vcdupper | 74 points
Pirates, pirated! Hackers STEAL Disney's upcoming blockbuster and are holding franchise sequel for a bitcoin ransom- which the company is refusing to pay
Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a meeting on Monday that an upcoming Disney movie is being held for ransom.
Iger said hackers had stolen the film and are demanding to be paid in Bitcoin.
While he did not say which film it was, Deadline reported that it's 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales'.
The newest 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie is set to open in theaters on May 26.
Walt Disney CEO Bog Iger has revealed that hackers claim to have stolen access to an unreleased Disney movie.
The hackers are reportedly demanding a ransom in exchange for not publishing the movie.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Iger made comments about the alleged theft to ABC employees during a town hall meeting in New York on Monday.
Iger did not say which film is being threatened for release, but Deadline reported that it's 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,' which is set to open in theaters on May 26.
The movie is the fifth in the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise, and the film series has made about $3.72 billion since it first launched in 2003.
Iger reportedly said that the hackers are threatening to release the first five minutes of the film if their demands are not met, and then the rest in 20-minute segments until they are paid.
The final sum they are demanding is unknown, but Iger said they have asked that a large amount be paid in Bitcoin.
While relatively unprecedented, holding an unreleased movie or TV show for ransom has been done before.
Just a few weeks ago, 10 episodes of the new season of 'Orange is the New Black' - originally intended to launch on June 9 - were posted on 'The Pirate Bay.' Netflix had refused to pay an undisclosed ransom price.
Twitter user 'thedarkoverlord' claimed responsibility for the release.
'Who is next on the list?' the unidentified person wrote in a tweet. 'FOX, IFC, NAT GEO, and ABC. Oh, what fun we're all going to have. We're not playing any games anymore.'
Disney is currently working with federal investigators and has said it will not pay the ransom.
[-] Jaxghanistan | 23 points
Got excited, then saw it was the 5th Pirates movie.
[-] generalecchi | 3 points
yea. arrr...
Call me a conspiracy theorist but could this be just a publicity stunt? I wouldn't put it past any company, especially Disney, to do something like this to build hype for their film. I bet you they bump up the release date to this Friday instead of next.
But this is a lose-lose situation if it is a stunt. If Disney cave in and "pay" the ransom then the company looks foolish in surrendering. How would that play up for the movie? "We negotiated with internet pirates to save the movie!"
Also if the "hackers" don't get their ransom then the hackers release the movie? Disney can't pull off an anonymous pirate mask off their face and say "we got you audience haha".
Bumping up a release date would negate all the marketing that took place months before. Marketing ain't cheap.
Disney doesn't do this type of shit. There was mentions of the use of Emma Watson's private photos to promote beauty and beast. Disney is one of those company who play it safe.
I can't see this as a lose-lose for Disney if this is a stunt. Maybe if the stunt doesn't increase ticket sales then sure it was a bit of a loss. But even in this thread already people are saying they are going to go see the movie on opening night and all we have is one report that something was 'stolen' by 'hackers'. Would those people have gone and seen the movie on opening night without this news? Maybe, maybe not. That's hard to tell. But my point is if it's a stunt it's already working to drum up increased ticket sales. Either way Disney stands to make a lot of money on this even if it isn't a stunt.
You make good points though. I'm just very skeptical of everything and everyone.
[-] NoMoreNicksLeft | 1 points
Call me a conspiracy theorist but could this be just a publicity stunt?
Yeh, but not from Disney. There's a very conservative corporate culture there. Some independent, or one of the fringe studios? Even odds, but not this one.
OFC they could be lying, but you don't get the FBI involved to investigate a theft of your fifth tentpole for a publicity stunt.
[-] confesstoyou | 1 points
Call me a conspiracy theorist
You're a conspiracy theorist. Occam's Razor, man. The explanation that requires the fewest assumptions is usually correct.
[-] derrickgw1 | 16 points
why won't they do something useful and hack trump's tax records.
