There will always be people who want to buy movies. They like to show off their Blockbuster-style library when friends and family come over. They’ve seen “Braveheart” two dozen times and they know all of the lines from “Scarface.” Their idea of a fun Friday involves drinking games set to movies and their most common date involves a DVD player, popcorn and some of the finest films ever made. As technology improves, so do the caliber of movies coming out, but let’s face it; not every movie is worth purchasing. In fact, some of the year’s “top movies” will leave us wishing we had those two hours of our lives back. And so the quest to bootleg free movies continues. Here are some of the top downloads of 2008.

The Dark Knight was the biggest hit at the box office in 2008 and also the most pirated movie, according to data collected by www.torrentfreak.com. The movie raked in $1 billion at theaters worldwide but was also downloaded 7.03 million times. According to TorrentFreak, “Comments on various BitTorrent sites reveal that many downloaders obtained an illegal copy after they had already watched the movie in the movie theater.” Perhaps the window of time with films is interfering with the consumers’ desire to have immediate access. Thomas Rubin, chief counsel for Intellectual Property Strategy at Microsoft, suggests that many people download new movies and music not because they want to steal it for free, but because they want access and more flexible ways to consume it.

Even though Dark Knight happened to top both lists, there are some films that shocked analysts. For instance, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the second-highest grossing movie in theaters with over $785 million, but was only the 30th most popular download. Coming in at #2 on the pirated list was the Incredible Hulk (opened at $55 million). It was closely followed by The Bank Job, which only earned a piddly $64.3 million at the box office. Critics were also surprised at the number of downloads for You Don’t Mess With Zohan; it had over 5 million, yet it opened at just $38 million. Other top downloads include National Treasure - Book of Secrets, Juno, Tropic Thunder, I Am Legend, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Horton Hears A Who. By contrast, the top movies (by gross) of 2008 included Kung Fu Panda, Hancock, Iron Man, Mamma Mia, Quantum of Solace, Wall-E, Madagascar - Escape to Africa and The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian. It seems that adventure and action movies just “have to been seen on the big screen,” whereas comedies, dramas and potential flop movies are the top downloads that most people want.

In April of 2009, The Pirate Bay, a popular source for pirated movies online, was shut down. Its administrators were forced to pay $3 million in fines and spend a year in a Swedish prison. In the meantime, the websites www.mininova.org and www.isohunt.com picked up many of The Pirate Bay’s followers and continued to be a source of on-demand films content. Perhaps in the future, film distributors will experiment with alternate distribution models that appeal to consumers’ desire to have the movies they want, when they want and how they want; but, for now, the battle rages on.

Beth Kaminski is the co-author of Curing Your Anxiety And Panic Attacks which detailed treating anxiety disorder as well as tips on the various anxiety attack medication available at anxietydisordercure.com.