Los Angeles
– Among Oscar contenders for Best Picture, "District 9" is the
most-popular film on BitTorrent file-sharing networks, having racked up 12.6
million downloads to date, according to a survey of trackers compiled by
TorrentFreak. "Avatar" was second with 11.3 million downloads,
followed by "The Hurt Locker" (7.9 million); "Up" (5.4
million); "Inglorious Basterds" (5.38 million); "Precious"
(4.9 million); "Up in the Air" (4.86 million); "A Serious
Man" (3.8 million); "The Blind Side" (1.85 million); and
"An Education" (683,000 downloads).
TorrentFreak cautioned that its
comparison did not account for how long a film had been available through
BitTorrent, noting that "District 9" has been available since
September 2009, while "Avatar" leaked only about a month ago.
The
survey tracked all available release formats, including cammed versions.
Related Links:
http://torrentfreak.com/and-bittorrents-oscar-goes-to-district-9-100307
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District 9 was a fantastic movie (the kind that does well with critics and the crowd), so I’m not surprised by its popularity on torrent sites. However, a few questions hanging in my mind after reading this post are these:
Are there 12.6 million pirated copies of District 9 that have actually been watched by at least 12.6 million individuals out there?
How many people that downloaded the torrent actually followed through to download the movie?
How many of these individuals watched District 9 in theaters?
How many of these individuals were likely to purchase District 9 on DVD/BluRay?
How many of these individuals burned the files to a DVD as opposed to leaving them on their computer (digital device, etc..)?
Of course it could be that District 9 has been out on DVD/BR for months. Avatar is still in theaters and its “see it in the cinema for the full impact” reputation is in full effect. If your choices are to download a dvd-quality file or a shaky, poor quality “cam capture” that someone taped from their theater seat then the fact that District 9 is a more popular download is kind of a no-brainer.