Lacey Bridges
Pirates are holding “Pirates” for ransom, demanding that Disney pay up or they’ll put the studio blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Men Tell No Tales” online – for all to download and watch in 2.0 stereo via a minuscule iPad screen (I joke, chances are they’ve snagged a top-rate copy. Bummer for the studio).
Disney, however, aren’t budging. Much like Netflix, who earlier in the year refused to pay Pirates not to release a copy of the new “Orange is the new Black” season online before it’s air date, the studio refuse to play the cash-or-hack game.
Disney, who is currently working with the FBI to track down the source, has reportedly been asked to play a huge amount in bitcoin to the pirates. If their demands aren’t met, the pirates will release small bits of the film online – eventually leading up to, I assume, the full release of the film to the internet just before it opens.
The movie, starring series regular Johnny Depp, is due for release in theaters in ten days… so expects events to escalate or come to a screaming halt pretty quickly. Obviously having the film online will hurt the film, but hopefully there’s still a big bracket of folks willing to see Depp trip over his rusty laces and slur his words on the big screen.
You have to wonder if, especially after the Sony hack a couple of years ago, if studios need to up their security.. or at least change the way they’re covering themselves. Won’t they be slapping themselves if they discover that the person manning the digital copies of the films for the studio used the password ‘admin123’ on their desktop. Whatever the case, finding the culprit will be tough in this day-and-age of IP spoofing.
The folks behind the “X-Men Origins : Wolverine” thieving still have the gold ribbon, but these “Pirates” guys are surely making a quick name for themselves too – and that is what this is about, you know? making a name for one’s self. Yep, whatever happened to a good old egg-and-spoon race!?
