Yesterday,
one of the biggest leaks in the history of cinematography took place, when an almost finished version of what is supposed to be this summer’s biggest hit, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” made its way to the Internet. It was not an April Fools’ Day joke, as shocked fans initially believed, as the film continues to be available for download as we speak. Moreover, from what
Ain’tItCoolNews is saying, it’s not even that hard to come by.
As the industry and the public continues to not be able to understand how such a big movie studio as 20th Century Fox was able to simply lose track of one copy of the film so that it managed to get out there, the harsh reality is that this incident can be extremely damaging for the movie. The severity of the blow is doubled by the fact that early reviews of the film are already starting to appear, while the production itself continues to be available for download.
With precisely one month before its theatrical release, “Wolverine” has gone online in a DVD quality rip that’s only missing some final retouches (the music is only temporary, some scenes need more work in post-production and several special FX are only in their “draft” version). What’s worse is that, no matter how hard Fox tries to plug all the holes, once the information is out there, there is little it can do to eliminate all traces of it.
This is why fans of the film are encouraged
not to download the leaked copy and to wait patiently until release on May 1. For one, they would not be encouraging piracy at this critical time when studios are laying off personnel and, secondly, they would not kill the film’s chances at the box-office.
“
Last night, a stolen, incomplete and early version of ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ was posted illegally on websites. It was without many effects and had missing scenes and temporary sound and music. We immediately contacted the appropriate legal authorities and had it removed. We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it. The source of the initial leak and any subsequent postings will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law – the courts have handed down significant criminal sentences for such acts and the last person who committed such a crime is still in jail. The FBI and the MPAA also are actively investigating this crime. We are encouraged by the support of fansites condemning piracy and this illegal posting and pointing out that such theft undermines the enormous efforts of the filmmakers and actors, and above all, hurts the fans of the film.” 20th Century Fox says in a statement just released a few hours ago.
Of course, at this point, this is all that the movie studio can do in terms of avoiding the leak from spreading, that is, plead with the fans to show some restraint and consideration for the hard work that went into the project. In the end, it is entirely up to each one of them to decide what’s best and how they should go about it, but they should remember, as several fansites urge, that one month can go by extremely fast, so why not just wait a bit.
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