'Wolverine' leak: Hollywood's mixed response

[Detale]

When a high-quality, full-length work print of X-Men Origins: Wolverine surfaced on Internet bittorrent sites last night, early speculation was that this was a doomsday scenario for Fox and the filmmakers behind the tentpole, which is not due to be released until May 1. The response today from competing producers and studio execs, however, has been more measured. One producer behind another major summer franchise insists that while piracy is a serious problem that needs a "focused and visionary response" from the movie industry, a leak like this may not actually cut that deeply into Wolverine's ticket sales.

"People who are going to download and watch it on their computer were either never going to pay to see it anyway or they're the type of super-fan who was going to go 10 times in the first week," he says, citing a leaked version of Iron Man that circulated a week before its blockbuster opening. "Seeing a spectacle movie like this one on your computer is not the same as seeing with a communal audience, and I don't think this is going to hurt them that much."

On the other hand, a high-ranking theater exhibitor sees much more dire consequences for the franchise. "This is a disaster," he says, referring both to the free downloads resulting from the leak and to the subsequent bad reviews making their way around the Web. "It's tens of millions of dollars lost."

It's certainly a sign of our digital file swapping times, and many in Hollywood are viewing it as a chilling cautionary tale. "If there's been a tutor in my life about this stuff, it's Steven Spielberg," says director Brad Silberling, whose Land of the Lost is due to hit theaters June 5. "There's a reason why directors are control freaks. Between marketing and publicity and all the other areas that get their hands on a film, you have to monitor it. You never like hearing about something like this happening an inch away from a movie being released."

Fox and the filmmakers have released an official response, vowing to track down whoever is behind the leak, while competing studio execs seem to be engaging in some wishful prognosticating about whether audiences will still show up for the big theater experience, regardless of other cheaper options. "That movie is a spectacle and the audience wants spectacle," says the exec with his own tentpoles due for release this summer. "I predict it still opens with a seven in front of it."-- Additional reporting by Nicole Sperling and Josh Rottenberg

Source: http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/...leak%3A+Hollyw

[iLOVENZB]

Meh. Hollywood should act upon the reviews.

[darkstate01]

Fans aint interested in this,they will still go and see it whether theres a copy out or not,Thats what being a fan is all about. It will still be a blockbuster i'm sure and if it aint, hollywood will blame it on the leaked copy as the reason why it flopped. If its good it will be a blockbuster, If its crap then bottom lips will be quivering and jobs will be lost and the pirate will be tracked down and made an example of by mulder and scully...Sorry i mean the F.B.I

[iLOVENZB]

Fans aint interested in this,they will still go and see it whether theres a copy out or not,Thats what being a fan is all about.I

Agreed. I'm going to be a honest fan and still Buy/See it.

It sucks that WORKPRINT's don't usually get shown to the public, so we're forced to buy "Special Editions" which feature "The making of..."

I doubt Hollywood would bitch about an unfinished movie rlsed

[Detale]

UPDATE

FBI Investigates into Wolverine Leak

BEIJING, April. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- The FBI is investigating the online leak of a copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine-- starring Australian actor Hugh Jackman-- which is due for release on May 1. Rising Sun Pictures, an Australian visual effects company that worked on "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", appeared in a caption on March 2 a few minutes into the high-quality leaked copy of the 20th Century Fox superhero movie.

The company said Thursday it was not responsible for leaking a full-length work print online."As we worked on individual sequences within the film, neither Rising Sun Pictures or its staff members have ever been in possession of a full-length version, so it would have been impossible for the movie to have been leaked from here," Rising Sun Pictures chairman and co-founder Tony Clark said in a statement posted on the company's Web site Thursday.
20th Century Fox, the studio behind the film, said the print included temporary sound and music and was missing special effects and some scenes, while other scenes were unedited.

Because of forensic marks, the studio said it will be able to determine the source of the leak.
The studio said 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."

"The FBI and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) are actively investigating this crime," the studio said in a statement.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_11126735.htm




Shit someone is going to get bagged over this on shirley

[iLOVENZB]

Shit someone is going to get bagged over this on shirley

Lol. This is getting interesting

[SonsOfLiberty]

Sure the guy might get busted, but from the source the leak came from non US soil.

The leak is the source of much speculation, but one particularly interesting discussion surrounds the source of the leak of this ‘workprint’ copy. Many early ‘reviewers’ of the movie noted that not only was the video and audio of a high quality (screenshots), but there were no ‘watermarks’. This is not strictly true. A little way into the movie from the top of the screen pops a very brief message which names Rising Sun Pictures and a date, 2nd March 2009.

Founded in 1995, Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) is an Australian visual effects company which has previously worked on the Harry Potter, Superman and Batman movies, so they have quite a pedigree. Of course RSP would absolutely not endorse any leak and the leak could have happened before the print even reached them, but somehow a print marked with their company name has made it onto the Internet and the downloads are mounting quickly.

Twentieth Century Fox says it will pursue criminal charges against those who post its new leaked "incomplete" X-Men movie

Twentieth Century Fox announced Tuesday that an "incomplete and early version" of the latest installment in the billion dollar X-Men film franchise, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", starring Hugh Jackman, was stolen and posted online. The studio says it will pursue criminal charges against the posters, writing in a statement ,"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 in the past."

