Hollywood wants Canada to crack down on pirated films recorded inside theatres, saying authorities have failed to adequately tackle the problem.

One studio, 20th Century Fox, is even threatening to delay the Canadian theatrical release of its movies unless more action is taken.

"It is a big issue because, as you're aware, once a movie is bootlegged in a theatre, it then becomes available through the Internet to anybody that can access it," Ellis Jacob, CEO of Cineplex Entertainment, told CTV Newsnet on Tuesday.

"It's a huge industry problem for us in Canada, which is being driven by the fact that we really can't prosecute the people that actually are bootlegging these movies."

Some reports say pirated movies are costing Hollywood studios more than $6 billion each year.

Fox investigators claim that at one point in 2006, almost half of all illegal movies originated from theatrical recordings.

"In most cases, they're copies where you can see (audience members) standing up through the movie," said Jacob.

"As the cameras get better and more sophisticated, the quality improves dramatically."

He added that technology exists to accurately determine which theatre pirated films were recorded in. But filming inside a theatre is not a criminal offence in Canada, and theatre owners are lobbying Ottawa to bring in tougher laws to combat the practice.

"We're pushing to have a Criminal Code amendment so that if you're caught camcording in the theatre, it's a criminal offence," says Douglas Frith of the Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association. "That's essentially what we need to do to begin to even put a dent in camcording and piracy in Canada."

Jacob says the same issue existed in the United States until laws in close to 40 states were amended to make film pirating a criminal offence.

"It pretty well eliminated piracy in the U.S.," he says. 

Frith notes that real target of the laws would be organized criminals.

"We're not looking at the individuals who go in for fun to camcord a film in a theatre. It's organized crime. People are going in, they get paid between $5,000 to $7,000 for a very good copy of a film."

So far, Canada's theatre owners have yet to hear back from the newly-appointed Justice Minister Rob Nicholson.

"We sent him a letter about a week ago, and as you're aware he's new at his job, so I'm hoping to get to him very soon," said Jacob. "Hopefully we can meet with him in Ottawa."

If Fox follows through on its threat to delay new films, it could mean big losses for theatre owners, who depend mostly on Hollywood products for their box office revenue.

"I think what it really means is that the Canadian government has to wake up to the fact that Canada has become a major source of piracy for films in the world, and what we need is a change in the law."