Pirated 'Avatar' copies also breaking records

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Hit movie Avatar looks to break more records this weekend in cinemas in the US and  around the world and seems poised to overtake director James Cameron's other box office hit, Titanic, for various top spots. Meanwhile, his newest blockbuster has reached another record: the film is the fastest-pirated movie.

Avatar was illegally downloaded nearly one million times within the first week of its release, according to the website TorrentFreak.com which tracks file-sharing websites.

There was a belief that because the film was released in 3D, it might hamper piracy.

But Avatar was also released in 2D and was apparently leaked to file-sharing websites prior to the release, which allowed bootleggers to package copies.

20th Century Fox is confident that the experience of seeing the film in a theater in 3D does not compare to the quality of the stolen copies. Since the film has already passed the $1 billion worldwide mark, the studio may be right.

With 3D televisions in the market in 2010, there is speculation that the format won't prevent pirating in the future. If bootleggers devise a method to replicate 3D recording techniques with filters or multiple cameras to achieve the effect, considering quality of the reproduction isn't the issue, the phenomenon of piratating movies may still continue and even grow.

RC