The Expendables 3 has leaked online
The Expendables (2010 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Three weeks ahead of its U.S. premiere, a high-quality DVD screener quality print of The Expendables 3 has leaked online. And the damage has begun. The action-packed Wesley Snipes, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jet-Li starrer has over 27, 000 "seeders" on Pirate Bay and 31, 000 on Kickass Torrents, two of the internet's most popular Torrent sites. At the time of going to the press, the film had been downloaded via piracy sites nearly 1,90,000 times.
The Expendables, Jason Statham, Astor Filmlounge, Berlin, Kurfürstendamm, 06.08.2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Manoj Desai, owner of Gaiety, Galaxy and Maratha Mandir, has already decided to curtail its screening in his theatres. "I am shocked and have yet to get over the fact that such a big film is now available to us in our living rooms, well before it theatrical release. In my cinemas alone, business will be down by at least 50 per cent," he says.
Sony Pictures which has two films, Sex Tape and Equaliser, lined up for release is already taking stringent measures to save these from a similar leak abroad.
Trade analyst Amod Mehra shudders over the idea of something like this happening with a Bollywood biggie, Happy New Year or P.K.. "We should not take this lightly. Big stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan should come out and do something about this," he maintains.
Trade analyst Komal Nahata agrees with Amod that piracy can upset the applecart but argues that in the case of The Expendables 3 the leak will not have a major impact here. "It's a larger-than-life film which our janta would like to watch in the theatres," he points out.
Despite repeated attempts, the film's producer, PVR, which owns the PVRCinemax chain as well, remained unavailable for comment. A leading filmmaker on request of anonymity just said,"PVR is in a state of shock."
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