Culprit Found in ‘Breaking Dawn’ Photo Leak

Score one for the home team: Summit Entertainment is proud and happy to announce that the persons responsible for the leak of photo and footage from “Breaking Dawn” of earlier this year have been apprehended and will now stand trial for their crime.

As we also noted at the time, images and video from both “Breaking Dawn” installments ended up online and spread like wildfire in the fan community.

Some photos were from Bella and Edward’s wedding night and honeymoon (that is, from the first film, which comes out this November), while others showed Bella after giving birth, so they will only hit the big screen next year.

Summit Entertainment immediately sent notice to the various websites and fansites hosting the pics, and they were taken down – while police launched an investigation to see who was responsible for the leak.

The culprit has now been found, Summit says in a statement cited by AceShowbiz.

“In an action that further communicates that those who steal images, video and other intellectual property will be identified and prosecuted globally, Summit Entertainment communicated today that it has identified the principal hacker who earlier this year stole unreleased materials from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn which were then distributed on the internet,” the statement says.

“Civil actions in the United States and Argentina name Daiana Santia, along with others, as being involved in stealing photographs, unfinished images and video from both parts of the yet to be released The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn which first appeared on the internet of March 31 of this year. Criminal action in Argentina has also been filed,” Summit further says.

At the same time, the movie studio behind the biggest vampire movie franchise of all times, encourages fans to not condone such actions and, if possible, to ignore further probable leaks.

“While we very much appreciate the legions of committed fans of the franchise and encourage them to create community online, we cannot ignore that property was stolen,” Summit Executive Vice President and General Counsel, David C. Friedman, says in the same statement.

“It is not fair to the majority of fans that want to see the final chapter of the Twilight Saga film franchise fully realized by the filmmaker and dedicated cast and crew to have these images out and available on the Internet,” Friedman adds.