I was perusing the Internet yesterday and found something unusual: a movie that was to be released on May 1 instead appeared, in very high quality yet with glaring problems. The movie was X-Men Origins: Wolverine and it featured a certain very hirsute Australian actor playing a guy with claws. That’s all I’ll say.
Not to be hyperbolic, we are witnessing the rise of media terrorism. This workprint, essentially a version of the movie released to the various parties who have a stake in the film – either in testing, special effects, or editing – was not released by a happy person. The fact that you rarely see workprints of any value online – the last one of any interest was probably Star Wars Episode 3 – is a testament to the value the parties involved put on secrecy and trust. People who like their jobs don’t leak workprints like X-Men. Sure, Paul Blart Mall Cop got a workprint release, but who cares about that? I suspect the people working on X-Men are proud of their work – heck, they’re making cool sci-fi movies! – and they don’t want people to steal it.
Here is Fox’s official stance on the leak:
“Last night, a stolen, incomplete and early version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was posted illegally on a website. It was without many effects, had missing and unedited 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 in the past. The FBI and the MPAA also are actively investigating this crime. We are encouraged by the support of fansites condemning 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.”
My official stance is that the movie kicked ass and I want to see it in theaters.
That said, could this have been an inside job? Could someone at a company that has been downsizing lately have done this out of spite? What happens when workprints become fodder for blackmail?
I’m not saying this will happen, but this is the first time I’ve seen such a highly anticipated release so long before its official release date. Maybe resident pirate Nicholas can set me straight, but this is a scary leak and indicative of things to come. Disgruntled employees can easily create a digital copy of anything out there and leak it. They usually don’t because they’re not usually disgruntled. But someone, somewhere must have been amazingly mad at someone to dump this movie on the masses. Even the piracy motive doesn’t stand up here.
This happens a lot. Last spring I found a copy of Taken, the liam neeson film online and I was wondering when it was released only to find out that it released recently.
That’ll be because it hit cinemas early last year in certain parts of the World.
Lol…
Post-production problems, not pre-production
you are a tool
found? i found a bag of money when i was looking inside a banks vault!
Taken is one thing but this is a huge tentpole movie. You could seriously damage your career if this got back to you.
Media Terrorism??? wtf? You are whack dude.
I think that this is just an example of where society is headed. So many people want to be the “1st” on a response or be known in general. They have a sense of entitlement when it comes to things and you can expect it to get worse. This could simply be the case of someone working on the movie giving a copy to a friend (whom they thought they trusted) that friend gives it to another and so on and so forth.
Like a secret you know and tell 1 person, but you’re sure they won’t tell anyone else, well people, they have their “1″ person too and so on and so forth.
Check out DistrictProfessionals.com launching April 6, 2009 for what’s going on in DC
If this is ‘media terrorism’ then I love it!
Let those greedy majors die in their sins…
you realize that the movies go away then, right?
You do realize independent film exists, right?
would love to see and indie version of WOLVERINE…not.
Yes like Cd’s and vcr’s right? and radio? and and, wait u FAIL
I wouldn’t be even trying to download this movie – it’s not cricket, even in our torrent-rich world
Yeah, this is definitely going to hurt the film, primarily because the film is pretty bad.
“We’re going to make you indestructible, but first we must destroy you.”
Fortunately, the director reportedly did a ton of reshoots that aren’t in this version, and it may fix a few issues.
I watched it and it’s pretty bad. Hope there are some reshoots to fix the issues. I honestly think it was leaked due to it just not being good. There have been reports of major issues between the director and the studio, with the director wanting a harder edge. This movies tone is on par with the original X-Men movie, instead of the superior sequel. I’ll still see it in the theaters to check out the reshoots and cross my finger they fixed it. I give it a C.
I heard that it’s supposed to be really good. That’s a bummer. I wonder how people get a hold of these movies that haven’t been released yet. Do you think they’ll find whoever leaked the movie?
i got a cop[y on cd it kicks ass …i love xmen now the effects and visual was so hot …i also edit video
Welcome to yesterday’s most elaborate April Fool’s joke.
welcome to STFU
Androids these days… what assholes.
Yeah, I saw some screenshots of this leaked print on a site and some download links too… No way, I’d download.. I’m waiting to see it in IMAX… a true Xmen fan.
