Whenever you head to the cinema these days, there’s always an advert asking audiences to be vigilant against video pirates: making sure anyone with a camcorder can’t buckle their swash.The one thread that runs between them all is an emphasis on the value of the ‘cinematic experience’. Pirates, we’re told, are a threat to that experience. Well certainly those big hats must be blocking somebody’s view. But however much we cinema-goers care, or don’t, about internet piracy, we do all care about having a good Saturday night at the movies, whatever picture we see. But how connected, really, are those two things? Is internet piracy really the biggest threat to our cinematic experience, and if not, what else is?

You know what we didn’t hear enough about? That Pocahontus film about the blue people, what was it called again? The director made quite a famous film about some boat back in the day, erm… oh dear… Avatar! That’s it! Such a shame that slipped so low under the international radar, eh? Fortunately for us though, it’s getting re-released! No, really.

It’s been a summer drought which has left film-lusters like us weeping into our Back To The Future comfort blankies. For a whole month, no opening film has grossed more than £4 million. This has been due to a number of things; the World Cup, the glorious un-British sunshine, as well as because, well, the films out at the moment are a bit crud. But it looks like Shrek 4 has changed all that.