Mr. Maddow already released his tax records...and he paid more than anybody expected. It was entertaining to say the least.
[-] derrickgw1 | 1 points
pah. That's not a tax return. it was part of a tax return and it was 12 years old. It was from 2017. It doesn't tell you much.
[-] [deleted] | -6 points
Fuck off m8. We come here for piracy not your fucking bullshit politics
[-] [deleted] | -2 points
[deleted]
[-] [deleted] | -7 points
U can fuck off 2 m8 I don't support Trump nor am I conservative
[-] [deleted] | -1 points
[deleted]
[-] derrickgw1 | 1 points
they stay because like fox news it's an island of like minded people. It's an echo chamber. But the donald is it's own special sort of shitshow.
[-] [deleted] | 1 points
[deleted]
[-] derrickgw1 | 1 points
He deserves bashing. It's his words, stupidity, ineptness, lies, racisms, sexism, etc that brought it on. i don't frequent tons of reddit threads so i don't see Trump bashing. I use like three threads. But go look at that the donald thread. It's fricken 4chan. It's a bunch of conspiracy theory wackos. Not to mention, outside of reddit, in the public, he's low in popularity as a leader, many of his policies are only popular with his base, his base is not the entire GOP. Oh yeah and he's being suspected of obstructing justice numerous times which is a high crime. So it's to be expected.
[-] imadethistojackoff | 1 points
You just proved my point
[-] derrickgw1 | -12 points
You'll get it and like it. Now don't you have some Russian communication documents you need to be shredding.
[-] [deleted] | -8 points
Poor b8 I actually h8 Trump so fuck off
[-] derrickgw1 | 0 points
Sure. Keep vaping comrade.
[-] jaykhunter | 15 points
They absolutely shouldn't. I'd completely sandbag it to bring as little attention to the leak as possible and hope people still see the movie. Whatever is lost by pirates (hiring people to shut down links asap) would mean less than handing over millions to hackers.
[-] age_of_cage | 10 points
First Orange is the New Black now this? Hey hackers, how about you steal something that isn't dogshit?
[-] weatherwizard_pxw | 9 points
Can we make it so that we dont post links to anything these fucks have stolen? If I'm not mistaken they did Orange is the New Black Season 5 right?
Yes they did, I had posted them but then thought better of it & took them down.
[-] age_of_cage | 5 points
Why shouldn't we? This is essentially a piracy subreddit.
[-] patapatapatapata | 9 points
Iger reportedly said that the hackers are threatening to release the first five minutes of the film if their demands are not met, and then the rest in 20-minute segments until they are paid.
Twitter user 'thedarkoverlord' claimed responsibility for the release.
What a fucking edgelord, jesus christ.
And I know this is terrible but I can't help but be amused. Can you imagine if they did this with Star Wars episode whatever we're at now? Imagine the shitstorm. It'd be bigger than the fappening.
[-] CaptOblivious | 9 points
If they do release it we all need to go to opening night at the theater just to teach Dizzy that piracy isn't going to kill them or even cost them money.
What if Disney is planning for this? They announce that the movie was stolen to drum up ticket sales.
[-] CaptOblivious | 3 points
I'd still go opening night just to help convince them that piracy isn't the boogieman they believe it is.
[-] patapatapatapata | 3 points
Oh my ducking god I just got that the Pirates pirated a pirate movie I am so fucking slowp
[-] CaptOblivious | 1 points
See you at the premiere... ;)
i wonder what format it's in. probs dvd screener
Most likely it'll be a work-print type copy (like the OITNB 'leaks') - which is typically unfinished from one of the sub-contracted studios or graphics houses to work on the film (again, what happened with the OITNB 'leaks).
Alternatively, and less likely, they could have gained access a final copy of the film which would be in a variety of formats (from being ready to digitally deliver to cinema's, or iTunes for the eventual release there, etc)
Probably a CAM of a TS with Korean and Russian subs takin up 2 thirds of the screen 😂😂
Pirates.of.the.Caribbean.5.Dead.Men.Tell.No.Tales.2017.1080p.WorkPrint.x264.DTS-VCDUPPER PLSSSS
This is just going to drum up publicity for Disney... Like how every other film and TV leak hasn't hurt viewership at all.
