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Hackers claim to have stolen a Disney movie for ransom

Amagon

Member
True story here, there was someone leaking the episodes 1-3 of Star Wars. I was just a kid back then but for some reason my dad had a disk for Episode 1 half a year before the movie aired. He didn't post any of it online or share it outside our home to my knowledge, I have no idea how or where he got it, I didn't really fully understand at the time and only loosely remember it as it had similar time stamps to the picture you posted and some unfinished effects (we ended up watching the final movie in theaters anyway which was a bit redundant to me at the time but whatever), but I very distinctively remember this.

Part of me feels I shouldn't share that, but it was years ago now.
Too late, I had reported you to the internet police.
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
The threat isn't a master copy being held ransom so that the studio can't release it. It's having a film that isn't out yet illegally released in chunks for the public to see "potentially" costing the studio in millions of lost sales since people can see a version months earlier than intended.

Did your dad have ties with people in the industry?

Maybe, my dad has been in television some and I would believe maybe it was some weird connection he had and less something being passed along online, but I'd have to ask him to know the full story. My memory is mainly of watching an early version of the racing scene since I found that part cool as a kid and there was something funny in the original unedited footage of that scene but I can't remember what it was.

But we didn't get movies early often or anything, so I don't know why we had Star Wars episode 1 so early honestly. There's been some other cool things in and off from connections my dad had, but not really of that sort to my memory.
 

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
True story here, there was someone leaking the episodes 1-3 of Star Wars. I was just a kid back then but for some reason my dad had a disk for Episode 1 half a year before the movie aired. He didn't post any of it online or share it outside our home to my knowledge, I have no idea how or where he got it, I didn't really fully understand at the time and only loosely remember it as it had similar time stamps to the picture you posted and some unfinished effects (we ended up watching the final movie in theaters anyway which was a bit redundant to me at the time but whatever), but I very distinctively remember this.

Part of me feels I shouldn't share that, but it was years ago now.

Uncle of mine had a VHS copy of Episode 1 prior to release as well, he picked it up on a long-haul assignment as crew on a boat to somewhere in Asia. It was the finished film though, not a work print.

That was pretty rad.
 
Hackers eh? Probably Tron fans.

"Fund Tron 3 or we kill Pirates 5!"

Disney:
tenor.gif
 
So it is a leaked version with shitty incomplete CGI or something? Should be hilarious to watch for all the bad pre-effects.

Still pretty stupid of those guys to do this.
 
True story here, there was someone leaking the episodes 1-3 of Star Wars. I was just a kid back then but for some reason my dad had a disk for Episode 1 half a year before the movie aired. He didn't post any of it online or share it outside our home to my knowledge, I have no idea how or where he got it, I didn't really fully understand at the time and only loosely remember it as it had similar time stamps to the picture you posted and some unfinished effects (we ended up watching the final movie in theaters anyway which was a bit redundant to me at the time but whatever), but I very distinctively remember this.

Part of me feels I shouldn't share that, but it was years ago now.
I remember when this happened with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. To this day I have not seen the finished film, I've seen clips of certain scenes that are jarring to me because of the actually finished cgi (except for the shitty claws).
 

styl3s

Member
As long as it's not Marvel or Star Wars, it's fine.
The last 2 Pirates movies cleared a billion worldwide (which is more than Ant-Man, Thor 1+2, Cap 1+2, Doc Strange) and most of Marvel movies that did make more worldwide didn't bring in much more.

Let's not pretend like Disney doesn't give a shit about the franchise.
 
I remember when this happened to Xmen Origins Wolverine. It didn't really impact that piece of shit. If anything, this might be a convenient excuse for when this one underperforms domestically.
 

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
They should demand that Disney not make any more large acquisitions.

Oh and make Pixar make good films again.
 

Ceres

Banned
How many times will studios not give them money before they realize this isn't effective? Or are some studios being hush hush in payouts?

Even if it was Last Jedi, no way I would want to ruin a final edit viewing in theaters versus watch a working copy. The bigger issue would probably just be trolls that post spoilers in comments everywhere.
 

Savitar

Member
You do not earn the ire of Disney, that's one group I would not test at all. I'm not saying that because one might end up face down in the magical kingdoms ponds.
 

Anticol

Banned
If it's Cars 3 I wouldnt bother, I wouldnt even investigate tbh. I know those movies make a lot of money in toys and stuff but Cars is why I stop paying attention to Pixar, trrrible movies.
 

Ceres

Banned
If it's Cars 3 I wouldnt bother, I wouldnt even investigate tbh. I know those movies make a lot of money in toys and stuff but Cars is why I stop paying attention to Pixar, trrrible movies.

Why would one movie make you stop paying attention to an entire studio?
 
How many times will studios not give them money before they realize this isn't effective? Or are some studios being hush hush in payouts?

This is the only thing I wonder. I can't see how this ransom scam works with something like Last Jedi. Why would Disney trust the thieves not to release it anyways? Would Disney really pay big bucks on the promise that there's no other copies? I think the ONLY way this would ever work would be is if no one heard about the theft at all, besides the concerned parties, but I'm not a conspiracy theorist enough to believe this is happening regularly.
 

Syriel

Member
But we didn't get movies early often or anything, so I don't know why we had Star Wars episode 1 so early honestly. There's been some other cool things in and off from connections my dad had, but not really of that sort to my memory.

Your dad downloaded a pirated copy from Bittorrent.

It made the news when that leaked.
 
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