Avatar tops illegal download list

Netflix recently published a list of the ten most rented movies of all time and this got the people at the TorrentFreak web site thinking; what are the most downloaded movies on BitTorrent?

With an estimated 21 million downloads, Avatar is the most pirated movie of all time, followed by The Dark Knight and Transformers with about 19 million downloads each. Interestingly enough, none of the above films were present in Netflix’s list.

The BitTorrent and Netflix lists do show some overlap, as Inception and The Departed make an appearance in both.

Despite the massive piracy, the films below have not done too shabbily at the box-office. Avatar is the best grossing movie of all time and The Dark Knight is third, right before Star Trek, notes Torrent Freak.

Last April, Torrent Freak noticed that Netflix is “killing” BitTorrent in the US – with the number of Netflix subscribers going up, the number of illegal downloads is going down. “the only way to decrease piracy is to compete with it and offer products that are superior to its pirated counterpart.”

Top 10 illegal BitTorrent downloads

1. Avatar (2009) – 21 million – $2,782,275,172
2. The Dark Knight (2008) – 19 million – $1,001,921,825
3. Transformers (2007) – 19 million – $709,709,780
4. Inception (2010) – 18 million – $825,408,570
5. The Hangover (2009) – 17 million – $467,483,912
6. Star Trek (2008) – 16 million – $385,680,446
7. Kick-Ass (2010) – 15 million – $96,188,903
8. The Departed (2006) – 14 million – $289,847,354
9. The Incredible Hulk (2008) – 14 million – $263,427,551
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) – 14 million – $963,420,425

The list above is based on statistics is gathered from public BitTorrent trackers, dating back to early 2006. The figure after the title denotes the number of illegal downloads, the $ figure the estimated total world-wide box office earnings

Top 10 most rented movies on Netflix

1. The Blind Side (2009)
2. Crash (2004)
3. The Bucket List (2007)
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
5. The Hurt Locker (2008)
6. The Departed (2006)
7. Sherlock Holmes (2009)
8. Inception (2010)
9. Iron Man (2008)
10. No Country for Old Men (2007)

The above list was published by Netflix at the end of September 2011

Source is
http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2011/10/15/avatar-tops-illegal-download-list/