Knowles: "Studios could make screenings private" ( 23")

A 25-year-old film buff from the US is creating headlines in Hollywood after he set up his own Internet site previewing films are not yet on general release.

Harry Knowles from Austin in Texas gets his information from people who have attended sneak previews of movies which are usually screened well before the official release date.

Harry, the heavyweight critic

He sees his "Ain't it Cool News" website as a public service, filtering out the worst examples of Hollywood hype.

"It's the only way that as an audience member I can get advanced honest buzz on a film, without having to look at the movie poster which pronounces 'greatest movie ever', because we all know that the films which advertise that are not the greatest movies," he says.

Harry's mission control is a backroom of his father's house in an Austin suburb from where he remains in touch with a network of movie informers from around the US. He fields 50 phone calls and up to 1,200 email messages a day.

Harry's HQ is bursting with movie paraphernalia

He receives tips on films in production, cast and script changes many from people working in the industry.

"I receive information from people writing the movies, the directors. Everyone. I've got two million readers a month. They are my spies."

"Ain't it Cool News " has become required reading for film buffs, Hollywood insiders and reporters covering the industry. It is also undermining the expensive publicity campaigns organised by the big studios.

Negative feedback posted by informers who had seen test screenings of Batman and Robin enraged its makers who blamed Harry for undercutting the movie's box office performance.

Francis Ford Coppola: "Intrusion of privacy"

Even when the site relays positive reports as it did for the forthcoming Francis Ford Coppola film, The Rainmaker, he is charged with intrusiveness. Francis Ford Coppola has called the practice of pre-release reviews obsessional and intruding into his privacy.

There have been legal efforts to curtail Harry's activities. After posting pictures of the giant bugs from the sci-fi movie, Starship Troopers, he received a cease and desist order from Sony Pictures

Francis Ford Coppola: "Obsesive coverage" ( 34")

His business partner, Glen Oliver, sees Harry as a whistleblower warning the paying public away from bad films.

"He does believe and he does care that people have a right to find out the type of information we are giving. I don't understand the sensation that we are doing something wrong because we are trying to let people have fun with this," he says.

Titanic effect

The "Ain't It Cool News" report on the multi-million dollar film, Titanic, has been credited with reversing its early negative buzz. His statute in the industry is now growing to the extent that he is regularly sent unsolicited scripts and movies.

Titanic review: Positive verdict

Some sections of the Hollywood film machine are now trying to seduce Harry in order to get information planted on his website.

" I am contacted by people who are making the films who are very open about what they are doing. But ultimately I only go with it if I like the film," he says.

In an industry dominated by public relations spin-doctoring, "Ain't It Cool News" offers an independent take on the movie world. And it is proving popular.

The site's daily readership is five time greater than the daily circulation of Tinseltown's leading trade paper Variety.

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