Mayank Shandilya
Piracy has always been a huge issue with movies. In recent years, the movies have started getting leaked weeks and sometimes even months before its release which kills the buzz and the hard-earned anticipation. Bad movies don’t get affected because of the leaks, for nobody cares for them. But then there happens to be some movies that are not a part of a major franchisee or a big studio and word of mouth is what they rely on. Such movies are the most affected. Here is a list of such movies that got leaked before they were released:
15. Expendables 3 (2014)
‘Expendables 3’ was a bad movie. The movie is filled with so many action stars that nothing came out of the movie except the bad graphic images. Hence, the dismal performance at the Box Office. And the collections were further damaged by the movie getting leaked two days after its release. But I don’t think it would have affected the collection. I mean a bad movie doesn’t get better by file sharing downloads. But on the bright side, the producers now have an excuse for the bad collections.
14. Zombieland (2009)
‘Zombieland’ made a killing at the box office. It made three times the money invested in the movie. The wickedly funny and gory, the movie got positive reviews from the critics too. But the producers believe that they could have had way more than they made if the movie hadn’t got leaked just before the release. There were more than a million file sharing downloads on the internet and it hurt the collection. Probably this is the reason we haven’t heard of the sequel going into the production as of yet. The producers keep denying it and the writers claim that the script is ready. An anomaly of sorts.
13. Super 8 (2008)
‘Super 8’ is a movie about a group of nerdy boys teaming up with a girl to discover the secrets of the creatures terrorising their town. Seems like a loose plot but the direction of J.J Abrams made it a truly great sci-fi thriller. The movie was leaked a month before its release. And the producers thought given the nature of the story, the movie would be doomed. But contrary to their beliefs, it was appreciated by the critics and the movie opened to the number one position at the box office. The movie’s storyline and special effects were enough to bring the audience to the theatre.
12. The Happening (2008)
There are some movies that are so bad that even piracy doesn’t have an effect on their collection. ‘The Happening’ directed by M. Night Shymalan is right at the top among such movies. It was so bad that neither people watched it in theatres or watched a pirated copy. ‘The Happening’ seems like it never happened.
11. The Hateful Eight (2015)
The movie was leaked during its limited Christmas release and the producers thought that it would affect their worldwide release and collections. But people still went to watch the movie even though the suspense of the movie was already out. The audience still went to the theatres to live the Tarantino experience. Hive-CM8 had leaked the movie and had also apologised for its actions but the collections didn’t suffer much. Tarantino’s movies are a favourite among the file sharing websites and hence always leave a dent in the collections. But this movie somehow escaped the brunt of piracy.
10. Still Alice (2014)
It was a part of the famous Sony Pictures leak. A boy from West Virginia hacked into the company’s network and had leaked its major releases. The movie had not been marketed till then, so a lot of people didn’t know about it. Hence, very few people downloaded it. After the movie released it had a lukewarm collection. But when the lead actress Julianne Moore won an Oscar for the movie, the movie took off. Within a week, it went into the Top 10 movies of the year (Box Office Collections).
9. Joy (2015)
Joy had a good opening. It had been threatened by Hive-CM8 leak a week before the release of the movie. But the movie still fared well at the box office. There are a lot of reasons that the movie didn’t perform exceptionally. People didn’t get to see anything new in the chemistry of Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. The story didn’t have any pace or heart and was just not interesting enough. Hence, the movie’s leak was only one the many reasons for its average performance.
8. Hulk (2003)
The “Eric Bana” version of ‘Hulk’ took ten years to get into production. It took a lot of rewriting, hiring and firing to come down to a cast and production team to make ‘Hulk’. The film was directed by Ang Lee. Right on the day before the release, the movie got leaked. And it had a devastating effect on its opening collection. Hence, the movie didn’t fare well. The plans of the sequels and spin-off was then shelved. After a couple of years, Edward Norton took it upon himself to reboot the movie and remade it. The movie had a great opening and fared way better than the earlier version.
7. Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
The last part of the prequel series, it had a great buzz before its release. The very next day of its release, a copy of the movie was stolen by a post production employee. This copy was then illegally shared by a man called Marc Hoaglin. Due to the high-profile nature of the movie an investigation was launched and the guilty were caught and sentenced to three years in prison. In spite of the leak, the movie ran packed houses and had a great time at the Box Office. The reason being, movies like ‘Star wars’ is more about the fan experience than just the story.
6. American Gangster (2007)
The movie had the right ingredients for a mega blockbuster. It is based on a true story. It has the likes of Denzil Washington and Russell Crowe as the lead actors. And it is directed by Ridley Scott. The movie was in the perfect shape before its release. But a screener leaked the movie two weeks before the release date. Yet the movie made more than twice its budget and got a great opening. The critics loved the movie and hence the movie earned quite a few awards too. The leak didn’t affect the collection extensively, and the movie enjoyed a great running at the box office all over the globe.
5. DeadPool (2016)
The movie had its share of privacy woes but it didn’t affect its collection or its opening. There is a strategic story about a leak footage of ‘DeadPool’. Everyone was onboard for ‘DeadPool’ right from the director Tim Miller to the actor Ryan Reynolds except the Marvel Studios. During the Comic Con(2014), a test footage of the movie was leaked and the fans went crazy. Only then, the studio got into action and completed the movie well before time. It is said that it was a strategic move by the studio to leak the footage to see the fan’s reactions. And well the strategy worked.
4. Hurt Locker (2009)
Kathryn Bigelow’s movies has always faced the brunt of piracy and there’s a reason for it. Bigelow tends to showcase her movies in various esteemed film festivals before its U.S and worldwide release. Hence, the movies tend to get shared illegally on the internet, months before the official release. ‘The Hurt Locker’ ranked in the Top Ten Pirated movies of the year in 2010. Hence, it took a beating at the box office and only made a small profit. The movie received a lot of awards too but even that didn’t help the movie’s collections.
3. The Revenant (2015)
A screener for the Academy Awards consideration was leaked before its Limited Christmas release. But the leak didn’t stop the audience to go and see Leo in action. Everyone wanted to see the movie that might get Leonardo Di Capri his first Oscar. The director Alejandro G. Iñárritu never got apprehensive about the leak because he felt the movie would surely reach its audience. And it did. In spite of the early leak, the movie was a huge hit in U.S and overseas. And as destiny would have it, the movie got Leo his first Oscar too.
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
The movie was destined to be a hit and there’s a reason I say this. There were a million troubles during the filming of the movie. Most of the movie’s schedules were delayed. Then there were rumours of the conflict between the director and actors of the movie. Then, a month before the official release of the movie, an unfinished version of the movie was leaked. Also, the critics weren’t impressed by the movie. And yet the movie became a huge blockbuster worldwide. Hence, Destiny.
1. Fury (2014)
The movie had a lot of potential to become a blockbuster at the box office. But then the infamous leak of Sony Pictures happened and among other movies ‘Fury’ also got leaked. Though the movie looked like a war film with similar faces, yet it had the right amount of buzz to get a great opening. But the illegal sharing of the movie made it difficult to even recover the budget. Even though it had a good run overseas but even that could not save the fate of the movie.
