5 Movie Flops That Blamed Piracy

The Expendables 3 leaked online prior to its blockbuster release and the studio is blaming the film opening $10 million lower than expected on piracy. While that's debatable, it's not the first time studios have used the bogeyman that is piracy as a scapegoat for a film's poor performance. Want to know what movies have used this excuse for their weak openings or overall box office failure? Read on. Piracy isn't new - it's not even close to new. Video game piracy dates back to the 70s, when games were traded by mail and at disk swapping parties, then the 80s and 90s allowed this to be done remotely, first via BBS systems and then by the internet. The creation of the MP3 format in 1998 spawned online music piracy and sparked birth of file sharing networks - something the record industry continually blames for decreased sales, rather than tepid modern acts who fail to capture audience's attention the way artists of old did. The then came movie piracy. Long considered impractical due to the size of video file formats, better codecs and faster broadband internet speeds resulted in just about anyone being able to download a movie anywhere. Movie studios soon started to sing the same tune as the music industry, blaming piracy for its woes. Is piracy to blame for lost profits in Hollywood? That's a tough question. Worldwide, this is yet another year that is looking to be a stellar one for tinsel town, though profits are down a little in the U.S. without a franchise like The Avengers around this season to boost ticket sales. Nevertheless, globally, and in the U.S. as well, business is booming. Lets take a look, however, at five movies that blamed piracy for their woes, right or wrong.