The 10 Most Pirated Movies of All Time [Video]
In the digital age, people are going to steal. It’s going to happen and there’s no stopping it. According to James Cameron, the director of the most pirated movie of all time, the movie industry needs to enrich the movie going experience so people will want to go to the theater instead of pirating a movie.
Cameron said during the CTIA wireless tradeshow:
“In film we have definitely felt threatened by piracy. We saw the music industry crash and burn in its efforts to stop it. But with 4G and Moore’s Law, you can’t fight it…. People are discriminating about the experience. They want to own it, have it on a iPhone when they want it, and they want the social experience of going to the cinema. These are really different experiences. And I think they can all co-exist in the same eco-system.”
Judging by the numbers, it’s hard to tell if Cameron’s theory is right or wrong. His movie, Avatar, is the most pirated movie of all time. It also had the biggest box office take in movie history. So did people pirate the movie first and then decide that they had to see it on the big screen? Or did they go to theaters, and then decide that they wanted to watch it again at home?
Either way, it doesn’t look like illegal downloads are hurting the movie business. Every movie on this list (with the exception of Kick-Ass) grossed more than $200 million worldwide.
Here are the top 10 most pirated movies of all-time, according to Torrent Freak.
Avatar – 21 million downloads (Made $2,782,275,172)
The Dark Knight – 19 million downloads (Made $1,001,921,825)
Transformers – 19 million downloads (Made $709,709,780)
Inception – 18 million downloads (Made $825,408,570)
The Hangover – 17 million (Made $467,483,912)
Star Trek – 16 million downloads (Made $385,680,446)
Kick-Ass – 15 million downloads (Made $96,188,903)
The Departed – 14 million downloads (Made $289,847,354)
The Incredible Hulk (2008) – 14 million downloads (Made $263,427,551)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Made $963,420,425)
Do you pirate movies? What about music? Are illegal downloads good or bad for business?
