Hollywood studios are stepping up their efforts to prevent movie piracy in Canada by hiring security to search for camcorders at the openings of blockbuster movies.

After placing Canada on a watchlist of countries responsible for illegal copying of movies, the U.S. International Intellectual Property Alliance got U.S. senators to lobby the government over copyright laws.

The alliance represents software companies, the recording industry and movie studios, which estimate they lose $225 million annually in Canada to illegal downloading. 

With the official start of the summer movie season set for next week with the opening of Spider-Man 3, security in cinemas is being stepped up.

Security guards at a preview screening for Spider-Man 3 inspected bags, confiscated portable phones, and scanned movie goers with metal detectors.

With a budget of $250 million, Spider-Man 3 is a heavy investment for Sony Pictures and it is trying to stop the film from being recorded and leaked to the internet.

Torontonian Cherisa Simon said she was surprised at being searched before entering a cinema.

"Yeah it was creepy … they took my phone," she told CBC Radio.

Once the movie began, security guards monitored the audience with infra-red cameras to catch people trying to illegally record the film.

Fox Studios has threatened to delay new releases to Canada if theatre chain Cineplex doesn't crack down on camcording in cinemas.

Hollywood estimates it loses about $6 billion US a year to piracy around the world. And it says Canada is a haven to pirates because its copyright laws are too lax.

Ren Bucholz of online advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation said studios are looking in the wrong place to stop pirates.

A study by AT&T in 2003 found that about 23 per cent of movie filesharing networks got their material from camcording. The other 77 per cent of movies available on the internet come from screeners and other commercially sold copies.

Film studio executives argue camcording rates are on the rise, and Canada is not doing enough to stop it.

Earlier this week Sony rushed to deny reports Spider-Man 3 was already on sale as a bootleg disc in Beijing.

It turned out the superhero was safe, though Chinese consumers somewhat less so. The bootlegs were of older movies, sold with a Spider-Man 3 cover.