‘The Dark Knight’ Conquers BitTorrent
Written by Ernesto on November 17, 2008Amassing over a million downloads in under seven days, ‘The Dark Knight’ is by far the most pirated movie of this week. Earlier this year, Cam and DVD-screener versions of the latest in the Batman series already found their way onto the Internet, making this blockbuster the most pirated movie of 2008.
The Dark Knight has been a huge success in theaters, grossing a billion dollars worldwide. The movie currently holds the record for the best opening week, and weekend, and later this year is expected to surpass ‘Titanic’ as the greatest grossing movie in history.
This success is a truly remarkable accomplishment in times where piracy is rampant. As with every other blockbuster, ‘The Dark Knight’ was leaked onto the Internet in various formats. It began right after the premiere in July with a cammed version, which was celebrated by the folks from The Pirate Bay. The Cam was followed by a DVD-screener in early September.
Although Hollywood did its best to prevent the movie from hitting BitTorrent, their efforts were not very successful. In July, just a few days after the film premiered, the police arrested a 40-year-old man who tried to record the movie with a camcorder. However, around the same time someone else had already put up a cammed version from another source.
This week, in another round of leaks, DVD-rips of ‘The Dark Knight’ found their way to BitTorrent. Unsurprisingly, given the commercial success of the movie, these were downloaded well over a million times in just a few days. From the looks of it, Batman will crush Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Transformers, as it will easily become this year’s most pirated movie.
First things first though. Below is this week’s list of most pirated movies on BitTorrent. The data is collected by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. Currently both DVDrips, DVD Screeners and R5 rips are counted.
| Ranking | (last week) | Movie | Rating / Trailer |
|---|---|---|---|
| torrentfreak.com | |||
| 1 | (new) | The Dark Knight | 9.1 / trailer |
| 2 | (1) | Traitor | 7.3 / trailer |
| 3 | (4) | Tropic Thunder | 7.6 / trailer |
| 4 | (2) | WALL-E | 8.7 / trailer |
| 5 | (3) | Step Brothers | 6.9 / trailer |
| 6 | (new) | Max Payne (R5) | 5.9 / trailer |
| 7 | (9) | The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor | 5.2 / trailer |
| 8 | (6) | The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | 7.2 / trailer |
| 9 | (5) | Taken | 7.9 / trailer |
| 10 | (8) | Burn After Reading (R5) | 7.8 / trailer |
Previously: TorrentFreak TV Episode 3
Next: Mininova Down, to Return Stronger Than Ever Before
46 Responses
It proves high profits and piracy can live together peacefully, as long as the industry produces quality.
@1
“It proves high profits and piracy can live together peacefully, as long as the industry produces quality.”
Very true.
@1
Moot point, as people will pirate trashy and good movies.
You pirate good movies becasue you dont have time to go see them, and you pirate trashy movies because you dont want to pay to see them anyway, but you give it that first 5 min view and hope for the best.
Visit P2P Tech Time
http://www.p2ptechtime.com
“This success is a truly remarkable accomplishment in times where piracy is rampant.”
Uh… Filesharing has just about no actual impact on the boxoffice, despite what the MPAA will tell you.
So how is this remarkable?
The box office period was ages ago, we’re at DVD release period now mate, hence the chart ;)
>This success is a truly remarkable
>accomplishment in times where piracy
>is rampant.
Piracy has always been as rampant as today. People always shared the things they love. They shared books, they shared records. They didnt actually copy them, but they shared them as much as they could. Giving a book or a cd to somebody, after a read or hear it, does as easily qualify as “piracy” as an outright copy would be.
The fact that I dont need a official copy any more and I give it to somebody, does not change the fact that he got something of value to him without paying the author. Why is copying stuff being considered badbadbad and given laughable names like “piracy” but gibing away books for free isnt?
Face it, the so called “piracy” is just a nazi made up word created in order to create sentiments for people who share information because they ruin a market for selling information.
Just remember the pattern.
* Free copying is killing the copy selling industry.
* Free fucking is killing prostitution.
* Free cooking is killing gastronomy.
* Refrigerators are killing the ice industry.
* Automobiles are killing the horse carriage industry.
* Machines are killing manual labor jobs.
* City building is killing villages.
* Reason is killing organised and institutionalised religion.
* Future is killing the past.
And so on.
Theres just no reason only the copy selling industry should be defended to death and the lives of people not believing the “intellectual property” dogma and freely sharing information, should be destructed, but all these other remnants of the past which got obsoleted by both freedom and technical progress should be left to die.
We dont need a copy industry any more since we can produce copies ourselves. And when the copy industry should be protected by state force against the will of the people, then we also demand the horse carriage industry to be protected by outlawing automobiles.
After all the time and energy expended on explaining how the cinema and PC experience of a movie is different, it was disappointing to read:
“This success is a truly remarkable accomplishment in times where piracy is rampant”
It is in fact empirical evidence that unofficial non-commercial distribution doesn’t necessarily adversely impact revenue.
