The team also maintains that it got the release (an awards screener intended for the producer of the Point Break remake) "from a guy on the street," not through a hack, and that you should still pay for the movie to support its creators. In fact, Hive-CM8 makes the common argument that the piracy could actually help ticket sales, since it'd generate buzz that leads friends and family to watch.

Whether or not the group is sincere in its apology is another story. After all, pirate outfits practically live for the bragging rights that come with posting their wares early -- that's why they attach their group name to a release in the first place. And if they'd really been concerned about protecting opening day ticket revenue, they wouldn't have released the movie in advance at all. There's also the question of why the group is apologizing for the early release of The Hateful Eight, but not the numerous other titles it released afterward. The mea culpa may have a degree of truth to it, but it comes across more as a small twinge of guilt rather than a profound change of heart.

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