Every year there's a story about the most illegally downloaded films, and for the most part the films that were downloaded in that manner, seemed to be big grossers regardless. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has published a list of the ten most illegally downloaded productions of all time, and the top one is also the highest grossing film of all time.
Avatar (21 million downloads)
The Dark Knight (19 million)
Transformers (19 million)
Inception (18 million)
The Hangover (17 million)
Star Trek (16 million)
Kick-Ass (15 million)
The Departed (14 million)
The Incredible Hulk (14 million)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (14 million)
The one movie on that list that did really suffer was Kick Ass. It got great reviews and there was mammoth buzz. But instead of teen boys (the core demo) paying to see it, 15 million of them just downloaded it. Every other movie on that list was a hit and only one of them available in 3D.