MANILA, Philippines – While an official Blu-ray release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is scheduled for April 5, exceptionally eager fans with a penchant for torrenting have taken an alternative route.

Torrenting news website TorrentFreak reported Wednesday, March 23, that an early Blu-Ray version of the movie had leaked online ahead of the retail release, with multiple copies now circulating online.

The leak appears to have sprung from a regular retail copy of the movie.

Wrote TorrentFreak: “The first copy appeared online yesterday and within 12 hours an estimated 250,000 people had already grabbed a copy. This number is likely to increase to several millions during the weeks to come.”

The move, while likely to please the spendthrift, may disappoint movie studios and retailers of the official copies of the movie with potentially lesser revenue from the sale of the physical discs. – Rappler.com