TOP TEN PIRATED FILMS MOSTLY DERIVED FROM DVD SCREENERS

Despite all the talk about “fingerprints” and “watermarks” being used to prevent screeners being sent out to voters during awards season from being pirated, many of the top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent last week were in fact DVD screeners. TorrentFreak.com, which tracks BitTorrent usage, said today (Monday) that the most pirated movie of the week was The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, thanks to a DVD screener. Six films appeared on the list for the first time: Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa, at No. 2; Lone Survivor at No. 3; 12 Years a Slave at No. 5; American Hustle at No. 7; About Time at No. 8, and Carrie at No. 10. Last week’s most-pirated film, Saving Mr. Banks, also a DVD screener, dropped to No. 6 on this week’s list.