A new trend emerged in the avenue of information technology in the year 2002 that was the ability to download movies online even before their theatrical release. Star Wars movie and Spiderman movie were the prominent victims that year. The copies of the hit movie Spiderman were available online a day before its theatrical release and the copies of the new Star Wars movie (Attack of the clones) were circulating online, for free movie download, more than a week before its actual release in the theaters.

According to MPAA, free new movie downloads are typically available on the Internet 24-hours after they debut in the movie theaters. It has also been observed that to date the trend of free new movie downloads has not significantly undermined the box office revenues. Moreover, a recently conducted poll has also revealed that 81 percent of the respondents prefer to watch a new movie in the theaters. Despite of these assuring facts, the pre-release free new movie downloads have become a matter of grave concern for the Hollywood studios because increasing number of customers are getting high-speed access to the Internet, due to which free new movie download has become easier.

The most common method, by which the various movie sites are gaining access to new movies, is file swapping. The file swapping networks like Kazaa, build a set of connections to sneak into the preview of the movie. The film is then copied, processed and put on the great World Wide Web. This is how a new movie is available even before its theatrical release. With convenience and expense as the foremost priorities, free new movie download may be a good option, whereby a brand new movie can be enjoyed in the warmth of the home, but it may lack the impact of the big screen. Also, watching a movie downloaded off the net usually means compromising on the quality. Besides, certain specific software would be needed for downloading and playing the downloaded movie.

Due to the losses incurred and the growing popularity, some Hollywood film studios have decided to experiment a process, whereby the new movie would be made available for public to download, but at a price and a time limit of 24-hours to view it, after which the file will automatically destroy itself. Though, critics feel that this new process will never take off because even if there is a big market available, real watching will happen through cable or satellite, and not on computers, but the advantage of this process lies in the convenience of web delivery, therefore it may scale the popularity charts. Only time will be able to reveal the impact of this system. Till then free new movie download will thrive and be a source of entertainment for all the home birds.