At least five new movies from Sony Pictures are being downloaded on copyright-infringing file-sharing websites in the wake of a cyber attack that targeted the studio early last week.
News was released Saturday night by Variety that special screener copies of at least five Sony films were being downloaded freely online following the attack.
Four of the movies, including a remake of the musical Annie, have yet to be released. The fifth film being pirated online is World War II epic Fury, which is still in theaters.
Over 888,000 unique users have now downloaded Fury since first showing up on peer-to-peer networks on Nov. 27.
The highly anticipated Sony movie, Annie, has also been downloaded by more than 184,000 unique users, three weeks ahead of its release.
According to piracy tracking firm Excipio, Fury‘s rate of download is high enough to be the second most downloaded pirated film, and it’s not out of theaters yet.
Other Sony movies being downloaded since the hack include Mr. Turner, Still Alice, and To Write Love on Her Arms.
A spokeswoman for Sony issued a statement to Variety about the theft of the film copies:
The theft of Sony Pictures Entertainment content is a criminal matter, and we are working closely with law enforcement to address it.
Breitbart’s Kelli Serio reported last week that employees at Sony attempted to login to company computers Monday morning, only to find an image of a red skeleton and this message:
“We’ve obtained all your internal data including your secrets and top secrets,” the note read. “If you don’t obey us, we’ll release data shown below to the world.”
Since then, it has been reported that Sony Pictures Entertainment is looking into whether or not North Korea may have been behind the major cyber attack.
These reports are unconfirmed. However, after news of the upcoming release of The Interview, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, North Korean state media warned of a “merciless retaliation.”
The Interview, which was also directed by Rogen, portrays him and Franco as two journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The film and subsequent response from North Korean media has led to further speculation that the group responsible for the attack may have ties to the isolated country.
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