Although, yes, Pixels is pretty bad, it certainly doesn't deserve a fate like this.
Copyright bots - that's the programs that sweep the likes of YouTube, Vimeo and so on looking for copyrighted material to shut down - made a swoop on just about everything to do with Pixels. An anti-piracy firm known as Entura, which was hired by Pixels' studio Columbia Pictures, to hunt and track illegal copies of the movie appearing on streaming sites.
A few videographers and artists received odd e-mails from the firm, claiming they were hosting a copy of the film illegally - but in reality, they had something in their video or description that said 'Pixels'. Yes, that's how sophisticated their tracking software is. Ctrl+F, 'PIXELS'.
Anyway, that's funny in and of itself, but what makes it more hilarious is that the OFFICIAL trailer for the film was actually removed and taken down by Entura along with the short film that served as the inspiration for Pixels as well. Crazy stuff, we think you'll agree. A band called The Pixels, which hosted a music video of theirs, also received a copyright notice from Entura and Columbia Pictures whilst a non-profit group that had a short film called Pixels - which predated the release of the film - was also targeted.
It's absolutely right and correct that a studio should protect their investment and serve notices on copyrighted material - when it's actually the case. In the meantime, Pixels continues to be pulverised by critics and warmly received by audiences.
Typical.
Via TorrentFreak / Mashable