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Disney Chief Bob Iger Says Hackers Claim To Have Stolen Upcoming Movie (hollywoodreporter.com) 121

Posted by BeauHD from the ransom-or-else dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Hollywood Reporter: Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed Monday that hackers claiming to have access to a Disney movie threatened to release it unless the studio paid a ransom. Iger didn't disclose the name of the film, but said Disney is refusing to pay. The studio is working with federal investigators. Iger's comments came during a town hall meeting with ABC employees in New York City, according to multiple sources. The Disney chief said the hackers demanded that a huge sum be paid in Bitcoin. They said they would release five minutes of the film at first, and then in 20-minute chunks until their financial demands are met. While movie piracy has long been a scourge, ransoms appear to be a new twist. UPDATE: According to Deadline, the movie in question appears to be the upcoming film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Disney appears to be working with the FBI and will not pay the ransom.
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Disney Chief Bob Iger Says Hackers Claim To Have Stolen Upcoming Movie More

Disney Chief Bob Iger Says Hackers Claim To Have Stolen Upcoming Movie

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  • that title (Score:3)

    by 0111 1110 ( 518466 ) on Monday May 15, 2017 @07:08PM (#54423057)

    Could the title be interpreted as a threat to the hackers? I wonder if it was recently changed.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 )

      Or maybe this is all a false flag operation.
      Cui bono?
      Disney is getting free publicity for the movie
      A 5 or maybe a 20 minute segment will actually increase demand for the theater release.
      My theory is that Disney made it all up and there was no real threat.

      Confirmation will be when he goes for the patriotism angle by claiming the hackers are working for ISIS.
      So if you view the pirated version of the pirate movie, you are supporting terrorism.
      You heard it here first.

    • Could the title be interpreted as a threat to the hackers? I wonder if it was recently changed.

      No, I think it's just a generic pirate line to go with a generic pirate film. Disney haven't shown any actual imagination in a long while.

  • Piracy? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by halltk1983 ( 855209 ) <halltk1983@yahoo.com> on Monday May 15, 2017 @07:09PM (#54423061) Homepage Journal
    Too bad they already misappropriated the term piracy for online file sharing. This seems more fitting of the name. Ironic, given the content of the theft.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      'Meaning "one who takes another's work without permission" first recorded 1701....sense of "unlicensed radio broadcaster" is from 1913.'

      So it's meant copyright violation for 300+ years, but don't let the truth get in the way of a good pedantic argument over a commonly-understood word.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by arth1 ( 260657 )

        'Meaning "one who takes another's work without permission" first recorded 1701....sense of "unlicensed radio broadcaster" is from 1913.'

        So it's meant copyright violation for 300+ years,

        That does not follow. The 1701 example says work, not idea or design. Using work as a noun to represent the physical fruits of labor goes back to the 13th century.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dbIII ( 701233 )
          I remember reading it in the forward of an edition of "Three Men in a Boat (not to mention the dog)" that came out not long after the first edition of 1889. The author was complaining about "Pirates" running a publishing company in Chicago that were printing and selling his book without him getting a cent. Clear copyright infringement.
          That's not 1701 but it's still a while back.
          Of course the reprint wasn't that old (it's still in print) but the forward is.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by EzInKy ( 115248 )

        Copyright was only for 14 years in 1701. One could renew for another 14 I think. Good incentive to motivate producers create new things I think.

        • No, copyright was a guild monopoly so the crown could control printing presses. The nonsense about incentivizing creative works didn't come until the 1710 Statute of Anne.

          • He's talking about the original u.s. copyright which came much later.

            http://www.arl.org/focus-areas... [arl.org]

            • It's also in line with the Statute of Anne. My point is that this comes from the era of the ORIGINAL copyright: A state-sponsored monopoly on speech.
              That part is certainly relevant in regards to the conversation on whether or not the word was misappropriated.

      • Yes, because the Stationer's Company in 1701 was full of upstanding, principled and honest individuals who wouldn't dare appropriate a scary word for their own purposes. It's not as if their monopoly existed explicitly for the purposes of censorship and spreading propaganda. Oh wait, yes it did, and since it predates the 1710 Statute of Anne, which at least nominally claimed to be for "the advancement of learning," there's not even the slightest hint that they were above propaganda.

