`The Interview` tops 1 million downloads on BitTorrent

USPA News - The controversial comedy "The Interview," which has been at the center of threats from hackers and a political row between the United States and North Korea, has been downloaded more than one million times on BitTorrent alone within 48 hours of its release. Statistics collected by dts News from KickassTorrents (KAT), which is now the world`s most popular website to download torrents, showed that the number of downloads for "The Interview" surpassed 1 million on early Friday.

The tally includes copies which were later deleted due to copyright infringement claims but does not include downloads through other file-sharing services. The figure puts "The Interview" on track to become one of the most pirated movies of the year. Sony had initially canceled the release of "The Interview" after the five largest theater chains in North America pulled the comedy over threats from hackers to attack moviegoers. But after intense criticism, including from U.S. President Barack Obama, the studio announced a limited theatrical release that began on Thursday and an online release through on-demand services on Wednesday afternoon. Many people outside the United States were left disappointed when it turned out that on-demand services such as YouTube and Xbox Video would only cater to Americans, prompting those elsewhere to seek pirated copies. "Unfortunately, this free speech can only be heard by the U.S. public for now. People outside of the States will have to wait for weeks or months to see a film that was `trending` worldwide on Christmas eve," said Ernesto, the founder of news website TorrentFreak. "And that`s where another group of self-proclaimed freedom fighters come in." The first copy of "The Interview" appeared on KickassTorrents about two hours after Wednesday`s digital release and was quickly downloaded thousands of times, surpassing more than 500,000 downloads on Christmas Day and reaching one million downloads by Friday morning. "Considering the unique situation, it`s a real shame that Sony didn`t seize this opportunity to try a worldwide debut. It would have certainly brought in extra revenue," Ernesto said. "Of course, those who pirate the movie are breaking the law in most countries. But honestly, is it really a surprise that so many people outside the U.S. are prepared to cross the line to see a movie tied to one of the biggest news stories of the year?" "The Interview," directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, is an action-comedy film in which James Franco plays an entertainment journalist and Rogen stars as his producer. The pair are sent to North Korea to interview leader Kim Jong-un, their show`s biggest fan, but on their way to the interview the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruits them to assassinate the supreme leader.