The Cove: Big in Japan?

The Oscar-nominated documentary The Cove hasn't been so warmly received by the Japanese commercial fishing industry, members of which the film features brutally, secretly slaughtering scores of dolphins off the country's coast. And now, after a year of battling threats and intimidation, the film's producers have released a statement announcing a deal to take the film directly to the Japanese people in April. It's the first time many Japanese will have heard about the mercury-poisoned dolphin meat that results from the annual "dolphin cull" in Taiji; the country's Flipperburger market will never be the same. Oh, and awards oddsmakers take note: This is the kind of real-world impact that stretches Oscar leads to virtually insurmountable lengths.