Jake Sully may have saved Pandora from destruction, but it doesn’t look like he was able to do the same for the American movie industry. Just two years after being released, James Cameron’s Avatar has been named the most pirated movie of all time in a new study by TorrentFreak.
At an estimated 21 million downloads, Cameron’s uber-successful science-fiction movie (in addition to being the most pirated movie of all time, it is also the top-grossing movie of all time) is significantly ahead of its nearest rival, Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight, which has 19 million downloads. In general, the top 10 most pirated movies skew towards male audiences, with only two (The Hangover and The Departed) not genre fare, confirming all manner of stereotypes and expectations about the kinds of people who torrent movies.
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Ironically, Avatar was once seen as the great hope to combat movie piracy, with the belief that its 3D component would be the kind of thing to push theater attendance so that people could get the full experience. Apparently, that worked while the movie was in theaters—but enough people were ready to settle for a reduced experience, as long as it was free, apparently.
The full top 10 most pirated movies of all time list is as follows:
1. Avatar (21 million downloads)
2. The Dark Knight (19 million)
3. Transformers (19 million)
4. Inception (18 million)
5. The Hangover (17 million)
6. Star Trek (16 million)
7. Kick-Ass (15 million)
8. The Departed (14 million)
9. The Incredible Hulk (14 million)
10. Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End (14 million)
MORE: Are You One of 23,000 Defendants in the US’ Biggest Illegal Download Lawsuit?
[via TorrentFreak]
Graeme McMillan is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Graemem or on Facebook at Facebook/Graeme.McMillan. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.