‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ tops 2014 illegal downloads

LOS ANGELES, USA – Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and Disney’s animated fantasy hit Frozen were the two most pirated films of 2014, according to a firm tracking illegal downloads.

Numerous US media, including Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, on Monday December 29  published a list of this year’s 20 most illegally downloaded movies, compiled by piracy tracker Excipio.

The firm tallied “torrent” downloads, where computer users illegally share movies and other media over the Internet, for the period from January 1 to December 23, according to Variety.

Excipio said The Wolf of Wall Street was illegally downloaded more than 30 million times, while Frozen was pirated more than 29.9 million times.

In third place was RoboCop, with a little less than 29.9 million illegal downloads, though this included both 2014’s re-booted version and the 1987 original.

Space drama Gravity, directed by Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron, was downloaded just under 29.4 million times.

Popular among the pirated films were several superhero adventures, including Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Each of these racked up more than 20 million illegal downloads. 

This year’s best-film Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave was illegally downloaded 23.7 million times, while American Hustle and Captain Phillips were pirated 23.1 million and 19.8 million times respectively.

Excipio’s list in full, as published by Variety and the Hollywood reporter:

1. The Wolf of Wall Street: 30.035 million
2. Frozen: 29.919 million
3. RoboCop (including original 1987 movie): 29.879 million
4. Gravity: 29.357 million
5. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: 27.627 million
6. Thor: The Dark World: 25.749 million
7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier: 25.628 million
8. The Legend of Hercules: 25.137 million
9. X-Men: Days of Future Past: 24.380 million
10. 12 Years a Slave: 23.653 million
11. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: 23.543 million
12. American Hustle: 23.143 million
13. 300: Rise of an Empire: 23.096 million
14. Transformers: Age of Extinction: 21.65 million
15. Godzilla: 20.956 million
16. Noah: 20.334 million
17. Divergent: 20.312 million
18. Edge of Tomorrow: 20.299 million
19. Captain Phillips: 19.817 million
20. Lone Survivor: 19.130 million

 –Rappler.com