Ron Seifried | On 18, Sep 2014

In what could be viewed as a repeat of the music industry’s war against Napster, Millennium Films has hit file-sharing Bit Torrent message boards demanding cash settlements from alleged illegal downloader’s of The Expendables 3. The saga began just prior to the aging action star mashup release over the summer, when high quality copies of the film appeared online, potentially ruining potential box office, negative critical reception aside. Days after the leak, distributor Lionsgate sued several file-sharing site, went after host providers and even domain registers. But the damage was done; The Expendables 3 was already on its way to crashing at the box office.

 

But now Millennium Films is going after unsuspecting individual’s to pony up the estimated cash the film lost due to the illegal file sharing. This collection of anonymous cyber-crooks have until October 5, 2014 to comply, or else. The twist is Millennium is bypassing the courts with a barrage of subpoenas, and instead issuing DMCA takedown notices to ISP’s, via anti-piracy shop CEG TEK, to forward to suspected users. The cease and desist for the Expendables 3 has been elevated by the crack team of attorney’s here to take the law into their own hands like the Wild West.     

 

“If within the prescribed time period described above you fail to (i) respond or settle, or (ii) provide by email to [email protected] written evidence of your having consent or permission from Millennium Films to use the Work in connection with Peer-to-Peer networks (note that fraudulent submissions may give rise to additional liabilities), the above matter may be referred to attorneys representing the Work’s owner for legal action,” the settlement offer reads.

 

Either way, the ISP’s will supply the suspected user’s info to Millennium opening up the debate on privacy concerns.  

 

It is estimated that Millennium is seeking $300 in damage per user, far exceeding a maximum $20 movie theater ticket or $29.95 legit BluRay copy. It is difficult to predict how many users will pay this corporate “fine,” but you can bet the amount will be miniscule.

 

But any of this legal mumbo-jumbo does not answer the most important question. Who was the individual(s) that had access to a pristine copy of Expendables 3 and leaked it online? The FBI has been called in to investigate, but the actual number of production personnel with access is probably very limited. Most may be somewhat close to co-Executive Producer and star Sylvester Stallone, potentially eliminating prosecution. It would be very embarrassing for Stallone and the other producers if a close associate was responsible.

 

The shield is most likely up; therefore the legal action to go after the end users is a diversion tactic. Film producers and attorney’s alike have not caught up to the file-sharing culture of the Millennial generation and it would be unthinkable to go after one of their own, someone who is probably part of the above-the-line staff in Expendables 3. 

 

Harking back to the early days of Napster debate, this is reminiscent to when Metallica’s Lars Ulrich appeared disheveled and confused at a press conference and threatened legal action against the band’s devoted hardcore fans for stealing what was readily available for free.

 

The same morals can compared to someone walking down the street and finding a $20 bill. Is the responsibility of the finder, or does the fault lies with the individual careless enough to lose the $20?

 

The powers that be know who leaked the film. Each copy is embedded with a unique user id, a technology that has been around for decades. This cover-up and the lack of artistic merit are to blame for the film’s downfall, not the file sharing masses. The film grossed less than $190 million worldwide, a 30% average drop from each of its predecessors, but the estimated 2.1 million downloads changed the course of this film from hit to miss, the producers contend.

 

At a time when the film critic has become obsolete, it is Twitter and Facebook comments that drive the opening weekend box office. The film did not trend well hours after its premiere and kept audience’s home. The producers know that, but believe they found an out with the pre-release digital leak.

 

Not to worry, rumors are afoot that an all-female Expendables is in development to reboot the series: The Expendabelles!