The widespread lockdowns of public facilities had a significant impact on the movie theatre industry, requiring US studios to innovate their way out of a total income disaster. Some companies, such as Disney and Warner Bros., achieved this by releasing some films online at the same time they were released in theatres, a practise known as hybrid release.
During a conference call with analysts and investors this summer, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar remarked (pdf): “I certainly don’t foresee us going back to the way the world was in 2015, ’16, or ’17, where windows were very extensive between theatrical and home exhibition.” “In addition, Warner Bros. will produce ten films that will premiere on HBO Max on Day One.”
While the hybrid technique may have helped to mitigate some of the pandemic-related theatre losses, posting pristine copies of popular films on the internet in tandem with theatrical premieres has the unintended consequence of making them appealing targets for pirates. This is starting to show up in the Chinese market for American films.
Jungle Cruise, Disney’s latest hybrid film, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who is generally bankable. However, its opening weekend box office in China, where it was released on November 12, was disappointing, with only $3.3 million. In comparison, the picture made $30 million in its first three days on Disney+ Premier Access, which enabled Disney+ subscribers to watch the film for $30 in July, and $35 million in its first three days in US cinemas.
Disney+ is currently unavailable in China, but the early digital distribution of Jungle Cruise in the United States allowed movie pirates all over the world to obtain high-quality copies of the picture considerably earlier than normal. Well-known pirate sites like The Pirate Bay posted high-definition versions of the film on the same day that Disney+ Premier Access launched it.
In the same way, when Black Widow was launched on Disney+ Premier Access in July, high-definition copies of the film were made available on The Pirate Bay the same day. In the case of Black Widow, the picture was never released theatrically in China, making the pirated version even more appealing to Marvel fans in the country.
