Avatar’s a BitTorrent Hit, But Fox Plays Down Piracy ‘Threat’

[p2p rules]

Avatar is doing great at the box office so it will come as no surprise that it is also very popular on BitTorrent. However, rather than the usual overreaction to piracy, Fox is playing down the leak and saying it will have a much smaller effect on profits. In the meantime, a lesser-known release blog is thrust into the spotlight.

Normally an Internet leak of a movie, particularly one the size of Avatar, leads to furious statements from the studios. Indeed, when a movie is leaked before it hits US theaters, as was the case with productions such as Star Wars Episode III, Wolverine and now Avatar, the FBI usually gets called in. This time things seem a little different.

This weekend a press release began to circulate which quotes Eden Wright, a Fox representative, saying that due to the movie’s availability in 3D at the cinema, “piracy will play a much smaller role in stealing profits from [Avatar] due to the technological hurdles it imposes.”

Torrentfreak