Pirates who leaked awards screener copies offer their magnanimous motives

Just two weeks after leaking Louis C.K.'s comedy I LOVE YOU, DADDY, the piracy group known as Hive-CM8 has uploaded LADY BIRD, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, and I, TONYA, three indie films that are hoping to win big at this year's 90th Academy Awards show. According to sources, the movies began appearing on file-sharing networks as early as Tuesday, with each rip originating from awards-screener DVDs.

As a way of explaining their motives in posting the three films, Hive-CM8 included a message to downloaders in the release notes that stated, “We are especially sharing this for the people who cant [sic] visit the cinema due to illness, or because it is a limited release that doesn’t make it to their country. Don’t forget watching a Screener is not like the real thing, you should still all go to the cinema and support the Producers.” However, just because the group decided to take a page out of Robin Hood's playbook, it doesn't make their magnanimity any more legal.

It stands to reason that LADY BIRD, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, and I, TONYA won't be the last awards contenders to leak this season. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we revisit this scenario each and every year? I could say that it's the way of things, but that excuse doesn't put food on the table of all the people who worked so hard to get those movies made.

Thankfully, Greta Gerwig's LADY BIRD has grossed a respectful $28.7 million domestically, while CALL ME BY YOUR NAME has grossed $3.3 million and I, TONYA $1.8 million in just 18 days of its release.

All three films are playing in limited theaters around the world, right now. Why not get a few friends together and head on over to the theater to check them out?