A high-quality bootleg copy of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film “The Odyssey” surfaced on X on July 25, racking up more than 2.1 million views in under two and a half hours before being pulled down.
The leak was amplified by a post at 2:25 p.m. PT reading “Someone uploaded ‘The Odyssey’ full movie on X. Can you believe it?”, which pointed to a now-suspended account hosting what Variety confirmed was a genuine copy of the film. The streaming version was replaced by a takedown notice before the account was suspended entirely.
As of July 26, copycat uploads remain on the platform, though most have been drowned out by mislabeled files that deliver a Rickroll instead – the long-running internet gag of redirecting viewers to Rick Astley’s 1987 music video Never Gonna Give You Up.
Universal Pictures moved quickly to contain the damage. “We became aware of the unauthorized posting of the film and immediately initiated takedown protocols,” the studio said in a statement to Variety. “We take copyright infringement seriously and will pursue all appropriate remedies to protect our content and intellectual property rights.”
The incident is a significant embarrassment ahead of the film’s release, and raises fresh questions about content security on X, which has faced repeated criticism over its handling of copyright enforcement since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform.
