Leaked 'Vampires Suck' hits 100,000 downloads

By Eriq Gardner

An unfinished copy of "Vampires Suck," the hotly anticipated Fox/New Regency parody of "Twilight" scheduled to hit U.S. theaters tomorrow, has now been downloaded more than 100,000 times since its leak more than a month ago, according to TorrentFreak.

Two years ago, of course, Fox was bitten when a rough copy of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" leaked online a month before hitting theaters. Reports suggested that more than one million people viewed at least part of the work print. The incident garnered national attention, a rebuke from Fox's upper management, and eventually, a belated arrest. Despite the hubbub, it was never revealed exactly how the unfinished film ended up online (it also wasn't clear how the piracy influenced box office sales).

Now faced with another major leak, Fox's legal department has quietly become more aggressive, sending takedown requests to torrent sites and Google. They likely want to avoid the fate of the 2004 parody film "Soul Plane," which prompted an FBI investigation after pirated copies flooded the black market weeks before its release.

"Soul Plane" was cited as one of the first Hollywood films to be impacted by digital piracy. Will pirates suck the life out of "Vampires Suck?" Fox is publicly downplaying down the leak, telling us that the incident occurred a month ago and there isn't anything new to report.