"Fast Five," "Hangover II" and "Thor" were among the most-pirated movies of 2011, according to a new list from the blog TorrentFreak. But some of the year's other biggest grossers at the global box office — including the latest "Pirates" movie — are notably absent from the top 10.
"Fast Five," which grossed $626.1 million worldwide, was downloaded nearly 9.3 million times on BitTorrent, according to TorrentFreak. That's a far cry from last year's chart-topper, "Avatar," which was downloaded more than 16 million times.
"The Hangover Part II," which had a worldwide gross of $581.5 million, was downloaded 8.8 million times. The third-most-pirated movie, "Thor" — which grossed $448.5 million worldwide — was downloaded 8.3 million times.
Also read: Biggest Box Office Hits of 2011 (Slideshow)
Next on the list are six films that were not among the year's top grossers. They include "Source Code" (7.9 million downloads); "I Am Number Four" (7.7 million); and "Sucker Punch" (7.2 million).
The No. 7 spot is even more surprising: It's occupied by "127 Hours," the James Franco thriller that only made $60.7 worldwide. The film was downloaded 6.9 million times.
"Rango," which grossed $245.2 worldwide, was downloaded 6.5 million times, earning it the No. 8 spot. The next entry, "The King's Speech," which won the Oscar for Best Picture and grossed $414.2 million worldwide, was downloaded nearly 6.3 million times.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2" — the biggest movie of the year with a $1.33 billion worldwide gross — capped off the list with just over 6 million downloads.
The total number of downloads among this year's top 10 was lower than in 2010, which could be attributed to more legal alternatives, and new piracy alternatives to BitTorrent, like Cyberlockers, according to TorrentFreak.
The number of active BitTorrent users, however, hasn't gone down.
In compiling the list of most-pirated movies in 2011, TorrentFreak used data from sources including thousands of BitTorrent trackers. All release formats, including camera-bootleg recordings, were counted.