As part of the release of YU-GI-OH! THE MOVIE, Warner Bros. Pictures handed out one of four new YU-GI-OH! trading cards to people who attended the film. Like the same type of promotion for the original POKEMON movie, fans were hot to get their hands on the collectibles. However, two fans in Chino, California took it to a criminal extent. The two posed as Warner Bros. employees, convincing a Cinemark manager that the wrong cards had been shipped, so they needed to confiscate the 2,400 cards they had and would return later with the right cards. The demand for the card has been higher than Warner execs expected and sales of the cards have been doing well on eBay.
"We were aware of the immensely popular YU-GI-OH! trading card phenomenon, but we never expected people would go to such great lengths to illegally obtain quantities of these exclusive cards," said Kelly O'Connor, svp, exhibitor and marketing services, Warner Bros. Pictures. "We are taking greater security precautions as we make as many of these cards available to fans as possible."
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
