Pirates flock to download leaked Star Wars: The Force Awakens Blu-ray

[Scorpus]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is officially set to be released on Blu-ray in early April, but as is usually the case for major film releases, a copy has been leaked to several pirate sites a few weeks in advance.

Unsurprisingly, the release to pirate sites has led to a massive deluge of downloads over the past 24 hours. According to data from TorrentFreak, users already downloaded the film over 250,000 times within the first 12 hours, and undoubtedly more people have downloaded it since then.

The Blu-ray copy released ahead of schedule is not low quality either, which is sure to annoy Disney and Lucasfilm. It's essentially just a regular retail copy that found its way into the hands of release group "Replica" before its launch date of April 5th, as proven by a photo of the disc that's required by the rules of the pirating 'scene'.

While the Blu-ray copy of The Force Awakens has now leaked, it's not the first copy of the movie to hit pirate sites. Since the film hit the cinemas, crappy 'cam' copies have been available thanks to people who filmed the screen in the theater, although their low quality typically discourages most people from clicking download.

With more than 150,000 people currently leeching The Force Awakens through just a handful of torrents, there's a good chance this pirated copy will cannibalize some sales of the Blu-ray. Any extras included with the Blu-ray copy don't appear to have leaked, but often the film itself is all that people really want to watch from the comfort of their couch.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/64209-pirates-download-leaked-star-wars-force-awakens.html

 

[umbala]

"The Blu-ray copy released ahead of schedule is not low quality either, which is sure to annoy Disney and Lucasfilm."

Yes, how unfortunate for them. Now they'll only make $1 billion profit on the film instead of $2 billion. How awful! I guess those poor execs will have to decide which of their five mansions they should cry themselves to sleep over this leak tonight. Then tomorrow they can go hire some of those nasty firms that send out tens of thousands of letters with threats of lawsuits and financial ruin for the downloaders.

 

[Hammayon]

"The Blu-ray copy released ahead of schedule is not low quality either, which is sure to annoy Disney and Lucasfilm."

Yes, how unfortunate for them. Now they'll only make $1 billion profit on the film instead of $2 billion. How awful! I guess those poor execs will have to decide which of their five mansions they should cry themselves to sleep over this leak tonight. Then tomorrow they can go hire some of those nasty firms that send out tens of thousands of letters with threats of lawsuits and financial ruin for the downloaders.

Good point. They will make billions regardless of a few pirates.

 

[yukka]

This is one film that doesn't have to worry about a dent in sales. I look forward to buying my pristine Bluray copy that can sit on my shelf with all its extras. Lovely. Can't wait (but I can wait long enough to not bother downloading it in the meantime).

 

[Uncle Al]

It was certainly bound to happen. The HD-CAM versions have been circulating for awhile now, in fact I am a little surprised it took the pirates so long! Guess they were all tied up on the Apple / FBI debacle!

 

[Kibaruk]

I'm sorry but...

Since the film hit the cinemas, crappy 'cam' copies have been available thanks to people who filmed the screen in the theater

This adjective hit me hard, I've never expected such a great way to express from a news site (Even if it's tech related).

 

[VitalyT]

So much ado about such a mediocre movie that isn't worthy of the franchise...

 

[RustyTech]

...there's a good chance this pirated copy will cannibalize some sales of the Blu-ray.

There is a total of zero (0) chance that this will happen. Those who intended to buy, will buy - those who never intended to buy, will never buy. If they can download, they will - if they can't download, they still won't buy.

You guys got to understand that a lot of people out there have different priorities - and opening their wallets for something like this is just not on the list.

 

[amstech]

So much ado about such a mediocre movie that isn't worthy of the franchise...

The originals weren't that great either if you look at it with such a negative point of view. They were corny, completely un-original and besides some charm were nothing special. It's the wonder of the created universe and characters that made it so special, and only over time did it grow into the giant it is now.

 

[Kibaruk]

The originals weren't that great either if you look at it with such a negative point of view. They were corny, completely un-original and besides some charm were nothing special. It's the wonder of the created universe and characters that made it so special, and only over time did it grow into the giant it is now.

You do realize the first one was released on '77, it was original as ... back in that time.

 

[AMN3S1AC]

You guys got to understand that a lot of people out there have different priorities - and opening their wallets for something like this is just not on the list.

So, those who pay have to subsidize for those who don't wan't to?

Priorities or not, if you want something you should pay for it.......or at least admit wrong-doing, and not try to justify it as opposing greed.

 

[amstech]

You do realize the first one was released on '77, it was original as ... back in that time.

No.
There is a star wars documentary on where George Lucas got his inspiration, he took cues from many other established entities and twisted them together.
Star Wars is about as original as the next remake of Spider-Man.
Not knocking it though, I am a big Star Wars fan myself.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The originals weren't that great either if you look at it with such a negative point of view. They were corny, completely un-original and besides some charm were nothing special. It's the wonder of the created universe and characters that made it so special, and only over time did it grow into the giant it is now.

You do realize the first one was released on '77, it was original as ... back in that time.

