In what you could call an incredibly challenging lawsuit, the Hurt Locker film producers are taking on nearly 25,000 illegal file sharers.

Winning Best Picture at the 2010 Academy Awards, The Hurt Locker, produced by Voltage Pictures was leaked online several months before its theatrical release, causing millions of dollars in lost revenue. It is impossible to put an actual figure on the loss of income at the Box Office or in DVD, digital sales, but this lawsuit is symbolic.

Studios have given up punishing file sharers, as it has become so widespread, that it is impossible to stop digital piraey. Film studios like Paramount and DreamWorks are hoping that the gains from 3D can offset losses due to digital piracy, for now.

Will you be more careful next time you share a movie online with your friends? The irony is, that by downloading a film illegally, you are in essence, bankrupting the people that made the film possible.