Foulmouthed, pansexual, and highly meta, Deadpool might be the outlier in superhero terms, but he is also the star of the most pirated movie of 2016, according to figures compiled by filesharing news site TorrentFreak.
According to the site, precise figures are not available because, in the current reporting environment, it is more challenging to monitor downloads. But it says its estimates are based on several sources, including public BitTorrent trackers.
TorrentFreak says pirated versions of Deadpool emerged shortly before the film’s cinema release in February, and illegal downloads number in the “millions”. The film scored over $783m at the global box office.
Two more high-performing superhero films occupied second and third spots, with the popularity of Batman v Superman and Captain America: Civil War appearing to conform to the presumed comic-book sensibilities of torrent users. The former was released in March 2016, the latter in April. Two more comic-book adaptations – X-Men Apocalypse and Suicide Squad – also feature on the list.
The appetite for pirated films also appeared to run along box-office lines, although videogame adaptation Warcraft and Independence Day: Resurgence performed relatively poorly at the box office (with, respectively, $386m and $389m globally), suggesting that piracy could have taken a significant bite out of revenues for both films.
The Revenant, at No 10 on the list, was notoriously posted on the internet before its release by former film studio employee William Kyle Morarity, who was convicted and fined $1.12m in October.
Top 10 most pirated films in 2016
1. Deadpool
2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
3. Captain America: Civil War
4. Star Wars The Force Awakens
5. X-Men Apocalypse
6. Warcraft
7. Independence Day: Resurgence
8. Suicide Squad
9. Finding Dory
10. The Revenant
