24/7 Wall St.

Pirating movies is a major problem in the United States, costing studios millions of dollars in lost box office ticket sales. According to several film industry studies, illegal movie downloads could be costing the U.S. economy more than $20 billion annually.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 most pirated films last week based on illegal download tallies estimated by TorrentFreak, an online file sharing news publication. The latest X-Men franchise film “Logan” tops the list, followed by sci-fi block buster “Ghost in The Shell.”

A number of programs are available for those who download illegally. One of the more popular mediums for downloading and watching content is BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file-sharing service. The service is capable of distributing massive amounts of data over the internet.

Click here to see the 10 most pirated movies.

The internet — with its far and wide reach and accessibility — has made protecting intellectual property far more challenging, but it has also provided people and businesses with ample opportunities. With the advent of Netflix, Hulu and others, online streaming for a fee has also been a growing trend.

For those who want to avoid paying a fee and are savvy enough, there are other avenues for watching content online. There is a risk, however. Authorities can track users who do not hide their IP addresses via a proxy and nab them for illegally distributing or downloading this content.

While jail time can usually be avoided, the damages owed for copyright infringement can reach $30,000, per film.

10. Gifted
> Rank last week: 5
> Release date: 4/12/2017
> Gross: $21,605,717

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Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bagogames/

9. Get Out
> Rank last week: N/A
> Release date: 2/24/2017
> Gross: $174,539,700

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8. The Fate of the Furious
> Rank last week: 8
> Release date: 4/14/2017
> Gross: $215,134,775

Source: YouTube

7. Split
> Rank last week: 6
> Release date: 1/20/2017
> Gross: $138,141,585

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6. xXx: Return of Xander Cage
> Rank last week: 2
> Release date: 1/20/2017
> Gross: $44,898,413

5. The Great Wall
> Rank last week: N/A
> Release date: 2/17/2017
> Gross: $45,157,105

4. Kong: Skull Island
> Rank last week: 4
> Release date: 3/10/2017
> Gross: $166,758,422

3. Fist Fight
> Rank last week: N/A
> Release date: 2/17/2017
> Gross: $32,187,017

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2. Ghost in The Shell
> Rank last week: 1
> Release date: 3/31/2017
> Gross: $40,424,932

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Source: Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

1. Logan
> Rank last week: 3
> Release date: 3/3/2017
> Gross: $225,507,085