
Been offered Casino Royale down your local pub yet?
Published: 22 November 2006 11:05 GMT
The trade in illegal downloads and pirate DVDs has been boosted significantly by the release of the latest eagerly awaited Bond flick Casino Royale.
It seems the British super-spy has met his match in the pirate community with two illegal versions of the movie being downloaded more than 200,000 times over the film's opening weekend. Already those downloads will be spreading as well as being burned to DVD for sale across the country.
Want to read more about Bond?
Check out our run down of the best Bond gadgets and also find out what businesses are doing to establish their own 'spying' credentials.
However, complaints from Sony Pictures or the cinemas will be tempered by news the film still managed to gross £13.4m over the opening weekend in the UK, making it the third most successful opening weekend of all time at the UK box office.
Versions of the movie appeared online on Friday, before some cinemas had even started showing the film in the UK. Among those file-sharing services being used were Mininova and TorrentSpy, according to Dr David Price, head of piracy intelligence at internet monitoring company Envisional.
Price said by Saturday it was relatively easy for anybody with a broadband connection to find the movie and download it for free.
Want to know who silicon.com readers rate as the best Bond of all time?
Find out here.
However, illegal viewers aren't going to be getting the same experience as honest movie-goers. One of the copies being widely circulated online, according to Price, is very poor quality, having been recorded on a camcorder over the heads of other cinema goers. It is also badly in sync with a poor quality recording of the soundtrack.
A second copy however, posted online on Saturday offered a better quality version, said Price, who suspects the improved sound is a result of the pirate responsible for recording the film capturing sound direct from the T-loop system in cinemas, provided for the hard of hearing.
Downloaded 200,000 times! Is it me or is the marke...
Anonymous
Thats true, surely if they released films simultan...
Anonymous
Yes, must have been offered it 1, 2 or maybe even ...
Martin Brindley, MCC International
The above comments concerning "missed" revenue by ...
MusicFan
As such the role will entail occasional evening / weekend work. My client specialises within online gaming and betting, and currently has an opening ...
Weekend release and first line support work required (as required) Further details available on application, please send me your CV and I will give ...
Business Development Manger - OTE 200k - Film Scanning Equipment - London The role Reporting to the Sales Director, you'll be selling their range of ...
Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.
Stories from the web...
Copyright © 2008 CBS Interactive Limited. All rights reserved. Top of page
Natasha Lomas Exclusive: Jimmy Wales on what's next for Wikipedia Why Wikipedia needs geeks and why a life unplugged is unthinkable
Peter Cochrane Peter Cochrane's Blog: United breaks guitars? Customer service has changed forever