'The Interview' Was Pirated Online About As Much As It Was Legally Purchased
Sony PicturesSony announced Sunday that "The Interview" was purchased or rented online over 2 million times since it premiered Dec. 24.
It also generated over $15 million in revenue from those online sales.
But while Sony trumpeted the release as its most successful online movie ever, "The Interview" has also been pirated a lot.
According to Torrent Freak, which tracks downloads from file-sharing sites, "The Interview" was pirated about 1.5 million times in the first two days.
Part of the reason could be because Sony made it way too easy to download a version of the movie that didn't have any piracy safeguards.
As The Verge and others reported, if you rented "The Interview" for $5.99 from Sony's site SeeTheInterview.com, you could share the URL and anyone could stream it without paying extra.
And viewers could simply right-click on the video to save a version without privacy safeguards called DRM. Those files were quickly added to file-sharing sites.
"The Interview" was also shown in a little over 300 independent theaters in the US, and brought in about $3 million in box office sales. All together, "The Interview" generated about $18 million in sales in its first weekend.
The movie cost about $45 million to make, and some have estimated the total cost to Sony was about $100 million if you factor in marketing and other expenses.
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- Upcoming smartphones launching in India in May 2024
- Markets rebound in early trade amid global rally, buying in ICICI Bank and Reliance
- Women in Leadership
- Rupee declines 5 paise to 83.43 against US dollar in early trade
- Election Commission issues notification for sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls