It’s no surprise that piracy is still rampant to this day, especially when content is locked in different streaming platforms. So don’t be surprised if two of the biggest films of 2022 that dominated the box office are also the most pirated of that year. This goes to show that there are still pirates out there still waving their flags in the seven seas. Or in this case, the 7+ streaming platforms that are on offer.
Variety released a list of the top 10 most pirated films in 2022, and on it are huge movie titles that you would expect to get torrented by pirates and savvy internet users. The list revealed that Spider-Man: No Way Home is the number one most pirated film in 2022.
Other huge blockbuster films such as Jurassic World Dominion, The Batman, Black Adam, Uncharted, and Top Gun: Maverick was top of the list. Also featured was a variety of Disney and Marvel films that were released that year such as Eternals, Encanto, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder.
It’s important to note the box office gains these films received during their theatrical runtime. Both Spider-Man and Top Gun managed to hit the billion-dollar mark in gross earnings worldwide and were reported to be the biggest films of the year. Meanwhile, Jurassic World Dominion also managed to hit the 10-digit mark in box office returns. So it’s no surprise why pirates were after these titles.
Even the box office flops like Black Adam was heavily affected by pirates. While it was hoping to gain some financial returns through home media, it still managed to make it on the list. The same can be said for Encanto, where the COVID-19 pandemic affected its theatrical release and ended up on Disney Plus.
While streaming platforms were promoted as a “cheaper” alternative to access these films, it’s the fact that these huge titles are locked in different services that it’s no surprise why some people would result to pirating. Remember the days when you can access everything on Netflix only for as low as $7.99? Now, it was recently discovered that subscribing to all these platforms costs more than cable TV.
So regardless of how these streaming platforms would like to promote themselves as the “affordable alternative” and the use of CD and DVD players is slowly getting obscure due to digital access, piracy will remain rampant on the internet.