See Game of Thrones and countless videogames.
[-] Silverlight42 | 2 points
Yup, but that doesn't mean they won't complain about it anyway and say it's hurting them, because GREED.
Just part of doing business in today's society. Use every possible angle to try and squeeze that little last drop out of the consumers.
I can't wait to see what new methods will be possible now with Trump at the helm.
this smells something. all of these stealing movies nonsense lately smells propaganda. soon a huge bill/law will follow. this is not a joke/cool cos' our freedom will be gone before we know it. today on uk tv news, they called it from N.Korea. huh?
Aren't they insured for just such a loss??? Ins't why movies are underwritten?
[-] Rudi_Reifenstecher | 2 points
I for one think this is pretty funny
[-] cherik_mcfassy | 2 points
Remember how Sherlock S4 finale was leaked TWICE the day before it aired? That was good times. This sounds fun as well.
[-] thesurvivalproject | 2 points
Yeah but that was the Russian version of the Sherlock that leaked, not that fun haha
[-] cherik_mcfassy | 2 points
The first leaked version was Russian the second one was from Turkey, in English. And you don't need English to tell it's shit anyways
I wonder if Disney will pay though, potentially the release would hit the company hard.
On a Pirates of the Caribbean movie? probably not :(
[-] derrickgw1 | 2 points
yeah honestly, i don't expect it to be huge. It will do fine but i don't expect some massive hit.
I bet Disney still has a copy, so it wasn't stolen. And it wasn't probably robbery on the high seas, so it's not piracy. In fact, what they are doing is not even "illegal copying", because copying itself isn't the act that's illegal, it's "publishing without being authorized by the copyright holder" that is.
What this is is extortion, by threatening to violate copyright.
[-] TheGoodSheep | 7 points
lol, no, of course they didn't have a BluRay of the movie laying around and some guy in a ski mask stole it. They meant they stole a virtual copy of the movie and threaten to release it. And owning a copy of a movie/game without the original is illegal as well. It was since the early days of cassettes and VHS tapes. Otherwise you could copy all your friends games and play them. Also did you miss the whole point where they stole the movie?
[-] age_of_cage | 4 points
Actually copying is in breach of copyright
not even "illegal copying", because copying itself isn't the act that's illegal,
[-] lifeisahologram | 1 points
Why are they threatening to release it in small clips? How would small clips make Disney pay an extortion payment? To do that, Disneys bottom line would need to be impacted, and it would need to be in their interests to pay a presumably smaller extortion fee.
A 20 minute clip isn't going to make people not see the movie, there by giving Disney incentive to pay the ransom, even if they end up releasing all 20 minute clips, who the fuck is going to want to patch them all together to watch the movie? Certainly not a significant amount to impact opening day.
The only way to make Disney pay is to threaten to release the entire thing by X day (the earlier the more damaging it would be to Disney)
I really don't see why Disney has any incentive to pay them with their current plan .
[-] TheGoodSheep | 16 points
Well, if you want ransom, you send them a finger, not the fucking corpse.
[-] lifeisahologram | 5 points
But that works with people, not movies. My post explains why it doesn't work with movies.
It's a digital copy of their movie, so sending pieces of it doesn't affect them at all. Disney already has the movie, and cutting it in 20 minute clips doesn't hurt their movie. The only way to get a payment is to threaten to hurt what they love, which is he bottom line, which is money.
No one is gonna bother to pirate a movie 20 minutes at a time over several days, not a significant amount. Opening day would be virtually unaffected.
But you threaten to release the entire thing by X date..well now there are X full days people might download and watch it, thereby NOT buying a movie ticket, thereby hurting Disney, thereby giving them incentive to pay a ransom to stop the release.
