Movies released simultaneously to theaters andstreaming services last year were frequently pirated.- Theater execs said that this impacted a movie's box office.
Piracy ran rampant last year among some of
Five months into 2022, the major studios have largely moved away from simultaneous releases, and in most cases are reaping the box-office rewards as their movies aren't being aggressively pirated as soon as they hit theaters.
Theatrical industry leaders were adamant that "day-and-date" releases, as the simultaneous release model is called, made it easier for movies to be pirated, and thus ate into a movie's box office earnings.
Some of the most pirated movies last year included:
- "Mortal Kombat" — premiered simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. It earned $42 million in the US and $84 million globally.
- "Black Widow" — debuted simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access. It grossed $183 million in the US and $378 million worldwide.
"When a movie is released simultaneously to a streaming service, a pristine copy of that movie is made available day one that it's in cinemas," John Fithian, the CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), told Insider during an interview last year.
At last month's CinemaCon, an annual conference where movie studios showcase their upcoming releases to exhibitors, Fithian reiterated this sentiment during a speech, saying that piracy spikes were "most drastic when a movie is first available to watch in the home."
He then declared that day-and-date was "dead as a serious business model."
That doesn't mean that movies aren't still facing piracy. According to Muso, a leading piracy insights company, visits to movie-piracy sites increased 42.5% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. But keep in mind that movie releases were slim in the early months of last year.
Insider analyzed the most pirated movies of the year so far, according to the piracy tracking website Torrent Freak's weekly updates, and it's clear that the movies were pirated more once they were available online, either via streaming services or for digital rental.
These days, that mainly means that movies can be easily pirated much sooner after their theatrical runs than they were before the pandemic. Studios have, for the most part, shortened the exclusive theatrical window. The pre-pandemic window was typically 75 days to 90 days. Now, 45 days is emerging as a new standard, though some movies will have shorter or longer windows than that.
Theater execs Insider has spoken to say that an exclusive theatrical run can build momentum for a movie's eventual streaming debut. The data suggests that's the case for piracy, too, or at least that if a movie is a hit in theaters it could be popular on piracy sites, too.
"Spider-Man: No Way Home" has topped Torrent Freak's weekly list of most pirated movies for four weeks this year, the most of any movie. It was also last year's highest-grossing movie at both the US and global box offices.
After playing only in theaters for three months, the movie was made available on premium video-on-demand platforms like Prime Video and iTunes, at which point it immediately shot to the top of the weekly rankings.
Similarly, "The Batman" increased in piracy once it was made available on HBO Max. During its 45-day theatrical run, it earned $369 million in the US and $768 million globally.
It's not only box-office hits that see piracy spikes once they're available online. Movies like "Moonfall" and "Blacklight," which flopped in theaters, topped Torrent Freak's lists, too, just not as frequently as hits like "No Way Home."
Muso noted in a recent report that its piracy data is "frequently used by customers to uncover hidden gems for content acquisition." In the case of "Blacklight," the report said that its popularity on piracy sites suggests a "bigger audience" for the movie than its box office suggested, making it a "strong acquisition target for VOD platforms."