Is anyone, even the MPAA, stupidly optimistic enough to imagine that all the downloaders who hadn’t, would suddenly go to a theatre…
@1, unfortunately, they can only live together if the movie makes it more difficult to “pirate” a movie than it is to rent one.
This movie rocked. Why is it the trolls largely come out on stuff this is not exactly riviting p2p news? It’s just a few metrics.
You monkey’s are wasting your time here. We don’t care what you think.
Traitor was really good as well. Max Payne was considerably better than I thought it would be.
Tropic Thunder I thought was over rated for the most part. Still fairly amusing though.
J.
That’s interesting, seeing as it also one of the movies that has made the most money in the history of hollywod, and it did it during a time of economic hardships.
If I hadn’t pirated the first movie of the series, I probably would never have bothered going to see this one.
im still going to buy it when it comes out
I thought it was a good film, best batman film I’ve seen anyway.
@16:
What they currently do, doesn’t help. I believe they’re just causing the opposite.
Companies should invest into their own mega networks of games, movies, music, ebooks (as devices that allow you to read a ebook like a normal book get better and better), etc. They should invest into better, faster and more reliable networks than other free networks, and allow you to download a certain generous amount of GB of all “older” movies, music, etc. And a slightly higher price for the newer materials.
Don’t fight the networks that people love so much, for allowing them to download their favorite tv episode right after it has aired, or that allow them to download from such a enormous selections of movies, games, tv episodes, music, etc. from all over the world. Built something better. Replace it.
Don’t hide from the new wind that is blowing, but built windmills. Adapt. It’s the key to survival.
#18 “That’s interesting, seeing as it also one of the movies that has made the most money in the history of hollywod, and it did it during a time of economic hardships.”
The Dark Knight premiered on the 14th of July.
The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 didn’t become prominently visible before September.
I don’t think it had had much effect on the movie’s income, if that’s what you’re referring to.
WALLEE?? EVVAAA!!!
LOL.
Some of these people who are posting comments are retards.
Like the one who said torrents are bad because they are linked to piracy. WTF?!?
hahaha
@27
It is STILL making bucketloads of money.
torrents can be grabbed by anyone if seeded well enough, if pedro the paedo wants to get his jollies, suspect it will not be with bitorrent :)
@13
Indeed, piracy shouldn’t be rampant; it should be universal.
@16
People would want to go, once the MPAA stop trying to extort people with copyright law and actually try to do their job.
@30
‘Tis true, and ’tis a bad thing. Why would it be a good thing for the industry to make any money? Those scumbags continue their extortion through copyright, so it is good at all to continue funding them.
Roze
http://www.10ch.org/
yeah torrent is definitely the best protocol for CP since you’re so incredibly hard to trace …
dark night dvdrip? no wai!
gonna wait for HDrip
To be honest, apart from the Joker, I thought the film was pretty damn average. I don’t see what all the fuss was about.
@13 : “Giving a book or a cd to somebody, after a read or hear it, does as easily qualify as “piracy” as an outright copy would be.”
What are are: on drugs or mentally challenged? Because you can’t see the difference between giving one single copy to someone you know and thousands of copies to complete strangers who then give thousands more copies out…
@32 : “People would want to go, once the MPAA stop trying to extort people with copyright law and actually try to do their job.”
Extortion? Examples of this? BTW, Being given the choice to purchase a luxury item at a certain price is not extortion you over-dramatic little girl.
“Why is copying stuff being considered badbadbad and given laughable names like “piracy” but gibing away books for free isnt?”
Your demonstrating the fact that your mother slept with your uncle to concieve you again…
“…Those scumbags continue their extortion…”
Again, examples of extortion? Or are you just being wildly over-dramatic like a young female high-school student. I sure as shit hope you dont start raving on about culture being held back, and conscioness also, because according to you mainstream media is utter garbage so how could we be extorted to purchase it then?
@34 : “To be honest, apart from the Joker, I thought the film was pretty damn average. I don’t see what all the fuss was about.”
Amen to that … 15 year-olds seem to rave about it but to anybody that’s been watching films for years and has even a small amount of brain-cells it was unoriginal, predictable and not that well performed – except for Ledger, who as you say made the film.
@35
Thousands of copies?
You’re seriously suggesting that torrent users seed between 700GB and 1.3TB for each film they download?
@37 : “You’re seriously suggesting that torrent users seed between 700GB and 1.3TB for each film they download?”
No, where did I suggest that? And OK, 1000’s is a gross exaggeration but the principle still stands.
With the average tracker user you’d be lucky if they seeded back 20% actually though…
#32 said: “People would want to go, once the MPAA stop trying to extort people with copyright law and actually try to do their job.”
NubCakes, the scat-king of P2P, responded: “Extortion? Examples of this? BTW, Being given the choice to purchase a luxury item at a certain price is not extortion you over-dramatic little girl.”
My retort: As clearly stated, the extortion in question derives from no commodity price-fixing in any way. The point is being made regarding ‘copyright law’.
