Piracy Could Take a Big Bite Out of ‘Expendables 3’ Box Office Returns

I wasn't being cute with that headline. There's no pirate movie coming out this weekend, though I certainly wish there were, because I love pirate movies.

No, the piracy I am talking about here is of the video variety, where people download illegal copies of movies off the interwebs.

You probably don't know anything about that, of course, because video piracy is wrong and you're a good person. But not everyone is as nice as you, and over the last few weeks about 2.2 million not-nice people have downloaded a relatively finished copy of The Expendables 3.

Some industry analysts don't think this will be a huge problem for the film, because the same thing happened with X-Men Origins: Wolverine back in 2009, and that ended up being one of the most successful openings of the year.

However, other industry analysts say the advanced leak of the film most certainly could have an affect on its box office take. The thing is getting pretty poor reviews, and people might just decided to download it for free (which, again, would be wrong) rather than pay $20 for a ticket, popcorn, and gallon of cherry Pepsi.

So who is right? I have no idea. But we're about to find out. The Expendables 3, starring Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, and every action star from the 1980s...plus Kelsey Grammer...hits theaters today, August 15, 2014.