The download of Wonder Woman 1984 has increased via torrent system. The circumstances of 2020 have changed everything for the film industry. Netflix’s decisions with films like ‘ Rome ‘ or ‘ The Irishman’ already showed where the shots could go in the future in terms of distribution windows in the cinema.
In 2020, the pandemic has made Disney decide to skip theaters with ‘ Mulán ‘ and ‘ Soul ‘ on Disney +, and for Warner to do the same, albeit in another way, with ‘ Wonder Woman 1984 ‘, with simultaneous premiere on HBO Max for subscribers (without extra payment) and in the cinema with traditional projection .
One of the big questions to ask was ” how will all this affect unauthorized P2P downloads? ” The answer is, as usual in this regard, Torrent Freak. ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ has been a success on torrent download websites, and on Saturday, about 10% of all downloads using this protocol belonged to the premiere starring Gal Gadot. As a nuance to such a large number, it must be said that in streaming, the film can only be seen in the United States.
A new era for newly released movie including Wonder Woman 1984; download, starting with records
Until now, when a movie was released in theaters, and until Blu-Ray was released , it was possible to download it via P2P or the like with generally very poor quality. This was because the most common is that they were screeners recorded in a movie theater, which, although they have improved over the years, are still far from offering a quality that can be considered acceptable.
However, with premieres released directly on streaming platforms such as the aforementioned ‘Mulán’, ‘Soul’ or ‘Wonder Woman 1984’, the door has been opened so that shortly after they are made available to their subscribers, they are already available on download websites and on websites to watch movies online.
‘Wonder Woman 1984’ has set a grossing record in the COVID-19 era, but has also been a torrent hit
Despite all the impediments that are established at the industry level with DRM, the scene manages to capture the contents and share them in a quality close to the original. Thus, one of the copies of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ that circulates on the Internet has 4K resolution, HDR and weighs 19.7 GB, with 5.1 sound and 18.6 Mbps bitrate. A before and after for premieres that we could already see with the unauthorized downloads of ‘Mulán‘, which also had the incentive of being an extra subscription fee.
Despite everything, ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ has done very well in theaters considering the year we are in, with a theatrical opening that has raised $16.7 million. It is a figure that is very far from that of its predecessor in 2017, but that marks a record in a pandemic and that is far ahead of, for example, Tenet , which only achieved 9.4 million in that market.
Regarding its performance on HBO Max, Warner announced that the movie was streamed by half of the subscribers on Christmas Day. The company claims it “broke records” and “exceeded their expectations” in viewings and in subscriber numbers.
The industry knew this could happen, and even so there are plans to bet on the model
For years, the industry has been reluctant to do something similar to what has happened with the exponential films of the change this 2020. One of the reasons that has always been alluded to has been the loss of income in premieres that would be caused by unauthorized downloads.
However, and despite knowing the case of ‘Mulán’ and the performance that great series such as ‘Game of Thrones’ have always had on torrent , Warner announced at the beginning of the month that ‘Dune’, ‘Matrix 4’ and the rest Warner’s 2021 catalog will premiere simultaneously in streaming on HBO Max and in theaters.
It is a brutal change in the distribution model, and it is especially shocking because the titles will be offered at no extra cost to the subscription of HBO Max, which in the United States is $14.99 (less than what it cost to buy digitally ‘Mulán ‘).
Given the success of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ both in theaters and on HBO Max and torrent downloads, we will have to wait for the industry to indicate if that balance is profitable
All of this must have been taken into account when making such an important decision for the future of the study , and it is not the only one who will take this path. Disney is considering releasing more movies on Disney + under the ‘Mulán’ model, and its commitment to the service is increasing. To this must be added that Netflix was already playing cards as Warner is now, and that in 2020 even Apple has done so on Apple TV + buying the rights to ‘Greyhound: Enemies under the sea’ to broadcast it for free to subscribers.
If streaming has taught us anything in recent years, it is that even where the industry had a strong discourse that downloads eroded its business a lot, and the production of series and other content goes through one of the best moments in its history and gives more jobs than ever. Now we have to see if for the cinema, this new model, with downloads, is admissible and profitable.