        Parent's point isn't

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by 91degrees ( 207121 )
          But who cares? Pirates in the media are seen as heroic romantic figures. Jack Sparrow is very much a protagonist. Pirates of Penzance has a band of gentlemanly pirates. Even the villains like Captain Hook are presented as charismatic leaders.

          And even if they weren't, nobody associates media pirates with historical pirates. The connection makes a good joke but that's about it.
          • Nobody [wikimedia.org]? People don't think that infringers are attacking ships, but they are trying to use the bad reputation of pirates as part of a propaganda campaign, since the numbers don't back them up. They also try to conflate infringement with theft, despite grossly different underlying economics.
    • Come on, give them some credit for standing up to blackmailers. Plus no-one who is going to see this in the theater is going to not do so now that they can see the movie 20 minutes at a time on their laptop.

      • Plus no-one who is going to see this in the theater is going to not do so now that they can see the movie 20 minutes at a time on their laptop.

        And also, people who are interested in getting pirated copies of the movies will get one at the thousands other leaks/bootleg/screen cap/DVD-screener/Web-DL/whatever that will pop up in the following months.
        Even if Disney *did* decide to pay, and the blackmailer were "honest" and destroyed their copy, that wouldn't stop the countless others.
        It's just basically about one more extra download link at your usual download/dtreaming spot.
        It's just not worth for Disney to pay.

      • Why would you watch it on your laptop? Some people have TVs. They make them with USB slots these days! Sometimes they even work with playlists.

  • We'll see if piracy affects sales (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    If you can pirate a big name franchise before it hits theaters, but we still see huge ticket sales, then we can finally agree that piracy has no real impact on film profits.

    • I seem to remember this happening with "The Wolverine" many years ago. It still made $$. I'm sure it's universal panning has something to do with the early leak.

      • 'Its,' when used as the possessive rather than an abbreviation for 'it is,' has no apostrophe.

        I don't know how hollywood manages to ever not make money. Even the worst movies seem to rake in the cash with ease.

        • Yes. horrible typo of mine - Forever a blemish on my online footprint :)

  • no wonder Disney refused.

  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 15, 2017 @07:12PM (#54423079)

    AKA... Pirates of the Caribbean: Lets Kick A Dead Horse One More Time.

  • File that under... what? (Score:5, Funny)

    by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Monday May 15, 2017 @07:12PM (#54423081)

    The movie in question appears to be the upcoming film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Disney appears to be working with the FBI and will not pay the ransom.

    So it's a movie about pirates that's been "pirated" and a ransom has been asked but won't be paid because hopefully the "heroes" will save the day. I don't know if I should file that under irony, inception, recursive and/or funny.

    • A very strange hostage situation here. Doesn't the film want to be released?

      • Well that's interesting to think about. Depends on who you ask though. And depends on how good a movie it is. And obviously the quality.

        It wouldn't be the first time movies have been leaked. Nothing to see here really.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      a movie about pirates that's been "pirated"...irony

      Iger: "That does it! Jack Sparrow diiieees painfully in the next sequel to send a message!"

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by WallyL ( 4154209 )

        a movie about pirates that's been "pirated"...irony

        Iger: "That does it! Jack Sparrow diiieees painfully in the next sequel to send a message!"

        It's about time. The franchise brought in the squid-face in the second film, after all.

    • The Movie is so bad that Disney Management decided to plant this story to make sure that people go to see it when it is released?

      Wasn't there a story recently where Johnny Depp was fed his lines in the Movie through an earpiece because he couldn't be bovvered to learn them they were so bad? (or something like that)

      As Disney are bloodsucking leeches of a company, I hope it flops anyway.

  • That Jack Sparrow has been dispatched and will resolve the issue after a brief, but tumultuous, fight ensues.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rakarra ( 112805 )

      That Jack Sparrow [...] will resolve the issue

      Uhhhh....

      after a brief [...] fight ensues.

