The Ten Most Pirated Movies Of 2012 (For Real This Time)

[Brendon Connelly]

Just a couple of days back, an "administrative bungle" saw me promise but fail to deliver a list of 201's most pirated films. Well, I've got them here now, again thanks Torrent Freak's count of what went down at "all major bit torrent trackers."

So, here is the slightly surprising list of which films proved most popular with crooks this year.

1. Project X
2. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
3. The Dark Knight Rises
4. The Avengers
5. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
6. 21 Jump Street
7. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
8. The Dictator
9. Ice Age: Continental Drift
10. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Not in step with box-office returns at all but that's another chart for another day... any day now, in fact.

That Project X is at number one was something of a surprise for me - probably because I'm super out of touch with the kind of person who has counted towards this chart. Maybe it's a lesson for the studios, though, of what kind of film will attract unpaying adiences but not much of the green and folding stuff.

[Superhans]

A lot of this is as much about how early good quality torrents pop up, as it is how in demand a particular title is.

[MicroZone]

I never even heard of project X. I am such an out-of-touch pirate.

[Fysh]

I'm kind of surprised Project X was that popular in terms of viewer eyeballs, I heard about it when it was released on DVD but it just sounded dull to me, like something trying very very hard to latch onto a perceived zeitgeist phenomenon.

Again, though, I notice Brendon making huge, and stupid, assumptions about the motivations that can usefully be ascribed to people who download stuff and their behaviour. But hey, it's not like I expect facts to get in the way of his chosen narrative (like the study last October showing at least a correlation between filesharing and expenditure on music).

Given your concerns about copyright, Brendon, do you give out to Rich about all the image embeds that he uses for comic stories without permission or attribution? Do you report those naughty people who upload snippets of films in a way that circumvents the copyright-holder's wishes? Or do you ignore all the stuff that suits you for your day-to-day working purposes because it's easier that way?

[Blade X]

Half of those movies were huge hits at the box office. This just proves what I have been saying all along, bootleg movies have very little (if any at all) negative effect on ticket sales at the box office.

[Fysh]

Half of those movies were huge hits at the box office. This just proves what I have been saying all along, bootleg movies have very little (if any at all) negative effect on ticket sales at the box office.

I think if anything there's an inverse correlation between the impact of bootlegging/downloading and the breadth or "mainstreamness" of release. Eg The Avengers made boatloads of cash despite being torrented a lot according to Brendon's list, but I can imagine something like Berberian Sound Studio suffering a lot more from downloading because it's got a niche audience to begin with and didn't get a particularly wide release. There again, in the UK Berberian Sound Studio had a smart release strategy - it was out in select arthouse cinemas at the same time (and for similar pricing) as a pay-per-view streaming option was offered; studios don't like the idea but I suspect they're going to have to move towards doing that sort of thing more often in future...

[EmperorCheese]

What the list shows is that the demographic profile for your typical pirate skews young.

And that they steal a lot of shitty movies.

[Blade X]

I think if anything there's an inverse correlation between the impact of bootlegging/downloading and the breadth or "mainstreamness" of release. Eg The Avengers made boatloads of cash despite being torrented a lot according to Brendon's list, but I can imagine something like Berberian Sound Studio suffering a lot more from downloading because it's got a niche audience to begin with and didn't get a particularly wide release. There again, in the UK Berberian Sound Studio had a smart release strategy - it was out in select arthouse cinemas at the same time (and for similar pricing) as a pay-per-view streaming option was offered; studios don't like the idea but I suspect they're going to have to move towards doing that sort of thing more often in future...

That's a very good point. I also think that the studios should release some new movies on both pay per view streaming and pay per view cable (regardless of the films budget). Heck, delayed movies like G.I. JOE RETALIATION and JACK THE GIANT KILLER might do better (financially) as pay per view movies then theatrical movies.

[Nimbus]

Given your concerns about copyright, Brendon, do you give out to Rich about all the image embeds that he uses for comic stories without permission or attribution? Do you report those naughty people who upload snippets of films in a way that circumvents the copyright-holder's wishes? Or do you ignore all the stuff that suits you for your day-to-day working purposes because it's easier that way?

You do know that copyright laws have a fair use clause, where you'll allowed to print (upload, display, use) small amounts of a copyrighted work for review/critique/reporting, don't you?

So a site like this can show a few screen captures, a minute's clip of a film, an extract of a book or comic without breaking any copyright laws. It's showing large amounts of a film/book/comic without the owner's permission that's not allowed.

[Mad_Man_Moon]

You do know that copyright laws have a fair use clause, where you'll allowed to print (upload, display, use) small amounts of a copyrighted work for review/critique/reporting, don't you?

So a site like this can show a few screen captures, a minute's clip of a film, an extract of a book or comic without breaking any copyright laws. It's showing large amounts of a film/book/comic without the owner's permission that's not allowed.

interesting to know ... thanks!