[-] age_of_cage | 6 points
You...honestly believe all the clips wouldn't be stitched together by internet pirates like immediately? I mean you could have gone with the argument that no leaked copy of any movie has ever been proven to harm the box office bottom line in any way, ever. Why'd you choose to go with this bollocks instead?
[-] lifeisahologram | 2 points
No I understand the movie would be stitched together eventually. But they aren't releasing it in 20 minute increments at once. They said over time. There's only just over a week left, they'd need to be on the final part by now to have any effect.
The biggest weekend of a movie is opening week, that'd be the week you'd want to threaten.
[-] shitstainjane | 1 points
I'm pretty sure that a strategy like this isn't going to have any impact on a Disney / family movie like POTC.
[-] imadethistojackoff | 0 points
Edit: WHO STEALS A MOVIE SET TO RELEASE IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS?? REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
[-] TonyRoni12 | -6 points
SOLUTION: Don't watch the leaked version. Watch it at the cinemas.
[-] ForceBlade | 14 points
Ooo the rare Captain Honor in the /r/megalinks sub, browsed for the exact opposite.
[-] PredaconKing | -13 points
"Oh, what fun we're all going to have. We're not playing any games anymore."
What a bunch of fuckin' losers. How about utilize your talents to do some real, actual good on this Earth and damage bad people who deserve it? If this ends up making regular piracy more difficult for us all, I'm going to track down every single one of these greasy self-important weasels and make them lick dog turds. 1980's bullies need to come back in a very big way.
[-] TheGoodSheep | 11 points
1980's bullies need to come back in a very big way.
Yeah, because Bullies are cool. And every guy with glasses in school is probably an upcoming hacker. God, what a retarded rant. Let it goooooo, let it gooooooooooo
[-] PredaconKing | -7 points
What? What did any of that incoherent mess have to do with anything I said? I'm sorry if someone bigger and stronger was mean to you, go tell it to a therapist. They say dorky shit like that, they deserve to be mocked. I'm allowed to be somewhat disturbed that jackasses like these children may shine a light on the rest of us doing small time piracy here, I don't think that's unreasonable.
[-] age_of_cage | 0 points
They say dorky shit like that, they deserve to be mocked.
What's good for the goose...
[-] PredaconKing | -8 points
Yes, silly me, I forgot where I was. I'm sure you people say lame ass shit with a straight face like "We're not playing games any more" and think you're super villains all the time. The rest of the world is laughing. Ciao.
[-] TheGoodSheep | 4 points
/r/iamverybadass
[-] age_of_cage | 1 points
"you people"? I'm not a hacker, I think their shtick is pathetic. You just sounded really silly too. Deal with it.
[-] iBobRoss | 60 points | May 16 2017 00:27:20
This ins't piracy; this is extortion, which is a federal crime.
Good luck to the juvenile or inside man who is gonna get fucked by the long dick of Disney
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[-] elitenls | 2 points | May 16 2017 10:10:11
Relevant South Park clip
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[-] 7altacc | 2 points | May 16 2017 12:20:42
These latest hacks originated from outside the United States. Most likely from China or Russia. Good luck prosecuting anybody.
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[-] iBobRoss | 1 points | May 16 2017 15:04:48
The long dick of Disney has no jurisdiction.
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[-] 7altacc | 1 points | May 16 2017 15:38:15
Putin doesn't give half a shit about disney. There is no extradition treaty, there will be no prosecution.
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[-] iBobRoss | 1 points | May 16 2017 16:01:46
Batman has no jurisdiction
Also, where was the source that said hacks came from China/Russia? I didn't think it was disclosed or even found out
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[-] amad_ahead | -23 points | May 16 2017 01:08:43
Disney? More like deez nuts
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[-] tijuanatitti5 | 2 points | May 26 2017 11:10:50
Shit man this actually made me laugh, haven't heard it ever since that Key & Peele sketch. Not sure why you got downvoted
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[-] amad_ahead | 2 points | May 26 2017 11:26:11
Thanks dude. Yeap. We never really get the Internet I guess :/ you made my day
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