How to install Popcorn Time movie player on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver Linux

Objective

Popcorn Time streams movies and TV shows from torrents directly into your screen. The objective is to install Popcorn Time movie streamer on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver Linux.

Warning: There are multiple projects under different domain names claiming to be the “Popcorn Time” movie player on the Internet. These projects are malware clones, so avoid for all cost. The official website of the Popcorn Time movie player is https://popcorntime.sh/.

This tutorial is available for other Ubuntu Versions:

Operating System and Software Versions

  • Operating System: – Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver
  • Software: – Popcorn Time 0.3.10

Requirements

Privileged access to your Ubuntu System as root or via sudo command is required.

Conventions

  • # – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
  • $ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Other Versions of this Tutorial

Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa)

Instructions

Install Prerequisites

Let’s start by the installation of all prerequisites:

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install libcanberra-gtk-module libgconf-2-4

Download Popcorn Time binaries

In this section we will download and extract Popcorn Time binaries into the /opt/popcorn-time directory:

$ sudo mkdir /opt/popcorn-time

Next, download and extract popcorn-time:

FOR 32-BIT SYSTEM EXECUTE:
$ sudo wget -O- https://get.popcorntime.sh/build/Popcorn-Time-0.3.10-Linux-32.tar.xz | sudo tar Jx -C /opt/popcorn-time
FOR 64-BIT SYSTEM EXECUTE:
$ sudo wget -O- https://get.popcorntime.sh/build/Popcorn-Time-0.3.10-Linux-64.tar.xz | sudo tar Jx -C /opt/popcorn-time

Give it some time. Depending on your internet speed the download may take some time.

Create executable link

Now, that Popcorn Time binaries are installed, we will create a symbolic link of the /opt/popcorn-time/Popcorn-Time binary to /usr/bin/popcorn-time. This will allow non-privileged users to start Popcorn Time via terminal without any additional configuration:

$  sudo ln -sf /opt/popcorn-time/Popcorn-Time /usr/bin/popcorn-time


Create Desktop Launcher

Open up terminal and use your favorite text editor (eg. vim) and create the launcher shortcut. The below command uses the vim editor to create the new /usr/share/applications/popcorntime.desktop desktop entry:

$ sudo nano /usr/share/applications/popcorntime.desktop

Insert the following content into the above created file:

[Desktop Entry]
Version = 1.0
Type = Application
Terminal = false
Name = Popcorn Time
Exec = /usr/bin/popcorn-time
Icon = /opt/popcorn-time/popcorntime.png
Categories = Application;

Lastly, download the Popcorn Time’s icon:

$ sudo wget -qO /opt/popcorn-time/popcorntime.png goo.gl/wz8ifr
ubuntu 18.04 linux popcorn time start app

Search Activities menu to start Popcorn Time

ubuntu 18.04 linux popcorn time license

Accept License.

ubuntu 18.04 linux popcorn time

Popcorn Time movie player on Ubuntu 18.04