Disclaimer: Solar Movie is ranked by Google as potentially illegal software and is very ad-heavy. The site also features unlicensed movies that are subject to copyright protection. This article is not intended to substitute legal advice.
Despite changing its name and URL naming convention on several occasions, Solar Movie has been around for 10+ years and has gained significant notoriety for providing access to newly released movies.
But is Solar Movie legal in the U.S. and safe to use?
For clarification, we are referring to the Solar Movie that posts theatrical releases online before they are released (there are several sites titled Solar Movie).
The legality of Solar Movie
The first U.S. copyright law was passed on May 31, 1790, and was very limited in scope. Modeled after Britain’s Statute of Ann, the 1790 law offered protection for books, maps, and charts for 14 years with a renewable period of 14 years available to applicants. Unfortunately, the law didn’t provide sufficient protection for the growing and innovative culture developing in America.
In the early 1900s, copyright law was refreshed substantially, with the most recent protections put in place by lawmakers codified in the Copyright Act of 1976 and The Protecting Lawful Streaming Act of 2020.
In the late 2000’s Washington began to look at how to tackle illegal streaming in the U.S. – you may even remember several individuals faced steep and very public consequences for bootlegging movies and creating environments in which illegal streaming could take place – remember Napster?
However, according to Jim Gibson, law professor and founder of the Intellectual Property Institute, streaming unlicensed content on an individual level may not be illegal.
“Whether it’s wrong or not, in a moral sense, is something you can ask your friends or your minister. But whether it’s illegal from a copyright viewpoint, the best answer is, probably not on an individual viewer basis.”
This one surprised us too.
To be clear, sites that provide unlicensed content in the U.S. are almost certainly doing so without the permission of the original owners, which would mean they are breaking the law – but according to Jim, you may not be.
So what is an experience on Solar Movie like?
Service
Solar Movie is a popular streaming service internationally, pulling in over 500 thousand viewers each month. This website is also compatible with VPN use. The quality of streaming content here is not the best. Frankly, it just depends on how well the original IP was captured.
This streaming service offers a lot of high-quality links. Users can also create an account on Solar Movie to get updates and notifications on new releases.
There is almost no buffering on this website, and you can watch content in HD quality when it is available.
Related: What is PopcornFlix And Is It Safe To Use In 2022?
Ads
Unfortunately, on Solar Movie, you get a lot of ads. So many that it may seem like you’re facing some type of malware attack.
Pop-ups, pop-unders, banners, you’ll get the works here. Again, our advice is to avoid streaming content that isn’t licensed, but if you find yourself on the site, you should be fine if you don’t engage any of the ads after you start playing the movie.
Personalized experience
Movies are categorized based on the genre as well as the country. Users can filter out movies based on region and interest.
One of the things that Solar Movie does get right (from a user perspective) is personalization. If you want an experience that caters to your interests, they’ve figured that part out.
Safety review
To many viewers, Solar Movie looks shady and full of malware. There are a lot of inappropriate ads on this platform that look fishy. You will most likely be directed to an unsafe website if you click these links.
However, the website itself is safe. It would be best if you were careful not to click or follow any ad on this site.
Summary
Truthfully, we almost left Solar Movie off our review list. However, viewers outside of the US rely on the site to get access to films that are often restricted in their country, and for that reason, we decided it should be included.
Solar Movie offers customized experiences for its viewers, and while it is incredibly ad-heavy, is typically viewed as a reliable source to stream new content for viewers in countries that restrict access to Hollywood’s newest blockbusters.
Related: What Is 123MoviesGo And Is It Safe?