M]

Johnny, you are welcome, but keep in mind that the quality of Russian releases are usually worse than their R1 and R2 counterparts and there are usually no extras or very little supplements, really So I think it is better to wait a little and buy the better quality product than to shop for Russian DVDs really, if it is not a Russian movie you are interested in. Being Russian, I do order discs from R1 and R2 mostly, even some Russian classics like "Solaris" by Tarkovski, which I bought in wonderful Criterion edition and not the R.U.S.C.I.C.O. one. Just my two cents