A studio source says that they are trying to remove the leaked material from the internet, but that they are not confident it can be removed. The studio has removed it from the site that first posted it, but it had been downloaded 10,000 times already and was being posted to other sites. The source sharing this insight chose to remain anonymous.

They stated, "It's not removed from the internet. It's still there."

Twentieth Century Fox insists the leaked version is worthless as its missing some of the sound effects and other post-production bells and whistles. States the studio, "It was without many effects, had missing and unedited scenes and temporary sound and music."

The studio is confident in can track the source of the leak, thanks to digital watermarking of its early copies. States a company spokesperson, "We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it."

A FBI spokeswoman reported that the agency is "working with the studio and investigating the alleged online compromise of the movie."

The MPAA -- the Motion Picture Association of America and sister organization of the RIAA -- says that it is helping with the probe. An industry source says that the leak could hurt the film's financial success.

However, there's also growing rumors and speculation that the studio itself intentionally leaked the film to generate buzz or get feedback on the movie. Despite the vast popularity of Wolverine in the comic community, early test screenings of the film reportedly were unanimously negative -- in short, the film reportedly is set to bomb. This led to the studio going back to shooting more scenes, adding more screen time for Deadpool -- another comic fan-favorite. However, reports have it that later test screenings saw fans finding the portrayal of Deadpool to be insulting to the source material and poorly done.

With early prospects for the movie's critical reception both in the comic community and among general film audiences being quite poor, some say that the studio is using the leak as a trump card. That way, if the movie bombs, they can place the blame on the industry's favorite scapegoats for their shortcomings -- pirates.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" will be released in U.S. theaters on May 1.

http://www.dailytech.com/XMen+Origin...ticle14747.htm

Aussie SFX House Denies 'Wolverine' Leak http://www.airlockalpha.com/news426231.html

Twentieth Century Fox is narrowing down its list of suspects they believe responsible for leaking an unfinished version of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" to the Internet last week.

But an Australian special effects studio, Rising Sun Pictures, says no fingers should be pointed its way, despite the fact its logo appears in some of the scenes.

"We worked on individual sections of the film and Rising Sun Pictures or its staff members have never been in possession of a complete version," Tony Clark, chairman of Rising Sun, said in a statement. "It's common practice for work in progress between us and the production to carry vendor watermarks, and for these to be integrated into various edits of the film for screenings, which would explain why our name appears."

Tom Rothman, the chairman of Fox, told Entertainment Weekly that the leaked version of the film -- which has not been edited and is missing key scenes and special effects -- does "Wolverine" a world of injustice as many potential moviegoers may judge the finished product on what was leaked online.

"It's a complete misrepresentation of the film and is deeply unfair to the people who have worked on it for years," Rothman said. And while Fox isn't pointing fingers at Rising Sun at this point, the procedures on how the studio works with outside special effects houses will definitely change.

"We, like everybody, thought our system was secure," Rothman said. "Just like I'm sure there are a lot of banks that get robbed that thought their vault was safe. We thought the post-production pipeline was secure at every juncture. But, obviously, it's self-evident that it wasn't."

Hugh Jackman, who reprises his role as Wolverine in the X-Men spinoff film, was apparently very upset that the film leaked out, Rothman said.

"Hugh was heartbroken and hurt when he found out," Rothman said. "Hugh and I exchanged e-mails. Basically we're not going to let the bastards win. But we didn't use the word 'bastards.' That's a slightly sanitized version."

http://screenrant.com/wolverine-movi...-brusimm-6515/

[iLOVENZB]

All bets on Hugh Jackman?

[Detale]

I think it's a disgruntled Haley Berry Who wants another X-men movie but Mr. Jackman stole it from her

[SonsOfLiberty]

Finished ‘X-Men: Origins’ now online

He’s the star in the new Wolverine movie, slated to be in the cinemas on May 1.

But it’s been doing the rounds online for weeks.

When the first the X-Men: Origins workprint showed up on the P2P networks, Australian visual effects company Rising Sun Pictures, which had worked on the movie, hotly denied any involvement in the leak.

Who done it, then? Couldn’t possibly have been a Hollyfud insider.

The rough appeared online a month before the official realease date.

And now a shiny new version has turned up.

Is it workprint #2? Or a leak of the actual Fux movie?

“When the workprint of X-Men Origins: Wolverine leaked onto the internet, Fox reacted quickly by stating that the workprint was significantly different to the finished movie, including missing key scenes,” says io9.com, going on:

“A new report disagrees.

“According to someone who’s seen the finished movie, the workprint pretty much was the finished movie.”

You might say that. But although the scenes may be the same as, or close to, those in the finished product, WP#1 has plenty of unrendered grey cells floating around in lieu of the Real Deal.

Wolverine director Gavin Hood, “screened the film for media this morning and according to Billington mentioned that ‘They’ve hidden multiple secret endings on different prints and theaters will be showing different versions’,” says Moviehole, adding:

“For the record, the ending … featured Ryan Reynolds’ character, Deadpool.

“As for the other differences between the leaked version and the final cut, Hood explained that there were 400 unfinished visual effects shots and that there was no score, unfinished sound mixing, and unfinished coloring. However, he didn’t mention anything about differences in footage.”

Meanwhile, in the new online version, the CGI, and everything else, looks to have been competed.

But who knows?