It's become harder to get clean(ish) audio captures for theater films, but it's not impossible. There are still theaters with hearing impaired seating and headphone hookups, still a few drive-in theaters that broadcast via FM (one of those here in Reno, actually).

If anything, I think it's because digital rips/DLs seem to come out more quickly. By the time a group has tracked down a clean audio stream and takes the time to sync it with footage, someone's probably snagged a digital copy and released it.

Now Telecines, those are basically unseen these days. Almost no theaters still use actual film, and the few that do are way more careful about their inventory management. Gone are the days when a whole film can just get "misplaced" for a few days while someone with a Telecine setup copies it, to say nothing of how few people have the setup for Telecine anymore in the first place.

Man I fucking hate telesyncs...I accidentally downloaded a TS deadpool&wolverine because I got so exited when I saw it that I didn't read the title properly so I didn't notice the "TS". I was so disappointed when I wanted to watch that and found out it was TS. 100% my own fault, but still sucked.

Watermarks are only an issue in-as-much as it is used to trace down which copy was leaked.

With modern digital projection systems; you don't get a reel of film; you get a briefcase of [SS/HD]Ds containing the raw, encrypted, footage. The digital projection system will decrypt using provided keys. There's no output except the standard ones for the theatre projectors and sound systems...so capturing the output is difficult.

If you do intercept the signal; the projection system might detect it; and refuse playback or wipe the decryption keys. Watermarking is also a danger; since your theater can get identified as the leak source and sued.

Yup. Some are pretty advanced now.