Well TorrentFreak.com a website dedicated to tracking pirates and illegal activity on the internet has released its annual findings. Which movies are the most pirated films in the world. The list includes five huge hits and very successful titles but which movies do pirates just not care to pay for?

What are the top five stolen films on the internet? The top five listed from most downloaded to least by millions of downloads!

1 'Avatar' (2009) - 21 million

2 'The Dark Knight' (2008) - 19 million

3 'Transformers' (2007) - 19 million

4 'Inception' (2010) - 18 million

5 'The Hangover' (2009) - 17 million

Are you surprised? I sort of am I mean these movies were all some of the best films released in the last few years. Why would people not actually pay good money for them? I understand why they would be popular downloads but I'd expect people to download films which they were unsure of rather then downloading the ones they actually want to buy.

These disturbing figures show that pirates actually download big budget successful films rather then buying them.

What are your thought's any surprises on that list? Did you expect these kinds of numbers and just how big of a loss do you think the creators of these movies took?

1. Are you counting the people that went to the theater for it and then d/l to watch again?
2. Did they profit?
3. How many of these pirates have gone to the theater for the film if they can't pirate?

These loses numbers have been bogus for a long time.

Avatar and transformers? as if they haven't made much more money than they actually deserve...

What do you honestly believe all these people purchased their copies after downloading? I don't know a single person who downloads movies with the intent of purchasing them. Well I actually do but they are anime fans who download the English subbed Japanese movies day one and then purchase them once released in NA. However all these films were released on a global scale so that's not likely to be the case.

I don't know why people still defend piracy as if it doesn't take away sales. That belief is really full of shit if it were true then there wouldn't be as many downloads in the first place.

So yah these figures do show that pirates are choosing to pirate big budget films rather then buy them. That claim is not really questionable even if some of those who downloaded did purchase legit copies the rest did not and those that did are for sure a minority.

As for Galaki's question. Of course they can't tell if the people who downloaded viewed the movie in theaters. But even if the person did that doesn't mean they have the right to download the film. Its still theft no matter how you look at it, sometimes I go to a theater several times to see a movie. Fact is the movie isn't available for retail yet and you have no right to own it without consent from the creators.

If downloading took away significant sales wouldn't we expect to see the most pirated films lacking in sales? The fact that the most pirated movies are also the most successful films in sales some far exeding expectations. I mean from that data it would be easy to assume that piracy actually contributed to the comercial success of the movies not the other way round. 

No not at all because almost every movie on the market suffers from piracy. It just so happens that these are the most popular but they are also some of the highest selling movies of recent times as well. Fact is pirates who pirate these movies also pirate other movies they aren't going to drop sales of DVD's/BluRay's because those who actually buy movies buy them. However if those pirates didn't get the movies for free the sales of these movies would be even higher.

Piracy didn't contribute to the success it prevented the films from being even more successful then they were. The fact that the movies were some of the best movies to have come out in the past few years. That and that alone is why they were so successful.

At least pirates got taste.

But you're just refusing to look at it at another angle. What if piracy is what push the lot of pirates to actually go to the theater to enjoy the "full" experience?

You know the full package for a movie is not just the ticket. After you add all expenses in for watching a movie at the theater, you probably round up to $30 per person average. Some people probably wanted to check out the movie first as a sort of demo.

One thing you can be sure is that, the higher the movie gross, the higher the number of downloads. So, there is no problem there.

Yes. Even if it is bad taste.

yay for The Dark Knight! :p