Sony Pictures is having a bad week. Not one, not two, but five of their new movies, most unreleased, have been pirated and shared on file-sharing sites around the world, according to Variety. Four out of the group have not been released in theaters at all, although the popular Fury is still running.
Independence Day 2 Greenlit for 2016 Release
Fury has seen the most traffic since the hit with over a million unique illegal downloads to date. The Brad Pitt lead WWII flick is still currently in theatres but that doesn't seem to matter.
The second largest "hit" is the new Annie remake staring Jamie Foxx. Maybe because the film is geared more to family and children, it hasn't seen as many downloads on pirating sites, but there have still been over 200,000 since the theft.
The Walking Dead Spills Beans on Ending Before Fans Have a Chance to Watch
This was not a "leak" where these movies have somehow, by accident, magically made their way to the public. This was an actual attack by group "Guardians of Peace", also known as #GOP, which is hilarious.
An investigation is taking place with possible connections to The Interview and the idea that North Korean hackers are behind the theft. The attack took place on November 24 but it was only on November 27 when the films showed up on torrent sites that the company realized what had been taken. Which is the downside of dealing digitally, how do you really know what was taken? Since, nothing was technically taken, only copied.
The last piracy incident to take place against a major studio was back in July against Lionsgate. The perpetrators in that case were found and arrested in London. If the people who did this are actually in North Korea, it's highly unlikely that they will be caught. Sorry Sony.
