TorrentFreak ’28 Days Later’ is a Hit on Pirate Sites… 23 Years Later

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Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s highly anticipated return to their iconic post-apocalyptic universe, ‘28 Years Later,’ has stormed the box office.

Despite a disappointing second weekend, the film crossed the $100 million revenue mark, surpassing its $60 million budget and setting a new record for the franchise.

The latest installment also resurrected interest in the two first movies. Data from Flixpatrol shows that ’28 Weeks Later’ was in the top ten of most streamed films on Netflix and Disney+ in the days following the premiere of its sequel.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the original cult classic, ’28 Days Later.’ For years, the film was notoriously difficult to access legally, with rights disputes keeping it off major streaming platforms and even out of digital storefronts in recent years.

Sony Pictures eventually made the film available for digital purchase and rental in December 2024, and last month it also appeared on Pluto TV’s ad-supported streaming service in some countries. However, it’s not as widely available as the other films.

Movie Fans Turn to Pirate Sites​

The lacking availability on the largest streaming services was noticed by many over the past few weeks, when demand for the film surged. Instead of buying a digital copy or watching the movie with ads, some fans opted to get a copy through pirate sites instead.

Based on a sample of torrent activity tracked by IKnow, we can report that pirated downloads of the film have surged since the premiere of ’28 Years Later’. This was good enough to make it into the list of top ten most pirated films over the past week, 23 year years after its release.

The chart below shows the daily estimated downloads for the first two films, with most interest going to the original.

Estimated torrent downloads (sample)

The numbers reflect data in the BitTorrent sample, which represents just a tiny fraction of the total interest on pirate sites. Most pirates use streaming platforms now, which can’t be tracked directly. However, these were likely good for a million streams or more.

Without causal data, it is difficult to draw strong conclusions from these findings. Then again, it makes logical sense that fewer people would pirate a film if it was available on one of the streaming services they’re already subscribed to.

Movie Pirates Go to the Movie Theater​

Needless to say, rightsholders are not happy to see this increased activity on pirate sites. However, there’s also a more positive spin to these findings.

Presumably, many fans rewatch the first two films before they go to the movie theater, the majority likely to do so legally. A segment of the audience might use pirate sites to ‘catch up’ or re-engage with the franchise, before purchasing tickets for ’28 Years Later.’

This can serve as a gentle reminder that many movie pirates are also avid movie fans: they are consumers who pay for streaming services and spend money at the movie theater.

In fact, it is not unthinkable that the option to rewatch the earlier films for free motivated some people to go to the theaters. If that’s the case, one could argue that piracy increased revenues, at least in this isolated example.

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Note: The data used in this article comes from Iknow, which tracks torrent downloads through DHT and PEX. While it may not be able to track all downloads, it’s a substantial sample. Views on streaming platforms, direct downloads, and other piracy sources can’t be measured directly. That said, we assume that the trend will be similar there.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

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