      You clearly haven't seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movies!

  • They should threaten to send it to movie critics (Score:5, Insightful)

    by elrous0 ( 869638 ) on Monday May 15, 2017 @07:21PM (#54423133)

    "Give us the moneys or we show the movie critics how awful it is!" warned the pirates.

    In other news, this is the lamest publicity stunt ever.

  • Who would have ever thought?

  • Coming to (Score:4, Funny)

    by fred911 ( 83970 ) on Monday May 15, 2017 @07:33PM (#54423191) Journal

    Your favorite thepiratebay domain.

  • What an idiot Iger is. He continues to outsource more and more of the company and then is surprised that it is being cracked.
  • it happened to one of those x-men movie where a pre production cut was leaked like a full month before release it had little to no affect on sales. but it is a first to demand a ransom.

  • Awwww (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Monday May 15, 2017 @07:37PM (#54423225)

    Did shipping jobs overseas backfire?

    Here's the tiniest violin, made in the USA, playing just for you.

    • I'm going to guess that this is connected to the recent Larson Studios hack (https://www.databreaches.net/thedarkoverlord-leaks-upcoming-episode-of-orange-is-the-new-black-after-netflix-doesnt-pay-extortion-demand/); if so, then it doesn't have anything to do with shipping jobs overseas, as they're a California-based post-production company.

  • ok so... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by roc97007 ( 608802 ) on Monday May 15, 2017 @07:39PM (#54423243) Journal

    Disney has done some bad things recently (cough-H1B-cough) but I'm kinda glad they refused to pay. And I have a stronger urge to see this film in the theater, regardless of whether the criminals release it or not.

    • I have a stronger urge to see this film in the theater,

      It's tough to build desire to see this movie that even the cast and writers don't seem to be taking seriously. The first one was good.

  • Come on, folks (Score:3)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Monday May 15, 2017 @08:45PM (#54423557)

    Lets all chip in to keep this Disney movie from being released.

    I'm afraid the studio is going to ask quite a bit more than the hackers to keep it off the screens.

  • STOP storing your movies on internet-connected computers or at the very least, encrypt them. You know what hackers can't steal? An encrypted movie file with the decryption key on a sticky note on your monitor. Well okay, they CAN steal it but they wouldn't be able to decrypt it.

  • They stated they would release the first 5 minutes of the movie then 20 minute chunks after unless there ransom was paid so with the current before credits scenes in modern moves how many releases do they do to do before they get to the actual movie? lol

  • That's alright, I understand (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I wouldn't pay for that movie either

  • Nobody wants cams.

  • As in, Disney no longer has it?

    'Cause that's what "stolen" means.

  • I don't care about Disney anymore (H-1B) (Score:3, Informative)

    by no1nose ( 993082 ) on Tuesday May 16, 2017 @01:03AM (#54424409)

    They hire Indian immigrants on the H-1B Visa program and lay-off hard-working American Engineers. Who really cares is a lame Disney movie got stolen. Good riddance.

  • Even if the hackers were going to make the movie worthless, it's a hit Disney could afford to take. And might as well, in order to prevent future extortion attempts.

    And piracy will hardly affect it at all. Most people don't want a rough cut of a movie. And an action movie like PotC needs the big screen. DVD sales are most likely to be affected, and that will be pirated as soon as it's released anyway.

  • Seriously. Disney has such a trackrecord as a bad company I can't even muster a shrug. And, btw., who would want to watch that movie anyway? PotC #5 it is or something? Give me a break. If I had that movie on my disk I would probably delete it without watching, to free up some space. I can imagine countless other things to way better spend 2.5 hours of my life.

    • I'm really surprised this thread isn't full of comments like this. Disney is considered to the living personification of the devil by many inside and outside the industry. They literally made their billions by "stealing" all their stories from public works, and then lobbied congress to pass copyright laws that made it impossible for any future generation to do what THEY DID.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Did they take everything that was done and then delete it from Disney? I'm not sure what the big deal is, otherwise... release it in Theathres. People that planned on seeing it will see it. People that didn't, won't.

  • Publicity stunt anyone?

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