Disney is dealing with online pirates. Just a few weeks shy of the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, hackers are holding Johnny Depp’s upcoming movie hostage and threatening to release it, unless the studio pays a ransom.
Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has confirmed that hackers have access to an unreleased Disney movie, though he won’t disclose the name of the film. He addressed the issue in front of ABC employees during a town hall meeting in New York on Monday, May 15.
Disney is currently working with FBI and refuses to pay. The hackers said they would release the first five minutes of the movie, then subsequent 20-minute sections until they’re paid a huge amount of money in Bitcoin.
Netflix recently faced the same issue when a hacker threatened to release “Orange Is the New Black” season 5 prematurely unless the streaming service paid an undisclosed ransom. Netflix also refused to ante up and the hacker released 10 episodes of the new season online, ahead of the scheduled premiere date.
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”, the fifth installment in the franchise, brings back Johnny Depp as the eccentric swashbuckling pirate, Jack Sparrow. Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom also return as Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, respectively. Javier Bardem, Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites additionally star in the movie.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will hit theaters on May 26, 2017.