This is so bad that a highly anticipated movie like this could be leaked so early. This can sure prove a great loss to all the people who worked so hard to make this movie. Most unfortunate thing is there is a black sheep in the studios itself and has to be punished.
how do you know it was the black sheep?
i think it was them muthaf%&%in Rainbow sheep personally, they even stole our part in our hit song
bah bah bl*ck sheep.
Well, what we see in the comments is exactly what Hollywood’s guys wanted to hear.
What they’ve done is issue a movie, get initial reactions and comments from the techies who would have downloaded the movie anyways.
Make sure they don’t get the proper finished product and that they won’t be as excited to upload it once again on release date.
This is a marketing scam guys. if so many employees @ apple and their eastern partners all around the world are able to keep the secret of the iPod and iPhone so tight – I’m pretty sure that american companies would know how to do it too.
Its just that they, with this particular Si-Fi film, didn’t.
I don’t think you can compare a physical product with a movie. I’m sure some Apple employees told some of their friends about an impending iphone, but they couldn’t exactly post 1 on a web site for it to be disseminated to thousand or millions.
I honestly don’t download movies, this was a first. I enjoy the movie theater experience, and a lot of movies need to be experienced in their with the right crowds. After seeing this so-so movie, I probably will see it in the theater too, just not opening night.
I totally agree with you. If I’m a movie studio executive, I see two possible outcomes from this leak: first, it helps build publicity and piques the interest of thousands of possible viewers. The workprint is just intriguing enough to make you wonder what the final version will look like.
Second, the movie tanks and you have a scapegoat. It is no secret there have been production issues, as mentioned above. If it really turns into a bomb and can’t rake in a lot of cash, you can blame the early leak and piracy for it. Then you have further leverage to force ridiculous and arcane laws into place to protect your IP.
Overall, the plan is brilliant, if not sinister and manipulative.
if you were a movie studio exec you would not understand how the internet works, please they have no idea how the world moves, all they know is their fat paycheck and their stupid mansions…
generalization
@Data
Right, just like everyone that uses the internet is a dumb troll who uses poor grammar. Not.
If execs knew nothing about the world, they wouldn’t be an exec. You don’t become rich and successful by being an idiot, much to your misfortune.
mansions are not stupid.
Honestly I think that this is just a REALLY BIG advertisement for the movie. They release something which basically is an “unplugged” version of the movie in order to generate hype.
Viral advertisement. Someone calls JJ Abrahms :D
That’s a bad shot of Hugh Jackman there. He looked much better hosting the Oscars.
You were browsing the net and found the movie? Really? You make it seem as if you went for a walk and found a penny on the road.
LOL
LOL…. love the google image search for “wolverine” photo “wolverine on a rock” from national geographic.
Your article pictures crack me up sometimes
Has all the markings of a PR stunt to me. Most of the people who watch this movie/download it will also pay to see it in theaters if it’s any good and the associated hype it will get is positive (eg: your comments in the original post).
Honestly this sounds like a very well thought out attempt at some early publicity.
I thought “Taken” was much better than “X-men Origins” …
I would compare it “Van Helsing” which I give a 5 out of 10.
Taken was really good, i agree. Sort of like Leon the Professional with less acting.
Not a surprise as it’s Luc Besson… He uses a machine to get his script :
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/luc+besson/video/x80385_europa-corp-la-recette-besson-parod_fun
(it’s in french, but so true :D )
The bad thing about this leak is that it’s not enforceable by law because it was distributed without a copyright statement.
Anyone can sell this without legal bind, this is what Fox knows and hope no one figures it out.
Whoever leaked this is in a world of stress and pain right now. They know who did it, trust me.
The bad thing is, is exactly as I said, no copyright statement on the work-print leak, this version is now public domain.
If any movie studios are reading this and you would like to avoid the same issue, visit our site (click my name above) as we offer a solution to kill leaks like this.
Actually, no.
“Under current law, works are covered whether or not a copyright notice is attached and whether or not the work is registered.”
uh, no.
Actually they are covered by copyrights… Film is considered as Art.. Any piece of art is automatically copyright protected so long as you can prove who made the work of art.. This does not fall under Fare use… Art In most states are all copyright protected whether or not there is a notice or if it is registered..
