Back when the movie industry had fewer legitimate existential threats, studios and theaters were utterly apoplectic about the scourge of film pirates supposedly robbing them blind. At the peak of this panic, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) released a controversial study claiming cam-wielding criminals had cost the industry a whopping $18.2 billion in lost revenue for 2005 alone.
The year before, industry-wide anxiety also compelled Warner Bros. and the MPAA to produce one of the most memorable PSAs of the new millennium. Titled “You Wouldn’t Steal a Car,”—and recently revealed to possibly have been made with pirated fonts—the commercials made the case that procuring a burnt DVD or torrent file of a grainy Meet the Fockers was, in fact, tantamount to a B&E robbery or grand theft auto. The two 45-second morality plays contained interstitial title cards insinuating that the presumably honest and law-abiding individual watching would never commit such real-world transgressions. So how come they’re OK with anonymously making or watching digital copies of media from the comfort of their own home?
Immediately, the public reacted to the ads with ridicule, not just at their pearl-clutching corniness, but the central premise itself. As many would point out in the years to come—sure, they’d pass on hotwiring a car in their neighbor’s driveway, but they’d be perfectly fine with downloading one. Once merely a meme, this fantasy is now one huge step closer to reality thanks to a recently reported breakthrough in the field of 3D printing.
A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has recently developed a printer with four different extruders that outputs five different materials to produce a fully functioning linear motor in about three hours. Publishing their work in the industry journal Virtual and Physical Prototyping, the team explained how by retrofitting a printer with enough extruders to handle the various materials needed to make a working motor, they decimated the usual production time for such a device and brought the material costs down to around $0.50.
In a world where the usual cost of building such a prototype would be comparatively huge and turnaround time could take anything from weeks to months, the team’s proof-of-concept has the potential to change the manufacturing world. The linear motor they fabricated, which operates in a straight line rather than spinning like a car engine’s, is primarily used in automation and manufacturing. It’s hard to fathom the scope of impact if factories floors were someday able to print out complex replacement parts rather than be at the whim of a sluggish global supply chain.
While the linear motor is a far cry from the complexity of a V12 engine, the MIT team’s development is unquestionably a significant baby step in that direction. We’re clearly still a ways off from being able to download and slice 2026RangeRover.stl files, but you might be surprised to learn that there are already hobbyists successfully 3D-printing parts and even entire cars, one piece at a time.
Big Auto may want to get a head start on brainstorming their own PSAs while there’s still time.
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#Printing #Breakthrough #Brings #Step #Closer #Downloading #Car

![‘Ninja Scroll’ Is Slashing Back to Theaters in October
The 1993 samurai anime film Ninja Scroll is coming back with a limited theatrical run this fall. Per IGN, Iconic Events and AMC are teaming for a re-release on October 4, 5, and 7. (At time of writing, it’s exclusively locked to North America.) The remastered version will play its original 35mm negatives in 4K using a process that “repairs any damage and [performs] color correction to create an archival-quality digital master of the film.” Directed and written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri and created by Animate Film, Ninja Scroll tells the story of mercenary swordsman Kibagamei Jubei. Set in feudal Japan, Jubei is tasked with killing the Eight Devils of Kimon, supernatural ninjas aiming to take over the Tokugawa shogunate. Praised for its animation and action, the film was highly regarded when it came out and is considered a great contributor (alongside Akira and Ghost in the Shell) to adult anime’s popularity in the West. (That’s at least true for the Wachowskis, who cited the film as a big influence on The Matrix, and later brought on Kawajiri to direct and write two segments of The Animatrix.) [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrfUIekIpEA[/embed] In the years since Ninja Scroll’s release, it’s become a bit of a franchise unto itself: it had a standalone sequel series in 2003 and a 12-issue miniseries in 2006 by J. Torres and Michael Chang Ting Yu.
Animation studio Madhouse announced a sequel in 2008 helmed by Kawajiri that stalled out, and that same year saw Warner Bros. announce a live-action movie that also didn’t go anywhere. (Oh, noooooo, that’s sooooooo sad.) Tickets for the Ninja Scroll re-release will go on sale in the coming weeks. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Ninja #Scroll #Slashing #Theaters #OctoberNinja Scroll,Yoshiaki Kawajiri ‘Ninja Scroll’ Is Slashing Back to Theaters in October
The 1993 samurai anime film Ninja Scroll is coming back with a limited theatrical run this fall. Per IGN, Iconic Events and AMC are teaming for a re-release on October 4, 5, and 7. (At time of writing, it’s exclusively locked to North America.) The remastered version will play its original 35mm negatives in 4K using a process that “repairs any damage and [performs] color correction to create an archival-quality digital master of the film.” Directed and written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri and created by Animate Film, Ninja Scroll tells the story of mercenary swordsman Kibagamei Jubei. Set in feudal Japan, Jubei is tasked with killing the Eight Devils of Kimon, supernatural ninjas aiming to take over the Tokugawa shogunate. Praised for its animation and action, the film was highly regarded when it came out and is considered a great contributor (alongside Akira and Ghost in the Shell) to adult anime’s popularity in the West. (That’s at least true for the Wachowskis, who cited the film as a big influence on The Matrix, and later brought on Kawajiri to direct and write two segments of The Animatrix.) [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrfUIekIpEA[/embed] In the years since Ninja Scroll’s release, it’s become a bit of a franchise unto itself: it had a standalone sequel series in 2003 and a 12-issue miniseries in 2006 by J. Torres and Michael Chang Ting Yu.
Animation studio Madhouse announced a sequel in 2008 helmed by Kawajiri that stalled out, and that same year saw Warner Bros. announce a live-action movie that also didn’t go anywhere. (Oh, noooooo, that’s sooooooo sad.) Tickets for the Ninja Scroll re-release will go on sale in the coming weeks. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Ninja #Scroll #Slashing #Theaters #OctoberNinja Scroll,Yoshiaki Kawajiri](https://gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2026/06/ninja-scroll-hed-1280x853.jpg)
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