Explain what part of this you don’t understand, Nubsy? Help will be provided in the form of a walk-through.
Here’s your starter for ten: what exactly in the way of “luxury items” does the MPAA produce?
I submit to you, sir, that it is _your_ argument that is fellacious & not the OP.
Good day.
So anyway, NubCakes (now NC for short) says: “Because you can’t see the difference between giving one single copy to someone you know and thousands of copies to complete strangers who then give thousands more copies out”.
..and is called on it by user ‘Me’ (#37), who replies: “You’re seriously suggesting that torrent users seed between 700GB and 1.3TB for each film they download?”
NC backpeddles furiously; “No, where did I suggest that?”
Erm…… Lemme think. perhaps in “The Very Last Thing You Said ™”?
NC, torrents aren’t given out in bunches – they’re _shared_. That’s the whole point. It’s a mathematical function, a geometric progression, an exponential curve. Your ‘thousands’ happen towards the end of the sharing cycle – you just misinterpret the data (once again,
no surprise there).
NC: “And OK, 1000’s is a gross exaggeration but the principle still stands.”
No it doesn’t. EOS.
NC: “With the average tracker user you’d be lucky if they seeded back 20% actually though…”
Oh reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally…
I am downloading aXXo rip of dark knight :).
movies and cd’s are luxury items. they are not a need. no one owes them to you. you are not entitled.
get out of your parent’s basement.
I went to see the the dark knight at the cinema & thought is was a bit average. Seeing the trailer in the months before it looked to be pretty damn crazy, maybe it was censored/watered down after HL’s death???
Anyway still worth viewing & hope it wins many awards as its better than most films that were released this year.
what’s funny is, if the pirates get their way, movies like this will not exist in the future…
Dark Knight= worst movie ever i couldn’t wait for it to end.
sharing is caring, lets not get greedy
Not surprising. Dark Knight was like the best movie of all times.
jess
http://www.anonweb.eu.tc
@1 said: “It proves high profits and piracy can live together peacefully, as long as the industry produces quality.”
That’s a seriously flawed point of view. It may be possible for profits and piracy to live together – that’s not what I’m getting at. What I mean is do you think that the film industry strives to produce anything other than qulity IE. content that people will want to see in other words. That’s what they have done up until now, way before TDK was fimed.
Personally I found The Dark Knight to be decidely average. I enjoyed it but didn’t think it was outstanding by any means. In my mind the film’s best point was Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker. Without such a great performance I think I probably would have called this film watchable but poor.
the dark knight was rubbish!!!!
ttt: “what’s funny is, if the pirates get their way, movies like this will not exist in the future…”
Oh?
You must mean sea pirates(Yarr!), because filesharing sure hasn’t done a damn thing to stop The Dark Knight from grossing A BILLION DOLLARS worldwide, or keep it from being on track to becoming the highest grossing film in cinema history.
Or perhaps you do mean filesharers, and you just happen to be a clueless moron?
At the risk of repeating the other comments that I’m too lazy to read, everyone I know has pirated TDK *and* seen it in theatres. They watch it in theatres multiple times and then decide they love it so much, they’ll have a temporary copy from bit torrent until the DVD comes out. That’s what I’ve done and I’m even going to great lengths to watch it in a legit theatre in a week.
@38
no, you nonsensical retard, no.
an abolishment of copyright or copyright enforcement would make big budget blockbusters like the dark knight a thing of the past as they’d no longer be financially feasible to create.
@ #40:
No longer “financially feasible”?
How thick-witted have you to be to fail to see that:
“filesharing sure hasn’t done a damn thing to stop The Dark Knight from grossing A BILLION DOLLARS worldwide, or keep it from being on track to becoming the highest grossing film in cinema history.”
?
@#41
How thick-witted have you to be to fail to see that:
“an abolishment of copyright or copyright enforcement would make big budget blockbusters like the dark knight a thing of the past as they’d no longer be financially feasible to create.”
i’m not talking about now, i’m talking about soon, i’m talking about the eventuality you pirates seem to want. if you fail to understand this simple concept after three posts explaining it to you, i give up.
it is not expectd to surpass titanic. titanic had a world gross of over 1,8 billion dollars.
i don’t think this is illegal,
downloading media from the internet, we pay for our broadband and phone line, we should be able to download what we want, or whats the point in paying to keep companys in business. As long as we don’t profit from our data downloads
then it should not matter what we download, the industry get more money off the pulic by buying music.dvds games consols and other types of media with out us there wouldn’t be pop stars and film stars
i don’t think this is illegal,
downloading media from the internet, we pay for our broadband and phone services, we should be able to download what we want, or whats the point in paying to keep companys in business. As long as we don’t profit from our data downloads
then it should not matter what we download, the industry get more money off the public buy music.dvds games consols and other types of media, with out the public there wouldn’t be pop stars and film stars
It feels faster now than before
20 references to this post
Responses are closed
All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.