The cinema may be back, but illegal movie watching never went away.
How Netflix Tried to Fight Piracy (and Why It Failed)
Exclusive data provided to VIP+ by Muso, a research firm focused on piracy, suggests that today's film industry is an ideal environment for film theft to flourish.
The most pirated films of 2023 closely overlap with the year’s blockbuster numbers, as Muso found “Oppenheimer” topping the list (15.4% demand for a stolen version), followed by “Avatar: The Way of Water” (14.6%). Notably, the two films also share the distinction of having the longest theatrical runs on the list — over 100 days each.
Previous data from MUSO has shown that long theatrical releases can sometimes deter piracy, but in the case of wide-release releases like “Oppenheimer” and “Avatar: The Way of Water,” a long wait for official home releases combined with a large theatrical window seemingly had the opposite effect.
