As the battle against piracy rages on in Hollywood, I always find it interesting to see the parallels in box office and the most pirated films. As they do every year, TorrentFreak has released a list detailing the top ten films in the latter category. While recent years have seen some box office disappointments like Green Zone, Sucker Punch, RocknRolla, and even modest performers like Kick-Ass, I Am Number Four, Knowing and 127 Hours, nearly all the films on the list are hits.
Coming off a study in which found that Bittorrent doesn’t effect box office revenue, the site did claim that it can have an impact on DVD/Blu-ray sales. Topping the rundown is WB’s $100m grossing found-footage party film Project X, presumably a major “hit” amongst its tech-savvy demographic.
Other notable box-office toppers, including The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, take up major spots, while Paramount’s The Dictator is a bit of an odd man out considering its perceived lack of success this summer even though it made over $175 million worldwide. Check out the rundown below, oddly missing The Hunger Games, which also includes estimated downloads and total box office gross.
1. Project X 8,720,000 $100,931,865
2. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol 8,500,000 $694,713,380
3. The Dark Knight Rises 8,230,000 $1,081,041,287
4. The Avengers 8,110,000 $1,511,757,910
5. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows 7,850,000 $543,848,418
6. 21 Jump Street 7,590,000 $201,585,328
7. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 7,420,000 $232,617,430
8. The Dictator 7,330,000 $177,547,352
9. Ice Age: Continental Drift 6,960,000 $875,093,094
10. The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1 6,740,000 $712,171,856
How many of the above films did you see in theaters?