@cschack@cstross apparently in the US they've been paying people 50$ plus the ticket if they attend and stay put for the whole movie. Wouldn't be surprised if they pulled similar stuff in the UK.
@oblomov@cschack@cstross I had the impression that that was a joke. The NY Times did report better-than-normal box office for a documentary (and here I use the word they used…). But their Sunday book review section uses a special footnote to denote reports of bulk purchases—I wonder if that needs to be done for movies like this, too.
@SteveBellovin@oblomov@cschack It's a viable money-laundering tactic. Cf. political campaigns buying huge quantities of hardcover books ghost-written for their candidates and shoveling them into landfill. Gets bestseller list publicity, and a non-attributable donation.