Lionsgate was granted restraining orders Monday night against six torrent websites, which could also have their bank accounts seized, for making the Expendables 3 available for download.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Meadow ruled quickly against the sites because the studio "has established that it will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of immediate relief," Deadline reports.
By making the leaked movie available several weeks ahead of theatrical release, the websites have "stripped Lions Gate of the critical right of first publication" and could both damage the studio's "goodwill among consumers" and interfere with "contractual relationships with third parties."
Meadow also ruled that Lionsgate is able to request banks and other institutions seize assets, leaving the sites unable to draw or deposit money from any accounts.
The targeted websites, limetorrents.com, hulkfile.eu, swantshare.com, dotsemper.com, billionuploads.com and played.to, will have until Friday afternoon to provide evidence that the restraining order shouldn't become permanent.
Lionsgate filed the lawsuit late last week against the six sites and 10 John Does behind the sites looking to stop hosting, reproducing and linking to copies of Expendables 3. The suit also requested the sites to "take all steps necessary to recall and recover all copies."
The film leaked in late July, three weeks ahead of the Aug. 15 release date and had more than 200,000 downloads within 48 hours.
The Expendables 3 stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Jet Li and others.
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