Possible, yes. One production I was involved in actually released a copy through ThePirateBay on purpose, not as a honeypot, but as a marketing thing, but it didn't move the needle.
Leaks are inevitable. It is a given that pre-release or alongside the release a version will make it to the torrent sites, the only question is the quality of the picture and sound.
Thanks to digital technology and the general lack of understanding of security in the studio->screen pipeline, it is easier than ever to find quality versions of films released day and date on pirate sites.
I had a look at the trackers, and of this particular leak they are sharing standard webrip copies, mostly 1080p, but also 4K, with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and decent file sizes, which means a pretty high bitrate. Otherwise, I don't agree… what happened here is surely an exception: high-quality pre-release leaks are very rare. Usually, high-quality copies wind up on illegal streaming sites or old-school platforms after the film has actually been properly released on streaming or BluRay, the latter often taking longer. Almost all of the other copies you see before a proper home video release are the usual cam recordings from the movie theater, which are of atrocious quality. I don't really know who watches these cam copies… except maybe YouTube film critics. 😉 Even the award screener copies, which were all the rage 5–10 years ago, even though their quality was usually subpar, seem to have died out.
Fair enough. I guess I take the very quick turn around for granted for quality video. Or so I hear. I wouldn't have any personal knowledge of how all of that terrible pirating works, of course.
The question, as always, is does having the high quality version available on torrent sites actually impact box office revenue? The argument has always been most of those people wouldn't have paid for the content anyway.
But answering that question is like trying to prove a negative.
I'd say that in the case of a pre-theatrical-release leak, the costs are higher. There are forecasts on box office performance, comparisons to previous similar films, post-release critics & audience reviews etc., so there are definitely ways to estimate this for legal proceedings. I experienced such a case myself, as a co-composer for a Sony movie that was leaked from a festival screener copy weeks before its theatrical release, and the executives were up in arms about it, got the FBI involved etc., with success, but the damage had already been done. Otherwise, they don't really care about piracy that much: their film made some money, and they got paid above the line. But a pre-release leak seems to be a different beast. As for the argument that most downloaders of "regular pirated releases" wouldn't have spent any money on a legal copy or screening… there are sites like TorrentFreak that have specialized on these topics, and they also monitor scientific studies, and it seems like it all depends on the kind of movie: according to some studies, piracy has no effect on, and can even *boost*, the revenue of big blockbuster films, while dramas without any spectacle tend to hurt more financially. But the overall numbers aren't as high as one might think. Even with the more damaging pre-release leaks, the current estimate is about 20% losses on average. The highest damage seems to be done by pirated releases, when they are high-quality and there is no legal access available yet. For "Mutiny" with the high-quality WebRip copy before its theatrical release, and a staggered international release window, that's especially problematic. But a quick home video release window and especially streaming actually seem to work in favor of legal viewing numbers and revenue.
Maybe it was on purpose. Really, who cares? Every Statham movie is the same.
He just wanted to be a florist, then the flower mafia came to town
Possible, yes. One production I was involved in actually released a copy through ThePirateBay on purpose, not as a honeypot, but as a marketing thing, but it didn't move the needle.
I watched it on Saturday (sailing the high seas), wasn't to bad, actually quite good
Reviews on Criticless haven't been great so far.
Leaks are inevitable. It is a given that pre-release or alongside the release a version will make it to the torrent sites, the only question is the quality of the picture and sound.
Thanks to digital technology and the general lack of understanding of security in the studio->screen pipeline, it is easier than ever to find quality versions of films released day and date on pirate sites.
I had a look at the trackers, and of this particular leak they are sharing standard webrip copies, mostly 1080p, but also 4K, with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and decent file sizes, which means a pretty high bitrate. Otherwise, I don't agree… what happened here is surely an exception: high-quality pre-release leaks are very rare. Usually, high-quality copies wind up on illegal streaming sites or old-school platforms after the film has actually been properly released on streaming or BluRay, the latter often taking longer. Almost all of the other copies you see before a proper home video release are the usual cam recordings from the movie theater, which are of atrocious quality. I don't really know who watches these cam copies… except maybe YouTube film critics. 😉 Even the award screener copies, which were all the rage 5–10 years ago, even though their quality was usually subpar, seem to have died out.
Fair enough. I guess I take the very quick turn around for granted for quality video. Or so I hear. I wouldn't have any personal knowledge of how all of that terrible pirating works, of course.
The question, as always, is does having the high quality version available on torrent sites actually impact box office revenue? The argument has always been most of those people wouldn't have paid for the content anyway.
But answering that question is like trying to prove a negative.
I'd say that in the case of a pre-theatrical-release leak, the costs are higher. There are forecasts on box office performance, comparisons to previous similar films, post-release critics & audience reviews etc., so there are definitely ways to estimate this for legal proceedings. I experienced such a case myself, as a co-composer for a Sony movie that was leaked from a festival screener copy weeks before its theatrical release, and the executives were up in arms about it, got the FBI involved etc., with success, but the damage had already been done. Otherwise, they don't really care about piracy that much: their film made some money, and they got paid above the line. But a pre-release leak seems to be a different beast. As for the argument that most downloaders of "regular pirated releases" wouldn't have spent any money on a legal copy or screening… there are sites like TorrentFreak that have specialized on these topics, and they also monitor scientific studies, and it seems like it all depends on the kind of movie: according to some studies, piracy has no effect on, and can even *boost*, the revenue of big blockbuster films, while dramas without any spectacle tend to hurt more financially. But the overall numbers aren't as high as one might think. Even with the more damaging pre-release leaks, the current estimate is about 20% losses on average. The highest damage seems to be done by pirated releases, when they are high-quality and there is no legal access available yet. For "Mutiny" with the high-quality WebRip copy before its theatrical release, and a staggered international release window, that's especially problematic. But a quick home video release window and especially streaming actually seem to work in favor of legal viewing numbers and revenue.