KEY POINTS:
Cinemas in Australia are going to new lengths to avoid Heath Ledger's final completed film - The Dark Knight - from being pirated.
Staff at theatres showing the movie will be provided with night-vision goggles to help them detect anyone filming illicitly inside cinemas.
A memo from studio Village Roadshow urges exhibitors to use the goggles at all screenings, according to a report in Australia's Courier Mail.
"Should anyone be caught filming on anything, regardless if it is a mobile phone, PDA or camera, security should discreetly walk over to them and ask them to leave the cinema," the memo says.
The Dark Knight opens in Australia today, several days ahead of its US and UK openings.
Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft director of operations Neil Gain told the Courier Mail the move indicated how seriously movie studios regarded piracy.
"It only takes one person to make a copy and then, at the click of a button, a copy of that film can be sold to illegal replicating units who make copies which can be burnt and then sold on to piracy sites around the world," he said.
Night-vision goggles have previously been used to detect illicit filming during blockbuster releases in Australia but this is the first time a directive has been issued to all cinemas showing a film.
While always a popular franchise, the hype surrounding the latest Batman movie has been elevated because of the late Ledger's performance as the villainous Joker.
US website movietickets.com reports that advance ticket sales of the highly anticipated film have already eclipsed those of three of the top performing movies of all time - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Spider-Man 3 and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
The website has more than 1300 midnight screenings of The Dark Knight listed on its site and says more than 270 screenings of the film have already sold out in Los Angeles and New York alone.
But the Batman frenzy is not restricted to the US.
According to a BBC report, managers of an Imax cinema in London are "seriously considering" screening The Dark Knight around the clock to meet demand for tickets.
The 485-seat BFI Imax cinema near Waterloo station will show the movie from July 24.
"Advance booking has exceeded even our wildest expectations already," Justin Johnson, the head of operations at the British Film Institute, told the BBC.
"By keeping The Dark Knight playing throughout the night, we can ensure that everyone gets a chance to see the film at the start of its run.
"We are seriously considering playing the film 24 hours a day in order to meet demand."
* The Dark Knight opens in New Zealand cinemas on July 24.
