With the year all but officially wrapped, it’s time to tally the most pirated pictures of the year. The data is in, and I doubt any of us…despite how monumentally successful it’s financials were…would be shocked to learn that Jimmy Cameron’s AVATAR took the cake (with 16.6 million hits). But mostly big-budget genre flicks behind that? Kinda shocking…
According to a file-sharing blog (and various other sources), Matthew Vaughan’s KICK-ASS was the second most downloaded film of 2010, with 11.4 million downloads. Chris Nolan’s mind-clouding thriller INCEPTION scooped the bronze medal, tallying 9.7 million. Behind that, Leo’s other genre flick, SHUTTER ISLAND, culled 9.5 million. Jon Favreau’s IRON MAN 2 rounded out the top 5 with 8.8 million illegal views.
Alright, we know that, with the exception of KICK-ASS, all four other flicks were massive box-office successes (AVATAR being the greatest of all time). The question then becomes, how much aide or detriment did these numbers lend to their respective films? Surely AVATAR couldn’t suffice on a computer screen, but perhaps people downloaded it early just to get a feel for it…then went and caught it on the big screen. Many times over.
That’s a bit naive, I do realize, but how do some of the most successful films of the year also become the most pirated? These number must be post theatrical release, where the real threat is to home video, DVD and Blu-ray.
Still, there’s a demand for our beloved genre, films…big and small, expensive and cheap. I know the studios don’t wanna hear it, but that’s actually quite encouraging.
What says you on the matter?
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