Tyler Aquilina reports in Variety on The Most Pirated Film Titles of 2022.
“Exclusive data provided to Variety Intelligence Platform by piracy-focused research firm Muso measured 2022 activity across a wide range of piracy sites, including illegal streaming, torrent, web download and stream-ripping platforms. The results reveal that superhero films held a dominant share of illegal viewing in 2022, with Marvel and DC releases collectively accounting for 70% of piracy demand (that is, illicit streams, downloads and the like) for the top 10 most pirated film titles of the year.”
Here are the top ten 2022 most pirated movies:
- Spider-Man: No Way Home (21%)
- The Batman (13%)
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (10%)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (9%)
- Black Adam (9%)
- Uncharted (8%)
- Eternals (8%)
- Top Gun: Maverick (8%)
- Jurassic World Dominion (7%)
- Encanto (6%)
“Spikes in a film’s piracy tend to coincide with its release on digital platforms, which enables the availability of high-quality pirated streams or downloads, as opposed to bootleg ‘cam-rip’ versions illicitly recorded in a theater.”
My take: there are two takeaways for me here: 1) once a film streams, it will be pirated immediately (not sure about VOD though,) and therefore 2) theatrical distribution is still a viable way to generate revenue and word-of-mouth for a film.
Streaming was supposed and purported to protect films from pirating, however this has proved to be not true. From what I have read in various articles it is easier. Many, many years ago, I recall a very well known filmmaker used to make VHS and – later DVD copies of Disney films for his kids and grandkids. (He had a huge theatre set-up with surround sound in his basement.) I questioned this guy “Why?” He’s a filmmaker – wouldn’t it denigrate his own profit “as a filmmaker and an artist?” He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Everyone does it.” I remarked, “Not everyone! Just because your excuse is ‘everyone does it’ doesn’t mean it’s right.” He ignored me and continued talking to one of his three buddies as if I never existed for the rest of the evening. The young chap who had introduced me to him later told me over a late night coffee, “He’s bigger than any of us, Niki. I introduced you to you and you just lost a position on his film. You should have kept your f*cking mouth shut.”
Here is a Forbes article on the same topic: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nelsongranados/2015/12/03/how-piracy-hurts-the-filmmakers-and-artists-you-admire/?sh=22d2ec2c4554
***I introduced him to you*** Sorry for the morning typo – haven’t finished my first cuppa coffee.