In an ironic twist, internet pirates have stolen Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and are threatening to release it to the public in small increments, according to reports.

The hackers are demanding a hefty ransom from Disney, says CEO Bob Igner.

At a company meeting on Monday (local time), Mr Igner told staff that hackers are demanding a large bitcoin payment to keep the film under wraps. He vowed that Disney wasn't going to pay.

The saga is similar to the recent high-profile leak of Netflix's Orange Is the New Black.

Hackers breached the security of a Hollywood-based post-production company that counts Netflix as a client, along with a number of other studios.



The hacker first tried to strong-arm the post-production company but eventually targeted Netflix with extortion demands.

Netflix apparently didn't budge and ten episodes of the still-unreleased fifth season of Orange Is the New Black were released via torrent website Pirate Bay last month.

It's unclear whether the two incidents are connected.

The hackers that leaked Orange Is the New Black claimed to have also gotten their hands on at least three dozen additional TV shows and movies and have since released another Netflix original movie.

Reuters/Newshub.