London, May 13 (IANS): Movie bosses behind "The Hurt Locker" are preparing to sue thousands of internet users who illegally downloaded the Oscar-winning film.

Executives at Voltage Pictures, the company which financed Kathryn Bigelow's war drama, have teamed up with US Copyright Group, an American organisation, which is spearheading a litigation campaign against illegal file-sharers, reported imdb.com.

Thomas Dunlap, a lawyer for the US Copyright Group, has confirmed producers will be filing a multi-million dollar lawsuit against tens of thousand of web surfers who illegally accessed the picture, which was leaked online five months before its US release date in 2009.

Dunlap is convinced the imminent legal action over "The Hurt Locker" will take the anti-piracy campaign to a much higher level.

"You can guess that relative to the films we've pursued already, the order of magnitude is much higher with Hurt Locker," he said.

"The Hurt Locker" won six Academy Awards this year.