Batman v Superman 2nd Most Pirated Movie Of 2016

Batman v Superman is the second most pirated movie of the year, only topped by Deadpool

Piracy is a major thorn in the side of the movie industry. Sfter all, it’s a bunch of people watching a movie who didn’t pay for it. But piracy of big theatrical movies and hit TV shows is incredibly commonplace, so it doesn’t seem like it is going anywhere anytime soon. You can watch just about any movie online sometimes mere hours after its out in theaters such as this year’s controversial Batman v Superman. I’m of course not going to tell you how, but it’s not hard to find out if you want to do it.

Torrent Freak released their 10 most torrented movies of 2016. This means the movies downloaded the most illegally through various sites (which again I won’t mention here, but aren’t hard to find if you look). Deadpool topped the list, but Batman v Superman, which while not a flop, suffered from very harsh reviews and was considered a financial disappointment, took the number 2 spot. The other DC movie release in 2016, Suicide Squad, which was also critically thrashed but considered a financial success, took the #8 spot.

This list is supposed to be indicative of a movie’s popularity, but a couple of films on the list were massive flops such as Independence Day: Resurgence & Warcraft. And while Finding Dory made it onto this dubious list, other big family hits like Jungle Book and Zootopia are strangely absent.

Next: Marvel Can't Stop Making Fun Of Batman v Superman

Does piracy really hurt movies? I mean yeah, those are people not paying to see a movie, but I think you could definitely argue those people were never going to pay to see it in the first place. And Deadpool is the most profitable movie in years, so that hardly hurt it’s box office. It might be different with smaller independent films, but I think it hardly makes a dent in these blockbusters that make hundreds of millions of dollars. Will Justice League and Wonder Woman be two of the most illegally downloaded movies of 2017? Probably. Will it significantly affect their box office numbers? Probably not…