Wolverine Workprint Leaked

[Blah]

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-6-motion-captured/posts/2009-3-31-wolverine-workprint-leaks-online

Right now, everything you read about the financial situation in Hollywood is doom and gloom. Studios are laying staff off. Production companies are losing long-standing development deals. Hedge funds are running for the hills. DVDs are dying. No one wants BluRay. If you were to believe every negative thing written, the industry is seemingly days away from shutting down altogether.

Of course, that's not really the case. But it's certainly what you'd think if you only listened to the worst of what's being reported. One of the questions being asked over and over is "What is the real financial impact of piracy?" And since piracy means different things on different films, that's a hard question to answer.

20th Century Fox is about to have an interesting practical test on one of their biggest summer films. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" leaked online today in what appears to be a near-finished DVD quality rip, marred only by a few unfinished FX shots. As soon as files go up, they're coming right back down as Fox legal chases pirates around the web, but that toothpaste is out of the tube, gentlemen. And that sucks.

If there's any big-budget movie that's been a whipping boy so far this year, it's "Wolverine." There have been reports, both published and also off-the-record, about problems almost since the start of production. I really like director Gavin Hood and his earlier film "Tsotsi," so I've been waiting, fingers crossed, hoping the bad buzz is just bad buzz, ignoring as much of it as possible. For the film to be so close to release and then get kneecapped by a leak like this is insane. It had to be someone inside the production. I looked at a random three minute segment from the middle of the film this afternoon when first told it was online, and there's no timecode, no watermark... nothing. It's a clean, perfect copy. Someone did that on purpose.

So the question is this... will it hurt the film? I imagine the file will be traded endlessly between now and opening weekend, and no doubt you'll start seeing reader reviews pop up at geek sites from people who "just happened to see the film." And unless word of mouth is orgasmic, I'm guessing this takes a big bite out of that opening weekend. The exact demographic who would open this movie is savvy enough to have the film on their hard-drives right now if they want it. And if they hate what they see, I can't imagine they're going to pay to see it again when it opens.

I hate seeing this happen to anyone, and I take no joy seeing it happen to 20th Century Fox. I think it's bad for the business overall. I think it's obviously a personally-motivated leak, and Fox will no doubt come down like the wrath of Galactus on whoever did it. But in the meantime, I put the question to you guys... what happens to "Wolverine"? Will piracy be the one thing his healing factor can't handle?

X-Men.Origins.Wolverine.2009.WorkPrint.XviD-NoGroup

[blackpirate]

thnx for heads up Blah!

hehe ..."released" 1 month before!

watch it online:

http://www.havenvideo.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=32114

Cheers!

[Teddy Rogers]

Yes, that is a really big leak. You got to feel for the recording studio when this happens especially if it is a good film and effects ticket sales badly. As the article says it must have been personally motivated or good money was involved for the copy...

Ted.

[Hyperlisk]

or good money was involved for the copy...

Reminds me of The Scene...

[GEEK]

yes its a realy big leak but i am thinking of the group that did it

they must be under some serious monitoring by now isn't it?

[Blah]

im sure theres gonna b a big investigation for this...my guess is it wont b too tuff to track whoever down...

i saw the print and its really really good like a dvd.no watermarks or anything etc...

aside from missing sum effects and wires its pretty much all there...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090402/film_nm/us_wolverine

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter)

Edited April 4, 2009 by Blah

[Blah]

Gossip writer out of job after "Wolverine" review

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilNews/idUKTRE53605R20090407

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Columnist Roger Friedman is out at FoxNews.com after reviewing an illegally downloaded copy of Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" last week.

Friedman, who wrote the Fox411 column for FoxNews.com, met with Fox News executives Monday. Following the meeting, the company issued a statement saying the parties had "mutually agreed to part ways immediately."

Friedman could not be immediately reached for comment.

By admitting to having downloaded the film, which doesn't arrive in theaters until May 1, Friedman earned a big thumbs-down from News Corp., Fox News' parent company.

The trouble began Tuesday when an illicit copy of the film made its debut onto the Web. Fox immediately condemned the theft and copying of an unfinished workprint of the film and enlisted the FBI and the Motion Picture Assn. of America to track down the perpetrators.

Downloading a copy of the film himself, Friedman wrote a positive review that appeared in his Fox411 column Thursday.

"I doubt anyone else has seen this film. But everyone can relax. I am, in fact, amazed about how great "Wolverine" turned out. It exceeds expectations at every turn," he wrote.

But he also described how easy it is to download any film or TV show and joked he might decide to catch up on some other recent films via illegal downloads.

Fox -- pointing that out Fox News is a separate business under the News Corp. banner -- responded Friday, "This behavior is reprehensible and we condemn this act categorically, whether the review is good or bad."

Parent News Corp. issued its own condemnation, saying, "Roger Friedman's views in no way reflect the views of News Corp.," and adding, "Once we learned of Roger Friedman's post, we asked Fox News to remove it, which they did immediately."

After word began to circulate late Saturday that Friedman had been removed as well, News Corp. amended its statement, adding that Fox News had "promptly terminated Mr. Friedman."

But the columnist's status still appeared unclear Sunday afternoon.

Friedman would not comment except to say, "Reports of my death have been extremely exaggerated."

"This is an internal matter that we are not prepared to discuss at this time," a Fox News spokesperson said, leaving the entire matter in question.

Twenty-four hours later, Fox News and Friedman had gone their separate ways.

[human]

lol! nice review. but to cover what. that this movie is bigest **** of x-men movies. all you can do on it is sleep. or movie ends and you think, was there any special scene that will help you remember that movie for longer. no! its crap, even to awsome special fx packed xmen3, that also had a nice story. especially dead of xavier was great.

they are ****ed off with that leak, due people will see its not worth to pay for it in cinema. last movie worth watching was gran torino from eastwood.

sorry but i rather prefer to watch some good series than today hollywood movies.

and to be honest love has more action and better scripts than xmen origins:wolverine

possibly game will be better than movie, like it was with king kong.

Edited April 8, 2009 by human