Consider this a story that serves as a warning to avoid YouTube and Spider-Man: No Way Home searches. It is being reported that Sony Pictures is making big moves to stop leaks of the film after portions of the movie ended up on YouTube beginning yesterday.
Large sections of the highly anticipated film began popping up on YouTube via innocuous Spider-Man searches; the algorithm naturally then suggested similar pirated footage. Basically, even if you didn’t specifically search “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and merely “Spider-Man”, you were still getting results with the said leaked footage in question.
“The Hollywood Reporter” would not reveal the nature of the leaks but they have seen them and said they are significant and represent legitimate spoilers. One segment leaked was said to be about ten minutes in length. A lion’s share of the leaks had foreign subtitles while some had a foreign dub. The quality ranged from super grainy and barely watchable to very clear.
Sony Pictures worked diligently to get the leaks booted off the platform. Within minutes of the initial postings, several of the leaks were down and slapped with the message: “Video Unavailable. This video contains content from Sony Pictures Movies & Shows, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.” Although Sony has moved fast to remove them, some reports are saying that the footage has continued to pop up but is once again swiftly taken down.
This kind of piracy is so absurd to me. Why purposely ruin the movie’s secrets for the fans? If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t even search Spider-Man on YouTube because these could pop up again throughout the weekend and since the film has pretty much arrived after waiting this long, why ruin the experience?
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now in theaters. Don’t spoil it for anyone.