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Topic: 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' Leaked Online

Jeff Lacey
Film Handler

Posts: 54
From: Canton, MI, USA
Registered: Jun 2005

posted 04-02-2009 11:57 AM

quote:
LOS ANGELES -- "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" isn't due in theaters until next month, but the prequel has already hacked its way online.

A high-quality, full-length work print of the 20th Century Fox film appeared online Tuesday evening. The studio said it had the file removed, but copies quickly propagated and continue to appear on several file-sharing Web sites.

The movie focuses on the beginnings of Hugh Jackman's clawed Marvel superhero Wolverine and is set for a May 1 release.

Fox vowed in a statement Wednesday that the source of the "stolen, incomplete and early version" of the movie would be prosecuted and said the FBI and MPAA are investigating. The studio also insisted that the version of the film posted online was "was without many effects, had missing and unedited scenes and temporary sound and music."

Link to story

Let's see how they spin this one, since they can't blame the exhibitors.

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 04-02-2009 01:10 PM

Bet you won't see any FBI agents dragging anyone off the Fox lot in handcuffs.

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Julio Roberto
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 938
From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Registered: Oct 2008

posted 04-02-2009 01:15 PM

I admit having watched it a couple of days ago.

I really enjoyed the half-finished look of it, since I never got to work on post pro on many high-budget films. To me, it was like a big "Making of" featurette.

They should leak more workprints (but after the DVD is out [Wink]

)

I won't comment on the underground handing over of celebrity sex-scenes dailies among the post-pro community. After all, who would want to watch 10 different takes of Penelope Cruz naked? [Wink]

Of course, during the premiere and advance screenings of wolverine they'll have extra-security now, with night vission goggles, cell-phone confiscations, extra security guards in the projection booth and locked print cans. Full body cavity search would remain optional, but recommended. [sex]

Just in case it gets leaked twice before somebody posts a screener or a CAM on the net the day after it opens.

Oh, and don't forget. They'll make you throw out all your current digital equipment and replace it with truly high-class FIPS DCI certified stuff.

Don't you dare thinking most of your current digital equipment meets Hollywood's security requirements.

And if it does, they'll still make YOU pay for more of THEIR security in the future, rest assure.

[Roll Eyes]

[ 04-02-2009, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: Julio Roberto ]

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Kurt Zupin
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 989
From: Maricopa, Arizona
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 04-02-2009 05:50 PM

The word on the inter web is when it was being transferred at the SFX house it was ripped and taken. This cut of the movie is well over 3-4 months old, does not include the added footage that was shot, two months ago. I really like the stand that most of the sites are taking on this and condemning the leak.

One things for sure, this is an unprecedented thing for the industry. Never has a major summer tent pole movie been leaked this early, or complete. People are saying this is going to kill the box office. This will have little to no effect on the overall box office grosses. The number being thrown around online is that its been downloaded/watched 100,000 times. Even at that number and at $10 a ticket at the high end, that's only a Million lost if those people don't go see it. I would bet a years salary that at least half of those people go and see it in the theatre.

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Greg Anderson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 766
From: Ogden Valley, Utah
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-02-2009 05:52 PM

My guess is that the movie will have a big opening weekend anyway... but the studio will still claim that piracy is killing them. Bottom line: This was a security leak in the studio's own system. They can't blame this on anyone else.

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 04-03-2009 04:45 PM

Which, of course, doesn't mean that they won't.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 04-03-2009 06:36 PM

quote: Kurt Zupin
its been downloaded/watched 100,000 times. Even at that number and at $10 a ticket at the high end, that's only a Million lost if those people don't go see it. I would bet a years salary that at least half of those people go and see it in the theatre.

Unless it sucks. Then those people tell their friends it sucks, they tell THEIR friends it sucks, and next thing you know it's "Snakes on a Plane."

