Warner Bros. Looking into ‘Harry Potter’ Pre-Release Leak

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1,” the latest and second to last installment in the time-enduring franchise, is out on November 19. Three days ahead of release, 36 full minutes from the film have emerged online, on torrent sites.

As of Monday, even though the leak hadn’t yet occurred, “Harry Potter” was the most searched item online, which shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise since the previous installment was included by TorrentFreak in its top of “most pirated movies.”

Once the 36-minute footage from the film, a DVD screener, surfaced online, things started to get really nasty, the aforementioned source notes.

For starters, the leak allowed scammers to trick people into thinking they had the full version of the film. Secondly, demand for a full leaked version intensified.

As far as it’s concerned, Warner Bros. is not going to let this leak and take the blows with its (figurative) arms folded: in a statement just released, the studio says they’re looking into the matter.

Not only that but, just like it happened to 20th Century Fox when “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” leaked in full ahead of release, Warners wants to see heads roll – and the culprit behind bars.

“This constitutes a serious breach of copyright violation and theft of Warner Bros. property. We are working actively to restrict and/or remove copies that may be available,” the studio says in a statement.

“Also, we are vigorously investigating this matter and will prosecute those involved to the full extent of the law,” the statement from Warners also adds.

Nevertheless, lovers of a good conspiracy theory are having a field day with the leak: since the “Wolverine” case turned out to be a success (in the sense that the movie still fared excellently at the box office notwithstanding), perhaps Warners leaked the screener to boost publicity.

“Today’s leak may actually benefit the movie and boost theater attendance, as long as the full version doesn’t leak out too. If the first half hour is compelling enough, people will have to go to the theater and pay for a ticket to see the rest,” TorrentFreak writes.

“It may be going a little bit too far to suggest that Warner Bros. leaked the film intentionally, but from a business perspective it might make sense,” the e-zine further says.