We're now in 2012, and the last several weeks have, as always, included a plethora of movie-related lists summing up the year.  There are, of course, many a critical list, such as IAR's Top Ten of 2011, and there is also the year-end roundup of the top-ten movies at the domestic box office.  But what of the online black market?  Aren't we curious to see which films amassed the most illegal downloads over the course of the year we just left behind?  This is not be misconstrued as an endorsement of illegal movie torrenting, as it is instead a point of curiosity, a brief look at the most popular titles in this  ubiquitous practice.

After only a month and a half on Twitter, Oscar nominated actor James Franco is already calling it quits. According to Politico, the 127 Hours star recently stated that he believes that social media is dead. "Social media is over," he told Politico. "Still up there. Going down. You heard it here first," claimed Franco. "My thought was ... this is my Twitter. I can do whatever I want," he explained. "But certain companies I work with contacted me about what I was saying,"

Are you ready to go back to Oz? James Franco and Sam Raimi certainly are. The acclaimed actor and fan-favorite director are set to reunite for the first time since '2007s Spider-Man 3 for the upcoming film Oz, The Great and Powerful, a prequel to the beloved novel by L. Frank Baum that inspired the classic 1939 film starring Judy Garland. The project has been in development for some time and the plot revolves around the wizard's first arrival in Oz.

Last week, the Russell Crowe drama The Next Three Days was the most illegally downloaded film, according to Torrentfreak, but this week, Disney's attempted franchise revitalization Tron: Legacy debuted at number one on the weekly list of most torrented films.  The Next Three Days  was the third most pirated movie of the week, as The King's Speech rode the Best Picture wave up to second place in its first post-Oscar week, from eighth place the week before.  You'll find no less than two other big Oscar movies on the list, as well as a straight-to-DVD sequel and even some Jason Statham action.

Every week, Torrentfreak compiles a handy little list of the ten most downloaded movies on BitTorrent, all of which are illegal DVD rips.  This last week had a few surprises, most notably that the most downloaded film was the not-yet released straight-to-DVD S.W.A.T.: Firefight, a sequel to the 2003 Colin Farrell action picture, which itself was an adaptation of a 70's television show.  The sequel starring The Spirit actor Gabriel Macht took the top spot from previous title-holder Tangled, Disney's animated Rapunzel film.  Best Picture Oscar nominees 127 Hours and The King's Speech have been on the list for awhile, and are now at numbers 6 and 8, respectively.  See all ten of this week's most illegally torrented movies right here.

Good news, everyone.  Soon, you can have the experience of being trapped under a boulder for five days…from the comfort of your own living room.  Hot on the heels of the film’s six Oscar nominations, Fox Searchlight has announced 127 Hours will release on DVD and Blu-Ray on March 1^st, just a few days after the Oscar telecast.  Check out the press release for the two-disc set:

If you ask me, Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours hasn’t gotten the commercial love it deserves.  Apparently Fox Searchlight agrees with me, because on January 28^th, they’re expanding the film from 76 theaters to more than 600.  That’s a pretty huge expansion, particularly considering that 127 Hours opened in early November, and at its widest was in 433 locations.  Well, why, you ask, make this move on January 28^th, then?  Because that’s three days after the Oscar nominations are announced.

127 Hours star James Franco is continuing his campaign to become the most ubiquitous figure in entertainment. The actor, not content with appearing in films, writing fiction, going to school, co-hosting the Oscars, and creating performance art out of a soap opera, is also looking to write and direct. He’s recently been connected as a director to adaptations of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, and this week New York Post reports that he has signed to direct and star in The Night Stalker, a film about real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez.

It’s been surprising to see the Danny Boyle directed, James Franco-starring 127 Hours get pretty much shut out of major awards nominations, such as yesterdays DGA nominees.  It’s a visceral, well-made film, and Franco’s fantastic in it, so given that it’s Boyle’s follow-up to Slumdog Millionaire, I was expecting more awards talk.

Well, Boyle and Franco can take solace in the fact that 127 Hours is the week’s most pirated film, with more downloads than flicks with far wider audiences, like Little Fockers and True Grit

Here are the week’s most illegally downloaded movies, courtesy of torrentfreak:

The USC Libraries Scripter Award is a cool bit of kudos awarded every year to both the screenwriter of an adapted work and also to the original author of the existing text.  This years finalists for are: Winter’s Bone, The Ghost Writer, 127 Hours, The Social Network, and True Grit.