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26-Year-Old Arrested in Singapore for Allegedly Leaking Paramount's Upcoming Avatar Aang Movie
Singaporean authorities arrested a 26-year-old man accused of leaking Paramount Skydance's upcoming Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender animated film through unauthorized server access. The film, set for an October 9 premiere on Paramount Plus, appeared online starting April 11. Officials found a full copy on the suspect's devices, with potential penalties including up to 10 years in prison.
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Singaporean police arrested a 26-year-old man alleged to have uploaded Paramount Skydance's upcoming Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender animated feature online after gaining unauthorized remote access to a server. Authorities discovered a copy of the entire movie on the suspect's electronic devices.
If convicted of unauthorized access to computer material, he could face up to 10 years in jail and a fine of $50,000.
The leaks began with an April 11 X post from an anonymous user who claimed that someone at Nickelodeon accidentally emailed them the entire Avatar Aang movie. The post remained online for hours before being taken down. Clips of the film surfaced on April 12 on X by user @ImStillDissin.
Police received a report on April 16 that portions of the film had been released online, leading to the suspect's identification and arrest within a day. Paramount Skydance launched an investigation into the leak and determined that it did not originate from anyone within the company. The movie is scheduled to premiere on Paramount Plus on October 9.
A person claiming to be behind the leak account stated they were trying to troll a little bit because of Paramount’s decision to release Avatar Aang directly to its streaming service rather than a theatrical debut. The leaker told THR that they did not plan to upload the entire film after receiving it from a hacker associated with the PeggleCrew hacking collective.
Michaela Jill Murphy urged her fans on TikTok not to engage with the leaks out of respect for the movie’s creative team.
Julia Schoel said on X that Paramount’s awful decision to punt the movie to streaming did not justify posting the film ahead of schedule. Schoel explained that pirating the movie after its release would have been better than leaking it before release.