Tell that to George Romero. Night of the living dead is public domain and can be remade by anyone who wants to without paying a cent to Romero or the studio. It was a huge mistake in printing the title card but still. Granted I’m pretty sure Fox has better lawyers than he did.
-SH.
it was so awful until i had to turn it off. Its only a big deal because its X-men. WHo cares, other movies get leaked everyday and i havent been to the movies in months because of that. So whatever
I think this is called beta testing.
BETA TESTING…. so true. and whoever said april fools is wrong. and whoever complains about it being bad doesnt understand how beta testing works.
Fox stated: “We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it.”
Maybe they’re using this company’s technology to do it: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Corporate-Update-of-Twentieth-iw-13755401.html
yes and glen beck is not nuts, nigga please!
Definitely terrorists. lol
So, TechCrunch, why the shock? Wasn’t Arrington just preaching the value of free music. What is the difference here. If music should be free, then movies should be free.
Pick a side. All content costs money to make and we should be scared of it all going away because people feel entitled to get it for free.
I too think it is an intentional leak. We’ll find out between now and official release. Guerrilla marketing.
There’s a very good editorial on this over at Chud.com. He talked to industry insiders and uncovered an incredible lack of security when it comes to passing around copies of the film to the various companies working with it.
“While studios bend over backwards to police film critics at press screenings (I’ve become used to security guards with night vision lenses staring at me while I’m watching a movie), the post-production process is apparently porous. Burned DVDs are swapped around with aplomb in this world; in fact I was told that the Wolverine DVD was switching hands for the last couple of weeks. It’s hard to nail down where in the post-production process the Wolverine leak originated; it could have been someone working in digital FX, someone working on the titles, or even someone working on the trailer. Hell, it could be somebody working on the DVD release, for that matter. ”
http://chud.com/articles/articles/18796/1/HOW-DID-X-MEN-ORIGINS-WOLVERINE-GET-LEAKED-ON-THE-INTERNET/Page1.html
there is no time for security, and btw, you cannot get inside another company to impose your rules, most post have young people working as top dog, cause they are creative and the new gen.
Also some of them have a server hidden somewhere next to the OC3 feeding the scene
Intentionally leaked by Fox so they can use it as an excuse to keep Net Neutrality from becoming law.
Bush’s “WMDs in Africa” as excuse to invade Iraq = Wolverine leaked by Fox themselves.
Time for your pills, buddy
Where do I find this pirated version.
you need to install a bittorrent program, then go to thepiratebay.com
http://downloads1.moviesmobile.net/downloads/X-Men.Origins.Wolverine-WORKPRINT-Deadman-1.avi
When will they take it down?
How is this news? I mean don’t get me wrong I see your point about this being bigger than the Paul Blart screener or other movies of that caliber but it’s not like this is the first time. Movies have been downloaded since P2P applications started and it isn’t going to change. People on the set swipe screening copies any chance they get and why? Well if it were me I would sell it but in any case it always seems to make its way to the torrent sites, this has been going on like this for some time now. No there is not a grand conspiracy behind it to generate hype; this is just another story about 1 guy in 10,000 who have done this sort of thing before. Honestly ask yourself if you had jacked the screener from the set would you put it up on the internet for everyone to enjoy for free? NO you would sell it to some OTHER douchebag and then he might put it on the net for everyone. Coming up next, CrunchGear reports on breathing; why do we do it and how can we stop.
Definitely a marketing stunt. Never would’ve seen this in the theaters, but it was good enough that my fanboy friends would love ridiculing it, and it might be worth going as a group to see it as an “experience”. But it’s definitely all-popcorn, zero interesting developments kinda movie.
Slow news day huh? Quality journalism always starts articles with “I was perusing the Internet yesterday…”.
Dude, get a twitter account.
I am glad this got leaked because maybe they will realize how god awful this movie is and rewrite the script and do it right… seriously this movie ruins one of the best characters in comic book history. The dialogue is atrocious… the story is fragmented and incorrect and it really makes me just want to gouge out my eyes.
Media terrorism? really? wtf kind of drugs you on?
Oh look, an early leak of a movie, i’m so terrified!!! Run away, run away…the sky is falling!!!
