After the FBI and Weinstein Co. traced where the pirated leaks of Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" came from two weeks ago, the Hive-CM8 pirate group - who claims responsibility for the leaked screener - has recently issued an apology.
Mashable reports that the apology was posted on Reddit, which also encouraged audiences "to watch 'all movies in the cinema on a big screen.'"
Noting that the group "never intended to hurt anyone" by releasing Tarantino's latest film earlier than its intended release, Hive-CM8 claims that their actions have helped create even more buzz for movies - making more people to watch them in theatres.
"Since everyone is now talking about ['The Hateful Eight'] we don't think the producers will lose any money at cinedate, and we tell you now why," the group said in their defense.
"We actually think this has created a new type of media hype that is more present in the news, radio and in the papers than 'Star Wars,' [sic] and the promotional costs for this were free," they continued.
As it turns out, the statement was released in conjunction with another leaked film, "The Big Short." According to Torrent Freak:
"Their statement, aimed at close colleagues in private channels, is surprising to say the least. It accompanies the release of the Christian Bale movie 'The Big Short' and begins with an admission that errors have been made."
"We held back this title till 1 week after [theatrical release] to give the movie a fighting chance to play in the budget, we learned from our mistake," Hive-CM8's statement initially read.
Furthermore, they took the opportunity to shut down rumors that the leaked copies were obtained after a hack. The piracy group cited:
"We got the copies sold from a guy on the street, no decryption was needed. We were definitely not the only ones [to have obtained copies]. A couple of other movies had been on the net days before, not done by us."
Hive-CM8 still attempted to make good of their mistakes by saying, "'The Hateful Eight' is an excellent, thrilling and entertaining Western," as reported by Variety.