Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" has been leaked onto a major file-sharing network just hours after opening in theatres, at a time when Hollywood is increasingly concerned about online piracy.

At least two copies of the film, which was first shown in theatres in the early hours of Thursday, have been posted to the BitTorrent file-sharing network -- a new and increasingly popular technology that allows users to download large video files much more quickly than in the past.

The Motion Picture Association of America has been aggressive in going after Web sites that provide "tracker" links that enable BitTorrent downloads of copyrighted material, including six lawsuits this week against sites with links to TV shows.


According to Web site Waxy.org, one print was leaked on Wednesday before the film was even released in theatres. The movie was time-stamped, suggesting it may have come from within the industry rather than from someone who videotaped an advance screening.

One popular tracker Web site showed more than 16,000 people currently downloading the film via BitTorrent.

Hollywood is trying to avoid the fate of the music industry, which claims it has lost hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sales to illicit file-sharing networks.

Movie files are about 50 times larger than music files, which makes them much more cumbersome to download, but new technologies like BitTorrent and increased high-speed Internet penetration are closing the gap.

There was no official comment from privately held Lucasfilm Ltd., but a person familiar with the matter said the production company became aware of the situation on Wednesday night and had assigned a team to look into the origins of the leak.

The MPAA, which represents Hollywood’s major film studios, issued a statement condemning BitTorrent.

“There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorent providing users with illegal copies of ‘Revenge of the Sith,’” MPAA President Dan Glickman said. “The unfortunate fact is this type of theft happens on a regular basis on peer to peer networks all over the world.”

From http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7911494/

"According to Web site Waxy.org, one print was leaked on Wednesday before the film was even released in theatres. The movie was time-stamped, suggesting it may have come from within the industry rather than from someone who videotaped an advance screening."

...but, of course.

"Hollywood is trying to avoid the fate of the music industry,"

then why are they doing the same stupid things?

I just went on my Kazza Lite just for the @#%& of it (I'm my own censor) and in search I instantly got a ton of hits. High quality stuff. either they are all phoney files placed by the industry or bootlegged from industry insiders. there's no way a cheesy camcorder in a movie theatre can do that.

I have that workprint sitting on my hard disk right now. Not shared. Just downloaded and stored so I can take a look at it when I have watched the movie at the cinema.

Comp, you know Kazaa Lite is nothing more now than a bunch of spoofed files.

And you notice that Mr. Glickman didn't say anything about how the film got on BitTorrent, just said that it was BitTorrent's fault. Lucasfilm has it right. They're investigating how it got online. They haven't pointed the finger just yet 'cause they know there's no way anyone other than an insider could have gotten their hands on Episode III.

Then again, you never know, George Lucas himself could have had the movie leaked to increase sales (yeah, like that was going to be a problem). I remember last year episodes of "Battlestar Galactica" which were being aired on Britain's Sky One at the time, were showing up over here months before Sci-Fi premiered the show in the US. No one stopped it, but the downloads did indeed foster support for the show as BG went on to be the #2 show on cable (behind USA's "Monk"). So there, my friends, is definitive proof that downloading does NOT hurt sales.

Comp, you know Kazaa Lite is nothing more now than a bunch of spoofed files.

a lot yeah, but not all.

The sign that I've completely lost faith in Lucas' ability to make a good film: even the mere thought of seeing the film at no cost isn't appealing. If someone put free tickets in my hand today I'd turn around and either give the to someone else, or flush them down my toilet. If someone attempted to pay me to see the film, I'd take earplugs and something to read.

Nobody here knows just how much of a geek I really am. Take whatever you imagine, triple it, and then subtract back to just under going to films in costume and writing bad slash fic. That's me. It's not about being true to cannon, it's not about screwing around with cherished childhood memories, it's about Lucas' complete inability to create a film I'd want to spend any time on. I don't know what happened to his talent, I don't care.

If he loses revenue on this one, please oh please I want to hear him scream about filesharing. I'm gonna bring in people to disect the stylistic, directorial, visual, and narrative inadequacies of this latest steaming pile of offal to minute details. Lucas will suffer the death of a thousand cuts from the most erudite fanboys/girls I can find. Nothing will staunch the bleeding.

Wow, that was intence, I guess I just don't have the same standards to hold movies to, my wife is a film critic and we watch movies all the time, but I still wouldn't spend that much time disliking what a movie directer has become, the movies are no where near the first three, but we got over that after the the first movie came out (fourth movie came out.. or something) See it or don't, I guess haveing something to get up in arms about is good, but a movie? Anyway don't take this the wrong way, just wanted to get in on the conversation. =)

Hey, you should see me go on a tear about the mediocrity of Quentin Tarrantino.

No, I really do have much better things to do with my time than bat Lucas around like a mouse. One of the things that ticks me off about his latest film though is the domestic violence content he's added. I suppose he thinks he's being progressive and artistic but just like QT he's doing nothing more than reinforcing destructive stereotypes and using his status as a pop culture icon as a shield against criticism.

Yeah, so I think I'll give my $20 to http://heifer.org/ instead.