Disney’s upcoming movie under Wannacry threat?

Disney has confirmed that hackers claiming to have access to one of the company’s unreleased movies were demanding a “huge” ransom.

He did not reveal which film had been stolen but said the company would not be giving in to the blackmail attempt.

Disney is currently working with federal agents and monitoring for leaks online.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which opens on May 26 is identified as the target, without revealing its sources, while some film writers speculated on Twitter that Pixar’s Cars 3, due for release next month, might have been hit.

Although both films are expected to do well for Disney, their profits are likely to be dwarfed by Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which hits theatres on December 15.

The cyber-thieves demanded to be paid in online currency Bitcoin and are threatening to release five minutes of the movie, followed by 20-minute segments until the ransom is delivered.

The hack follows a recent cyber-attack on internet streamer Netflix that led to 10 episodes of Orange is the New Black being leaked ahead of release.

Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, which stars Johnny Depp and has taken $3.7 billion at the box office.

More than 200,000 computers in 150 countries were hit by a ransomware cyber-attack, described as the largest-ever of its kind, over the weekend.

Since Friday, banks, hospitals and government agencies have been among a variety of targets for hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in older Microsoft computer operating systems.

Microsoft president Brad Smith said the US National Security Agency had developed the code used in the attack.

The Walt Disney Company didn’t respond to requests for comment.