Bootlegs of Christopher Nolan’s smash hit blockbuster The Odyssey have been leaking on X, generating millions of views before finally being removed for copyright infringement.
The pirated version leaked to X on Saturday and generated close to 2.1 million views within two and a half hours before the platform finally took it down. One user helped boost the bootleg leak to 3 million when they wrote, “Someone upload[ed] The Odyssey full movie on X. Can you believe it?” one user wrote
The bootleg leaks just kept coming and on Sunday, X removed another copy that generated 50,000 views in hours before finally being struck down, per the New York Post.
As of Monday, there were videos floating around X that purported to be illicit copies of “The Odyssey” – but were actually “rickrolling,” a longtime internet meme that tricks people into clicking links and then loads the music video for Rick Astley’s 1987 hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up.” In this case, over two hours of the song on repeat.
In a post underneath the initial bootleg copy, which was taken down, one user joked about the phenomenon, writing: “The full odyssey movie in a tweet, as nolan intended.”
A spokesperson for Universal Pictures said the studio will take all necessary measures to ensure copyright infringement rules are being enforced.
“We take copyright infringement seriously and will pursue all appropriate remedies to protect our content and intellectual property rights,” the spokesperson added.
Despite the bootlegs, Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic poem has continued to dominate the box office, pulling in a massive $87 million in its second weekend with a global haul of $652 million after just 10 days. Current estimates have placed it on track to score $1.3 billion by the end of its theatrical run.
“With euphoric word-of-mouth and staggering demand for premium large formats like IMAX, The Odyssey is expected to shatter all kinds of records throughout the rest of summer and into the fall,” noted Variety. “It could overtake 2009’s The Dark Knight ($1.008 billion) and 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises ($1.08 billion) as Nolan’s highest-grossing film.”