Animated film 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' was leaked online on Twitter and remained on the platform for several days before it was removed.According to The Verge, a Twitter user uploaded the full movie to the micro-blogging site on Friday, April 28, openly violating copyright laws.
Over nine million people illegally watched the movie before it was removed, reports aceshowbiz.com.The user was also suspended from Twitter for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
While this isn't the first case of an entire movie being leaked online, the latest case brought more attention to Twitter, which amended laws that have been blamed for enabling such copyright infringement.
According to aceshowbiz.com, since Elon Musk took over the company under a $44 billion acquisition in October 2022, he increased the length of videos users can post to the platform.Twitter Blue subscribers can upload videos up to 60 minutes long.
'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' required only two posts, one with the first hour of the movie and another with the final 32 minutes. Previously, 'The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift' and 'Avatar' were shared in two minute increments across lengthy threads.
'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' has continued to thrive at box office both domestically and internationally despite the leak. It recently crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide after garnering $490.8 million in the US and Canada, and $535.5 million overseas.
The adaptation of Nintendo's video game franchise becomes only the 10th animated film to achieve the feat. It has become the highest-grossing film of 2023, and became the highest-grossing film based on a video game after just one week of release.
Globally, the movie, which features the voice of Chris Pratt as the titular plumber, now ranks as Universal's seventh-biggest film of all time, surpassing 'Jurassic World: Dominion' (2022) and 'Despicable Me' (2010).