‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and ‘Frozen’ Were the Most Pirated Movies of 2014

Even with the abundance of legal streaming options and VOD availability, people are still pirating a ton of movies (and TV shows) every year. Although some torrent sites have been taken down, eager and impatient movie-watchers are still finding places to illegally download movies. Which movies were pirated the most this year? Like last year’s list of the most pirated films, the movies topping the list for 2014 include theatrical releases from the previous year, like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and ‘Frozen.’

According to piracy-tracking data from Excipio (via Variety), many of the top 20 most pirated films of 2014 were released in 2013, which proves not only the enduring affection and interest in these films, but that the people downloading movies illegally are impatient and stubborn; they refuse to spend a few bucks to rent a movie when they can just download a lesser-quality version for free.

Last year, the most pirated films at the top of the list were 2012 releases, including ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ and ‘Django Unchained,’ while the top five most pirated films of 2014 were similarly releases from the previous year. These lists tend to feature a mixture of critically acclaimed films and blockbusters, but the list for 2014 throws a curveball near the end:

1. ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’: 30.035 million (Paramount, Dec. 25, 2013)
2. ‘Frozen’: 29.919 million (Disney, Nov. 27, 2013)
3. ‘Gravity’: 29.357 million (Warner Bros., Oct. 4, 2013)
4. ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’: 27,627 million (Warner Bros., Dec. 13, 2013)
5. ‘Thor: The Dark World’: 25.749 million (Disney/Marvel, Nov. 8, 2013)
6. ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’: 25.628 million (Disney/Marvel, April 4, 2014)
7. ‘The Legend of Hercules’: 25.137 million (Summit, Jan. 10, 2014)
8. ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’: 24.380 million (20th Century Fox, May 23, 2014)
9. ‘12 Years a Slave’: 23.653 million (Fox Searchlight, Oct. 18, 2013)
10. ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’: 23.543 million (Lionsgate, Nov. 22, 2013)
11. ‘American Hustle’: 23.143 million (Sony/Columbia, Dec. 13, 2013)
12. ‘300: Rise of an Empire’: 23.096 million (Warner Bros., March 7, 2014)
13. ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’: 21.65 million (Paramount, June 27, 2014)
14. ‘Godzilla’: 20.956 million (Warner Bros., May 16, 2014)
15. ‘Noah’: 20.334 million (Paramount, March 28, 2014)
16. ‘Divergent’: 20.312 million (Lionsgate, March 21, 2014)
17. ‘Edge of Tomorrow’: 20.299 million (Warner Bros., June 6, 2014)
18. ‘Captain Phillips’: 19.817 million (Sony/Columbia, Oct. 11, 2013)
19. ‘Lone Survivor’: 19.130 million (Universal, Dec. 25, 2013)
20. ‘RoboCop’ (1987): 18.739 million (Orion, July 17, 1987)

That’s right—the 20th most pirated film of 2014 was Paul Verhoeven’s original ‘RoboCop’ film from 1987. Those who pirate films were presumably revisiting the classic before the release of this year’s remake, or maybe many of them had never seen the original and became curious because of the remake. (Or maybe they wanted the new one and got the old one by mistake.)

Many titles on this list aren’t shocking (of course ‘Frozen’ is in the top five), although it’s hard to imagine a bunch of people illegally downloading ‘Lone Survivor’ or ‘The Legend of Hercules’ or the ‘300' sequel—apparently there’s no accounting for taste when it comes to piracy.