Look up flash gordon. As in the old 30's era episodes, and you will notice a lot of star wars in it. Especially that text scroll. And the corniness. And the plot elements. and gordon was inspired by OTHER comics already in circulation before then.

Much like apple, lucas took ideas from flash gordon, star trek, old westerns, sci fi books, and tons of other sources, and melded them into a movie that has become an iconic part of our culture. It was far from unique or original, but it was quite good.

 

[amstech]

It was far from unique or original, but it was quite good.

Exactly.
In the documentary, he talks about dozens of different sources of inspiration, its quite interesting.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Piracy is taken into account when sales models are calculated - and prices are adjusted accordingly. While this is not an excuse for piracy (yes, it's illegal), don't think for a second that ANYONE other than the consumer is suffering from it! Those BS ads they used to release saying that the average contractor, grip, cameraman, etc suffered from piracy simply isn't true - they are being hired just as often as they ever were (more actually) and are being paid just as much as always (more, if you allow for inflation).

The person who goes out and BUYS the Blu-Ray is the person who suffers from piracy, as movie studios have simply raised the prices of tickets/DVDs/Blu-Rays to compensate - or at least, they pretend it's to compensate, as profits have gone UP, while there is no discernible evidence that piracy has actually affected sales at all....

Kind of a catch 22, as now you can protest the movie studios' raised prices by downloading for free... which will perpetuate the raised prices...

 

[Darth Shiv]

...there's a good chance this pirated copy will cannibalize some sales of the Blu-ray.

There is a total of zero (0) chance that this will happen. Those who intended to buy, will buy - those who never intended to buy, will never buy. If they can download, they will - if they can't download, they still won't buy.

You guys got to understand that a lot of people out there have different priorities - and opening their wallets for something like this is just not on the list.

Yep anyone intending to pirate knows a leaked copy is a short matter of time.

 

[gcarter]

I wonder what category I fall into...

1) Myself and my family purchased tickets for the cinema viewing (including sitting through 30+ mins of adverts)
2) I downloaded the blu-ray rip / leak last night from newsgroups
3) I doubt I will watch the download though, just downloaded it for the comfort of having it

The movie was meh! A couple of nods to old skool fans of the original, lots of running around and flying through twisted metal, Harrison Ford getting bumped off and 10 seconds of screen time of whats his face Mr Skywalker

 

[Kibaruk]

The different ideas it came from might not have been all that original, ok I'll give you that but everything they built it upon, made it unique up to this day.

 

[AMN3S1AC]

The quality of the movie, price of the DVD/blu-ray/cinema ticket relative to your income or priorities is completely irrelevant.

By all means download and enjoy the movie from any of the torrent sites it is available on....but don't pretend that it is the right way to do things.

This only works because enough people don;t share this mentality. Suppose everyone took this attitude....what would happen then?

As usual, those who are willing to pay for cinema tickets/dvds or whatever formats are available, ensure that the freeloaders are able to enjoy the same experience for free...andf in this case before those who are actually waiting.

 

[3volv3d]

So much ado about such a mediocre movie that isn't worthy of the franchise...

Such a bad movie. Let's take the movie from 1977, and basically rip that off adding the Jedi Academy game stuff. Change some names add some funky new effects... ahhh the polished turd... Now release. A big F U to Abrams no one should have to pay to see this awful awful movie.

 

[Timonius]

I buy my Star Wars movies in trilogy box sets MINIMUM. And it is likely I'll buy it again when a new format successfully supercedes blu-ray. So...whatever.

 

[andyroochoo]

...there's a good chance this pirated copy will cannibalize some sales of the Blu-ray.

There is a total of zero (0) chance that this will happen. Those who intended to buy, will buy - those who never intended to buy, will never buy. If they can download, they will - if they can't download, they still won't buy.

You guys got to understand that a lot of people out there have different priorities - and opening their wallets for something like this is just not on the list.

This is the most sensible reply I have ever read in relation to piracy.

 

[AMN3S1AC]

This is the most sensible reply I have ever read in relation to piracy.

I had several friends who declined to see Star Wars at the cinema on the reasoning that it would be available for "free" in a few months....and they would just watch it on their home theatre set-up.

Well, this came true...and they loved the movie and the experience of watching it on their systems.

If there was no chance of this movie appearing online for free, they would have, without question, gone to see the movie at the cinema or purchased the DVD for home viewing.

More recently, different medium, but same idea. My friend was waiting to play the new Far Cry Primal, as he pirated and loved the 3rd and 4th versions of the games. He sunk about 30-40 hours into each game.

He was holding out, as he usually does, for the cracked copy of the game....but it never game. So, he relented, and purchased the game on Steam.

 

[Emexrulsier]

Even when many people do pirate films, many like to also own the actual bluray not just to add to the collection but to get a much higher quality version.

 

[Mike89]

I don't think it's going to affect their profits much. Most users who pirate a movie or game aren't going to buy it anyway (like me). I watch it and delete it. Watch most of my TV shows that way too, download, watch (without friggin commercials), delete, done. The same people who would buy, then pirate to watch early are going to buy it anyway. Plus there is the free advertising aspect. I just don't think when it's all said and done, they lose money except what they pay their lawyers to fight it.