Over the past few weeks, pirated copies of a number of films have been leaked, including The Revenant and Quentin Tarantino’s latest, The Hateful Eight, which was leaked before it even arrived in theaters. Unlike many films leaked prior to or during release, the quality of the leaked films was very good.
Release group Hive-CM8 claimed to be behind the leaks, as well as pirated versions of Joy, Steve Jobs, Creed, and Bridge of Spies. After increased attention from law enforcement agencies including the FBI, the group seemed to recede into the shadows. Now the group has returned, and in an unlikely turn, it has issued an apology, Business Insider reports.
Before its decision to lay low, the group claimed to have more than 40 films on hand, and said it would be releasing them one by one. Now Hive-CM8 is saying that it is “sorry for the trouble we caused.” That hasn’t stopped the group from leaking films, however.
The apology accompanied the release of the Christian Bale film The Big Short. It begins by saying that the group didn’t plan to comment on recent events, but “we feel now that we should.” According to Hive-CM8, the group releases films for those who “So we wanted to share [the leaked releases] with the people who are not rich enough or not able to watch all nominated movies in the cinema.”
“Please support the producers and watch all movies in the cinema on a big screen, like you should do anyhow,” the apology continues. It then goes on to address The Hateful Eight and director Tarantino directly, saying that it is “an excellent, thrilling and entertaining Western that combines terrific direction, a fantastic cast, a wonderful script, beautiful photography and a memorable score.”
“All of those elements make The Hateful Eight an unforgettable film that is Quentin Tarantino at his best,” the apology continues. The group then goes on to claim that its role in the “media hype” around the film is actually good for the movie, saying it resulted in more people seeing it in theaters.
As for The Hateful Eight, its limited release has done well, with the wide release coming two days early in many theaters in order to meet to demand.
