X-men Origins: Wolverine leaked to internet weeks before the scheduled release
Here is one from the “Alternative Movie Delivery Service” files….. April 1, a great day for a prank, saw one of the most anticipated movie releases of this year being leaked to the internet. Granted it is a ‘pre-release’ version with apparently unfinished scenes and possible alternative cuts. The quality however is reportedly DVD like. So what does this mean for us? Well it is the movie industry’s own paranoia that has brought us such wonderful advancements as HDCP “High Definition Copy Protection” otherwise known as “Handshake Doesn’t Come Painlessly” and other Orwellian limits on how we use the medium. You can bet there are Copy Protectionists hoping the release will bomb in the theaters so they will have reason to blame the evil known as downloading.
Will this pre-pre-release really have any effect on the box-office ticket sales? In my opinion, doubtful. This is not the first time this has happened, remember Ang Lee’s Hulk? Even though it was leaked early it still managed to hit 61million dollars in the opening weekend. Sure it did not fare too well after that, can you really blame the pre-release? The fact that it still did fairly well on the opening weekend gives more weight to the notion that the movie-going demographic is not interested in watching pre-releases. And do not forget Revenge of the Sith – also leaked, and it made over $100 million the first weekend!
Frankly if 20th Century Fox were smart they would use this to their advantage. Use this leak to drum up interest and at the same time highlight the fact that this is not the final copy. If you think about it, this should only help the movie, as it is more publicity. Instead it will just serve to be more cannon fodder for the paranoid captains of this ship. Come to think of it, maybe they did do this on purpose, killing two birds…so-to-speak.
Jared Rachwalski
April 29th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
My buddy had somehow come across this copy and the curious comic and Marvel fan I am, I had to check it out… I mean the story line isn’t a new one to followers of the Comic, and as a fan of CGI it was actually really interesting to see the pre-production aspects (which only occur in a few scenes, like flight scenes and the final epic battle scene… the rest is DVD quality).. However watching this leaked version made me want to see it in theaters EVEN MORE… I CAN’T WAIT to see the Final Print… and with a Brand like Marvel, and one of it’s most popular X-Men Wolverine as the main star, THIS MOVIE IS GOING TO BE HUGE IN THE BOX OFFICE!!!… I even saw Hugh Jackman on the news mentioning that he was disappointed about the leak because he felt that there were so many people who put hard work into the film, but I think it was all a big PR stunt.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Given the history of the studios, when it comes to trying anything new, combined with their risk aversion, I would question whether the leak was on purpose. The box office impact is a huge unknown. While it may end up being marginal, to estimate it with any certainty beforehand, and to do something this calculated for one of the summer’s opening blockbusters would seem to be well beyond any of the studios.