Digital pirates have been more active in swiping
illegal copies of top Hollywood releases this summer compared with last year,
according to new data.
For the period between June 21-Sept. 9, 2015, the
five most-pirated films — led by Warner Bros.’ “Mad Max: Fury Road” — were
downloaded on torrent networks worldwide 85.34 million times, according to
piracy-tracking firm Excipio. That’s a 29% increase over 66 million during the
same time period last year, when “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” was the
No. 1 target of Internet thieves.
One reason for the piracy uptick may simply be that
Hollywood released more popular movies this summer. In the U.S., box office
revenue was the second-best on record, after 2014 hit a seven-year low, with
ticket sales of $4.48 billion between May 1 to Labor Day weekend, according to
Rentrak.
Indeed, the top five movies pirated globally piracy
also performed well in theaters — and they’re clustered around sci-fi and
fantasy themes, which appeal to the young-male profile of peer-to-peer
downloaders.
“Mad Max: Fury Road,” which has generated $374
million at the box office worldwide, had 22.90 million shares on torrent
networks over the summer. That was followed by Universal’s “Jurassic World”
(18.16 million); Disney/Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (15.87 million);
Lionsgate’s “Insurgent” (14.46 million); and Paramount’s “Terminator: Genesis”
(13.94 million), which sagged at the U.S. box office but has done well
overseas.
In the U.S., the five most-pirated movies for the
summer of 2015 were: “Max Max: Fury Road” (1.75 million downloads); “Jurassic
World” (1.21 million); “Insurgent” (1.16 million); “Ted 2” (1.10 million); and
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” (1.09 million).
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