Earlier this week, an advanced screening copy ofQuentin Tarantino’s revenge WesternThe Hateful Eightwas leaked online to several file-sharing websites. The leak originated from an Academy Awards screener that was sent to Academy members for voting purposes, with other movies such asThe Revenant,Steve Jobs,Joy,Brooklyn,RoomandCarolalso leaking through advanced screener copies. Today,The Hollywood Reporterreveals thatThe Hateful Eightleak originated from an advanced copy that was sent to a top Hollywood executive, Alcon CEOAndrew A. Kosove.
The site reports that the screener was sent toAndrew A. Kosove’s office and it was signed for by an office assistant before it was leaked online. The FBI has been working in conjunction withThe Hateful Eight’s distributor, The Weinstein Company, and they were able to pinpoint the leak toAndrew A. Kosove’s copy from the watermark on the DVD. FBI officials visited Alcon’s Century City offices to determine the chain of events that lead to this leak. Here’s whatAndrew A. Kosovehad to say in a statement toThe Hollywood Reporter.
“I’ve never seen this DVD. It’s never touched my hands. We’re going to do more than cooperate with the FBI. We’re going to conduct our own investigation to find out what happened.”
A report from Web Watch reveals that an Alcon office assistant named “Tom” signed for the DVD copy. Later, a hacker identified as “Hive-CM8” uploadedThe Hateful Eightfile after the hacker tried to remove watermark technology from the DVD, which was manufactured by Deluxe. The hacker then posted a message in a file-sharing chat room, stating thatThe Hateful Eightwould be one of 40 current movies that he or she would be uploading in the near future. It’s possible thatAndrew A. Kosovenever did touch this DVD copy before it was pirated online.
Various reports reveal that anywhere between 200,000 and 600,000 copies ofThe Hateful Eightwere downloaded on the first day it was available. Pirated physical copies of the DVD were seen on sale in street corners in China and various other markets. It isn’t clear if the leaks of the other movies such asThe Revenant,Steve Jobs,Joy,Brooklyn,RoomandCarolwere traced back toAndrew A. Kosovescreener copies.
This isn’t the first time thatThe Hateful Eighthas dealt with a leak.Quentin Tarantino’s originalscreenplayleaked online in January 2014, which resulted in the filmmaker suing Gawker Media for publishing the script online. The filmmaker almost halted his plans to direct this Western due to the leak, but thankfully he still went ahead with the production. What do you think aboutThe Hateful Eightleak being traced back to a top Hollywood executive?
