Torrentfreak has just released its list of the most pirated movies of 2010 on BitTorrent, and once again it’s an interesting mix of films where piracy doesn’t seem to have harmed the movie at all, and others where it really could have. Unsuprisingly tthe most pirated movie, by a long way, was Avatar, which was downloaded over 16.5 million times.
The movie industry would argue that equates to $200 million or more in lost revenue, but of course many of those who downloaded it may have seen it at the cinema too, to take advantage of the 3D (Cameron has long said 3D filmmaking is the best way to combat piracy, due to the fact that it’s currently impossible to pirate a 3D version of a movie). And with $2.7 billion in box office, it doesn’t seem to have harmed the movie all that much. That said, it couldt have harmed the home ent. sales, as of those 16 million, more than two million are of a full HD Blu-ray version of the movie.
But did piracy harm Kick-Ass, the second most pirated movie of the year? The movie didn’t even cross the $100 million mark at the worldwide box office, and many considered it a financial failure – putting the possibility of a sequel in danger. However over 11 million people downloaded it for free, which could have more than doubled the film’s box office if they’d all bought tickets. Kick-ass was heavily marketed to the geek crowd, trying to get to its audience by extensively using the web for marketing, which raises the question of whether this backfired when many potential viewers downloaded it for free.
It is the more action-oriented, geek-appeal movies that tend to get downloaded the most, so the likes of Inception, Iron Man 2 and ever Shutter Island made the top 5. Interestingly Green Zone was at number 7, a movie that was considered a major flop at the cinema, but which seems to have found its audience with the pirating crowd. The Hurt Locker is also a notable entry, partly because with its low box office but high popularity with downloaders, the makers started suing those who’d pirated it.
Take a look below for the 10 most pirated movies of 2010, according to Torrentfreak.
| Rank | Movie | Downloads | Worldwide Gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| torrentfreak.com | |||
| 1 | Avatar | 16,580,000 | $2,779,551,867 |
| 2 | Kick-Ass | 11,400,000 | $96,130,432 |
| 3 | Inception | 9,720,000 | $825,408,570 |
| 4 | Shutter Island | 9,490,000 | $294,803,014 |
| 5 | Iron Man 2 | 8,810,000 | $621,751,988 |
| 6 | Clash of the Titans | 8,040,000 | $493,214,993 |
| 7 | Green Zone | 7,730,000 | $94,875,650 |
| 8 | Sherlock Holmes | 7,160,000 | $523,029,864 |
| 9 | The Hurt Locker | 6,850,000 | $48,612,915 |
| 10 | Salt | 6,700,000 | $175,190,850 |