Hasta La Gadget!

The first 36 minutes of the upcoming Warner Bros.
blockbuster Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 has leaked to various
BitTorrent sites. The movie studio is, understandably freaking out a bit.

Warner issued a strongly worded statement about the leak
last night,

Last night a portion of Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows: Part 1 was stolen and illegally posted on the Internet. This
constitutes a serious breach of copyright violation and theft of Warner Bros.
property. We are working actively to restrict and/or remove copies that may be
available. Also, we are vigorously investigating this matter and will prosecute
those involved to the full extent of the law.

Warner has been burned before. The film’s predecessor, Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has reportedly been illegally downloaded more
than eight million times. Due to the short length–and its surprising length,
some are even theorizing that Warner leaked the thing on purpose.

“[T]oday’s leak may actually benefit the movie and boost
theater attendance, as long as the full version doesn’t leak out too,”
TorrentFreak’s Ernesto Van der Sar said to the leak. “If the first half-hour is
compelling enough, people will have to go to the theater and pay for a ticket
to see the rest. It may be going a little bit too far to suggest that Warner
Bros. leaked the film intentionally, but from a business perspective it might
make sense.”