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 04-03-2009 06:55 PM

One story I read on the leak, the author said he had been given a copy by a friend. But he did go on to say the rough/unfinished cut was easily the best of the four X-Men movies. This matches up with what Brandon Miller of Fox Exhibitor Relations told me at ShoWest.

Assuming these points of view reflect the consensus, I think this "leak" will actually wind up helping the box office as word of mouth builds. Plus, those who know it's a rough cut are likely to want to see the finished cut.

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Chad Souder
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 962
From: Waterloo, IA, USA
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 04-03-2009 08:46 PM

I think illegal downloading affects DVD sales/rentals much more than box office admissions. Of course, I have no data supporting that, I just remember hearing it somewhere.

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Julio Roberto
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 938
From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Registered: Oct 2008

posted 04-04-2009 12:02 AM

quote: Kurt Zupin
This cut of the movie is well over 3-4 months old

If you check 0:02:42.729 you see an overlay that says Rising Sun pictues 02 Mar 2009

Of course, it doesn't mean that the cut was that recent, only that the workprint probably leaked after that date and that was the workprint in use at the time by that house.

I have the feeling they are a little behind schedule. Nothing new on this kind of productions. I can foresee plenty of 28h (SIC) shifts in many post houses.

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Janusz Antkiewicz
Film Handler

Posts: 40
From: Wroclaw, Dolny Slask, Poland
Registered: Jan 2009

posted 04-04-2009 03:24 AM

Is there any chance the leak of the workprint is actually a thought-over move to get everybody's attention? It's still some time before the movie hits cinemas: sounds like good opportunity to get people talking.
The official statement from the studio saying that "it had the file removed" really got me laughing [Big Grin]

One should be weigh his words and not put "remove" right next to "from the Net".

[ 04-05-2009, 07:34 AM: Message edited by: Janusz Antkiewicz ]

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 04-07-2009 12:20 AM

Fox writer loses job over Wolverine review

April 7, 2009 - 1:11PM
Roger Friedman

Fox News columnist Roger Friedman has lost his job after posting a review of a leaked full-length work print of Hugh Jackman's new film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Fox News said on Monday the company's representatives and Friedman "mutually agreed to part ways immediately".

Friedman had been an entertainment writer who has contributed to FoxNews.com for 10 years.

He wrote in his Fox 411 column on Thursday that downloading the 20th Century Fox superhero prequel was "so much easier than going out in the rain" and that the movie "exceeds expectations at every turn".

The early review of the film, which 20th Century Fox described as a "stolen, incomplete and early version", was later removed from the website on Friday.

Fox News and 20th Century Fox are both units of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

The movie, which focuses on the beginnings of Jackman's clawed superhero character Wolverine, is not scheduled for release until May 1, but the leaked version began appearing online last week.

Twentieth Century Fox promised the source of the film would be prosecuted and said the FBI and Motion Picture Association of America were investigating the leak.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens in Australian cinemas on April 29.

- AP
Link

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 04-07-2009 04:51 AM

I wouldn't be surprised if Fox moved the US release up to April 29. The Wednesday release wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a summer tent pole, plus it gets it in theatres that much sooner.

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Ian Parfrey
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1049
From: Imbil Australia 26 deg 27' 42.66" S 152 deg 42' 23.40" E
Registered: Feb 2009

posted 04-07-2009 05:50 AM

This would'nt be a new form of "advertising", now would it?

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 04-07-2009 09:28 AM

quote: John Wilson
He wrote in his Fox 411 column on Thursday that downloading the 20th Century Fox superhero prequel was "so much easier than going out in the rain" and that the movie "exceeds expectations at every turn".

I can't help but wonder if Roger Friedman was tired and fed up with working for Fox News and pulled this stunt to get out of the place. Surely he knew X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a 20th Century Fox release and that 20th Century Fox is a property of News Corp. -Friedman's employer. He had to have posted his review of the bootleg movie on purpose, right? He couldn't have been so stupid to be unaware of the consequences of his online comments, right?

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