A Brazlian action drama about the war on drugs in Rio’s slums found its way to an early release last week because of how well it did on the black market. Producer Marco Prado announced last Tuesday that “Elite Troop,” sold one million illegal DVD copies since August through street merchants in Rio.

The movie gained a huge buzz after the police launched an investigation into the source of the illegal copies and the outrage expressed over the piracy by the film’s director, Jose Padilha.

But Padilha admitted that there was a “good side” to the pirated copies: they saved production costs on advertising.

Proving the old adage that even suffering common thieves is preferable to dealing with ad execs.

Brazilian film’s black market success forces early release [AFP via Yahoo! Ireland]