“On December 30, 2015, right at the tail-end of a great year of cinema, Terrence Malick’s new film, Knight of Cups, appeared for purchase on iTunes in Europe. The film, not yet released in much of the world, including America, was let loose and the damage was done. Pirates had in short order downloaded the film, stripped it of all copy protection, and put it online in multiple formats and in pristine quality. By the next day, “Film Twitter” was abuzz with news of a newly available Malick movie.”

Read more at Movie Mezzanine.