Due to torrents may cancel the continuation of Zombieland

Screenwriter Zombieland Rhett Reese was shocked when he learned that more than a million people downloaded his movie illegally on torrents. The Hollywood screenwriter, who has already composed the plot for a new horror film, said that such an “achievement” could greatly hinder the birth of a sequel to a successful film.

Yesterday we wrote about the creators of the film Ink , who thanked the pirates for the promotion of their film. ( comment of the translator : transfer to Habré )

The Ink movie was downloaded more than 400,000 times last week and ended up in fourth place in our weekly rating of most downloaded movies, and in which Zombieland took the lead.

Screenwriter Zombieland Rhett Reese also followed our rating, and in this way he learned about the success of his film online. About this, he left a post on his twitter:

“Now Zombieland is the most downloaded movie on torrents. Already over a million downloads and the figure continues to grow. "

However, unlike the creators of Ink , Reese was not happy with this “achievement”, saying that such a situation could greatly hinder the filming of the continuation of Zombieland .

I'm sad. This casts doubt on the likelihood of Zombieland 2 .

Reese's comments are the standard answer of Hollywood. Allegedly, because of pirates, billions of dollars will pass by the box office and this will prevent the filming of new films, such a gloomy prospect can often be heard from the writers. But is it true or just Hollywood fiction? Facts point to the second.
')
There is no accurate data that piracy is associated with a drop in box office or a decrease in DVD sales. For example, The Dark Knight became the most downloaded movie on torrents in 2008, was sold on millions of DVDs, and its box office worldwide has broken a billion dollar record. But what about Zombieland ?

According to information received from Hollywood, the movie is a great success at the box office of cinemas. The film’s release was marked with the following curious facts:

• Great success for Woody Harrelson’s career
• Less than $ 24 million spent on film making
• The film raised $ 9.4 million on its first day of worldwide distribution.
• And today $ 84 million

Zombieland collected more than $ 60.8 million in 17 days, which even surpassed the remake of Dawn of the Dead , and became the highest grossing zombie film ever. Somehow it doesn’t seem to be a hindrance to filming the continuation of a movie.

On the contrary, if the film became popular on torrents, then this means that it is waiting for success in cinemas. Now rips of almost all films appear on the network, and if the film is not downloaded even from torrents, then this is a very bad sign.

But of course, Reese and the others may continue to claim that they would have made more money if there had been no piracy. There is no 100% fact to refute this, but if you compare the ever-increasing numbers of box office and the increase in file downloads using P2P networks, this will be at least a controversial statement. The same can be said about reducing the number of films shot.

Many independent filmmakers have already realized that torrents and the Internet can be a blessing for the film industry. Instead of seeing this as a threat, Hollywood could have met it before it was too late.

PS: This is my first translation for Habr. I will be glad to hear your comments and suggestions.