On Monday night, Blackmagic Design's Fremont distribution center was robbed, with the thieves making off with upwards of $1.5 million in equipment, including 350 cameras.
The robbery is believed to be in connection with two others in the San Jose area, which occurred at Core Microsystems and Mac House Productions in the days prior to the Blackmagic heist. Police believe that the culprits were after high-end cinema production equipment and targeted those businesses specifically.
The authorities think this is the work of professionals, as the robberies were carried out with extreme precision. At Core Microsystems, the thieves burrowed through multiple layers of drywall to get to the storeroom, and also cut wires for the business's phone lines, security cameras, and servers.
Here's a report from the local ABC affiliate station.
It's likely that the stolen equipment will make its way to China and other Asian markets where demand for video production equipment is high.
With Blackmagic Design on the verge of shipping their highly-anticipated URSA cinema camera, it's not out of the question to wonder how this burglary will impact their shipping timeline. However, since we don't know exactly which items were stolen, it's too early to say whether this incident will have any effect on Blackmagic's ability ship the cameras.
The owner of Mac House Productions, a production company whose losses total more than $150,000 worth of production gear, is offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the individuals responsible.
Your Comment
37 Comments
This sucks so much! I hope they had insurance, or at least some way to make back the funds
ps:I'm surprised this wasn't up on here sooner, The story broke early this morning i believe
October 8, 2014 at 10:25PM
Someone is definitely shooting his first feature with a low budget :)
October 8, 2014 at 10:45PM
This really blows though smh.. just hope that these guys are caught and beaten with an old B4 Lens!
October 8, 2014 at 10:46PM, Edited October 8, 10:46PM
What about a Sigma APO 200-500?... Is that overkill?
October 9, 2014 at 8:33AM
If I could upvote this comment twice, I would!
November 13, 2014 at 1:57PM
Didn't Herzog say that we should steal a camera if it got us to make our movie?
Hmmm.....
October 8, 2014 at 10:53PM
nice!
October 9, 2014 at 12:06AM
High end equipment? ...
October 8, 2014 at 11:15PM
If you look at another article it states that production equipment such as computers were also stolen. So yes, high en equipment.
October 9, 2014 at 9:46PM
People suck.
October 8, 2014 at 11:17PM
Someone just got tired of waiting for their preordered Blackmagic camera :)
October 9, 2014 at 12:09AM
Nope: that would be Red.
October 9, 2014 at 4:01AM, Edited October 9, 4:01AM
Nope: that would be Red.
October 9, 2014 at 4:01AM
wrong warehouse. High end cameras are in ARRI building! They will end up throwing them in the thrash can. That helps as well!
October 9, 2014 at 12:23AM
Correct. Man, If I'm stealing anything, it's the ALEXA65, all the shit from IMAX labs and Panavision prototypes. Fuck the police.
October 9, 2014 at 6:55AM
Surprised to see their security cameras aren't all 4k!?! None the less, sad to hear though. People are dumb sometimes
October 9, 2014 at 1:36AM
Trying to keep the competition down, Canon is really resorting to desperate measures now...
October 9, 2014 at 3:24AM
Hahaha, awesome.
October 11, 2014 at 8:57AM
Soon enough, they'll realize that they should've stolen some SSD's and an external battery solution too.
October 9, 2014 at 5:34AM
The Blackmagic Design has been contributing such quality equipment for filmaking at very Cheap rate. They are costomer friendly.
I strongly condemn this incident............
October 9, 2014 at 6:27AM
I totally agree...No joke.
October 9, 2014 at 11:11AM
Blackmagic Design was a year late delivering the 2.5 Cinema Camera, then after that they were 9 months late delivering the 4.0 Production Camera, and now it looks like they're gonna be late delivering the URSA, so to save themselves from further embarrassment they cooked up this story. Nice one BMD.
October 9, 2014 at 6:45AM
You should think before you post.
October 9, 2014 at 6:47PM
They were only going to be late if someone else beat them to the punch of bringing 2.5K-4K RAW for under $4K. But they didn't. They're the only competitors in this race, so "late" or not, they're still coming first by a long shot.
October 10, 2014 at 8:05PM, Edited October 10, 8:05PM
Ocean's Eleven
October 9, 2014 at 6:47AM
Sad.
Here in Brazil, this happens every day!
October 9, 2014 at 8:12AM, Edited October 9, 8:12AM
I have a list of why I never want to go to Brazil and you just added one more reason.
October 9, 2014 at 8:31AM
I have a list of why I never want to go to Brazil and you just added one more reason.
October 9, 2014 at 8:31AM
This sequence of comments really bugged me.
October 9, 2014 at 10:04AM
blackmagic is not really highend but ok. they were probably prosumer burglars because apparently red nor arri was targetted
October 9, 2014 at 9:00AM
I feel sorry for the asian guy.
October 9, 2014 at 9:11AM, Edited October 9, 9:11AM
In unrelated news... the Black Magic group on Vimeo has noticed a spike in test footage...
October 9, 2014 at 10:29AM
Hope anyone who knowingly buys these stolen cams runs into all kinds of production problems.
October 9, 2014 at 3:21PM
Mac House Productions is offering a 10,000 dollar reward for any info leading to the arrest. Well Im on the case... time to go and ask questions.
October 9, 2014 at 5:28PM
URSA has been shipping its EF mount version for about three weeks now.
It's available on Adorama, TX Media Systems, etc.
DLD
October 10, 2014 at 12:49AM
I think it all comes down to THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK but a little more dramatic. BLACKMAGIC DESIGNS knowing they aren't gonna live up to the deadline they set for themselves once again starts to panic. What to do? Well....if everything gets stolen including our computers with all the pre orders on em then...Hey, we look like victims vs an incompetent company who constantly can't meet our own expectations much less our customers. So,simply hire some gang bangers who would rather go to jail then snitch if caught, after all jail gives you even more street cred. Have them take the cameras to the drop off point where you pay them off. Now take the cameras and computers to your new production location and continue tweaking with no deadline looming over you. You get them done even if it's 6 months after your original expected deadline and you "lost" everything ......you still come out looking like a hero vs customers wanting their money back and moving onto the next GAME CHANGER! Case closed! NEXT?
October 11, 2014 at 4:42AM