TorrentFreak has compiled a list of the most pirated movies of 2010. So which film takes the top honor?
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Is Warner Bros. Tracking Piracy in Hopes of Turning Pirates Into Consumers?
Posted on Thursday, December 16th, 2010 by Russ Fischer
There are few issues in media more contentious than piracy. End users want everything for free, and because it is often possible to get quite a lot for free, a lot of justification goes on to defend the practice. Content owners become incensed when they see revenue streams closed off, and respond with outrageous lawsuits and protective practices that are frustrating to pirates and paying customers alike.
Warner Bros. seems to be taking a different path to dealing with piracy, accepting that it is is going to happen, and collecting data about how the company’s content is shared for use as market research. In other words, there’s an understanding that piracy patterns reflect what customers want. A forward-thinking approach to piracy from a major studio? Shocking! Read More »
Movie Trailer: Friedberg/Seltzer Twilight Spoof Vampires Suck, Entire Movie Leaked Online?
Posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 by Peter Sciretta
In February, I reported that Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg, the screenwriting/directing team credited with ruining the spoof movie genre (Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans, Epic Movie, Scary Movie series, Date Movie) were filming a new movie in Shreveport, LA under the working title “LA Art Movie”. We were the first to reveal at the time that the movie was not a spoof on the indie film genre (a la Chris Gore’s 2005 movie My Big Fat Independent Movie) but actually something spoofing Twilight and the recent Vampire trend. 20th Century Fox has finally released a trailer for Vampires Suck, which is set to hit theaters on August 18th 2010.
Also, /Film reader Garn B informs me that the entire movie has already leaked onto the bit torrent websites. While I can’t verify this claim (I’m not going to illegally download a movie to find out), I have seen references to the film on multiple Torrent sites along with screencaptures which seem to prove its existence. You would think 20th Century Fox would have learned with X-Men Origins: Wolverine to take the extra security precautions to prevent a workprint leak online, but guess not. As always, we advise anyone reading this not to illegally download the movie (and not just because it looks horrible, and it isn’t likely worth watching — even for free).
You can watch the trailer legally, and for free, embedded after the jump. I’m still not quite sure why a vampire spoof is filled with jokes about Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the television show the Jersey Shore, and Lady Gaga. But why question the motives or logic behind Seltzer and Friedberg now?
Read More »
Time Warner Cable Throws Legal Monkeywrench into U.S. Copyright Group’s Lawsuit Plans
Posted on Sunday, May 16th, 2010 by David Chen
A few months ago, U.S. Copyright Group tried to sue over 20,000 people for downloading indie films such as Uwe Boll’s Far Cry. Seeing some modest success with that plan, they arranged to follow it up with a new lawsuit, targeting people who had downloaded The Hurt Locker. The original idea was to use software to track down the IP addresses of people downloaded these films over bittorrent networks. The Group would provide the IP addresses to Internet service providers (e.g. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, etc.) and subpoena them to turn over downloaders’ real names and addresses. These people would then be offered the opportunity to settle for a modest sum of money. Refusal would result in a lawsuit.
It’s a classic, time-honored way of ruthlessly extracting money from people that want your product, used by the RIAA back in its golden years. But it turns out, Time Warner Cable isn’t too happy with the plan.
Read More »
U.S. Copyright Group Sues 20,000 Individual Movie Torrent Downloaders; Lawsuits Targeting 30,000 More Are On The Way
Posted on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 by David Chen
In what looks like it may be a repeat of the RIAA’s litigation against individual music piraters, Eriq Gardner at THR, Esq. is reporting that over 20,000 movie torrent downloaders have been sued recently for copyright infringement by US Copyright Group in Washington D.C. federal court. Five lawsuits have been filed against people who illegally downloaded the films Steam Experiment, Far Cry, Uncross the Stars, Gray Man, and Call of the Wild 3D. Lawsuits on behalf of five more films targeting another 30,000 people are on the way.
Fewer Oscar Screeners Leaked Online This Year Than EVER Before
Posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 by Peter Sciretta
Waxy.org’s Andy Baio, who has been tracking the illegal online leak and distribution of Oscar screeners since 2003, reports that fewer screeners were leaked online this year than ever before. Only 14 out of 34 nominated films available on the bit torrent sites, the lowest percentage in history. Not only that, but Baio is reporting that the leaks are taking twice as long — “a median 21 days after theatrical release, up from 11 days the previous year.”
But the big question is: Why? It isn’t for a lack of screener releases, as Academy members received screeners for 30 of the 34 nominated films. The studios don’t appear to be doing a better job policing or intimidating academy members, and the quality of films seem to be up to par with years past. Anyone have any ideas?
FBI Finally Make An Arrest in the Wolverine Piracy Case
Posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
The pre-release leak of an unfinished workprint copy of Wolverine, Fox’s prime summer blockbuster hopeful, was easily the most high profile piracy case to date. I guess we’ll never know quite what effect this crime really had on the box office takings, though some have even speculated that the resulting publicity actually helped the movie’s performance. I’m not one of those people, however.
Estimates have claimed that some 4.1 million people saw the film between the April leak and May opening of the film and I find it hard to believe those sorts of numbers couldn’t have cost Fox a significant sum of money.
The man accused of copyright infringement by the FBI was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the Bronx, New York. Gilberto Sanchez had apparently uploaded the film to the Megaupload file sharing service under one of his aliases. Of course, the next question is, how did he get a copy of the film to upload in the first place?
Is It Illegal To Watch Bootlegged Movies Online?
Posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
You probably understand the illegality, not to mention unethical nature, of posting a pirated movie onto the internet – but do you understand the legal ramifications of simply watching a film that’s already been uploaded to the web?
Much of my day is spent with teenagers, students at the school where I teach, and the majority of them simply don’t worry about sourcing their media through piracy. They take music from Limewire, they take movies from Torrents or even just stream crummy copies. When challenged, a number of them have even told me that they’re sure it can’t be illegal – “if it is,” they say, “then what’s it doing on the internet?” They’re obviously missing something there, but are they right that it’s okay for them to watch?