It is news because it is so early before release of a major hyped movie. Could it be to effect the outcome of the Pirate Bay trial? I haven’t heard what the news is on that. If it is still going on, I could see them making X-men a sacrificial lamb to affect the outcome of the trial.
joeblo u need to get a flirt acount. One for DUDES looking for DUDES. Happy blowing.
Never understood FANS that would even watch leaked incomplete films if they were already planning to watch it. You’ve just ruined the experience.
Can’t you be a fan of comic books and a vehement hater-cynic of 90% of comic book movies? Dood? Can we not watch these disasters in the same vein of reality TV or a car crash? …idiot-face?
why the surprise !! if they want to stop such thing, they should target the big boys, like ovguide.com their alexa rank is like 400, and they get about 100,000,000 hits a month. has anyone asked how/from their traffic coming from ?.
they are simply linking to those kind of materials. and they make millions of $$ every year by doing this. DMCA of Fox,etc,, should never target the individuals, they should target these companies who make them available.
like Google, if you do X-men search, you will get 100’s of links to the full movie.
or is it too big to prosecuted !! ? ? ?
please go play with something hard and hurt yourself, you are nothing but blah!
How exactly does Google make copyrighted content available? Since when is providing a link to a web page based off your provided search terms from a database a crime?
Wow, get off my internets, you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.
Seeing that everything in transmitted electronically to theaters, I would imagine it’s pretty darn easy.
pe·ruse (p-rz)
To read or examine, typically with great care.
nobody gets upset when a “working print” of a porn movie is leaked.
Any of you fucking idiots who tried to defend this movie, or believe that re-shoots, re-edits, and other post-production shite could make up for a horrible script and phoned-in acting are goddamn delusional
Really? Terrorist? It is so funny how people react to this shit!
The movies was a workprint in post, so many people are working on this that anyone can be the leak, no way they are going to find anyone guilty.
Many other movies come out as workprints, this one is not the first, and it sure wont the the last.
Oh and btw, when they say that got posted on a website, that shows how much they know about piracy, by the time any scene release is on a website, it’s been on pre sites for a while, the top tier of the piracy chain is what they are after, not the source, the general public, not the ftp site owners, admins, etc. Lets just end this charade and admit that they are coming up with shit for movies and nobody wants to pay to go see crap.
Hulk got pirated 2 weeks before opening and it tanked, because it SUCKED, Taken was first released in EU, that is why we got a rip before it was released in the US, and so on…please shhh if you know crap about shit..
Even with all the “TERRORIST PIRACY” the movie industry made a pretty cool $ last year, so much for their speech…
Fuck the MPAA, fuck the RIAA, Fuck all
I don’t buy the whole “laid off pissed dude” theory.
The movie industry has been positively affected by the current economic crisis, if anything they’re the ones hiring now.
They leaked a shitty version so that people would watch the full blown version on the theaters. It’s free publicity for the movie
Pretty good movie, i just watched it
you best be trolling, son
A publicity terrist did it for the free publicity of the movie.
This is huge for Fox STudios which has not had a certified hit in a very long time. They estimate a loss in the tens of millions over opening weekend because of it.
However, this movie seems to have had a target on it from the greenlight. There have been reports of Fox basically going around the director, Gavin Hood, and micro-managing. There were extensive reshoots in January. Kubrick-esqe sized reshoots. Some estimate 60% of the film was reshot during that time. Richard Donner, director of the original Superman movie, was brought on the reshoot set to apparently “help out”.
None of this is good news. Now, out of all of this comes two conspiracy theories: First, how better to deflect attention while furthering your industry agenda than by having the movie pirated before release? Think about it. When the movie tanks, which if everything about its production is true, it probably will, they now have piracy as a scapegoat. The fact it’s most likely a garbage film won’t enter into it. It will be all those nasty pirates, not those executives who tried to direct a film and failed horribly.
The second theory is based on a report from Spill.com is that the leaked version is an earlier cut of the film before the film’s reshoots were brought in. Could it be possible the leaked version may not be like the version that will be coming out? This theory is based on reports that the reshoots are actually new material and that FOX suddenly wanted a grittier version, given the success of a certain caped crusader film, which is unusual given that the talk on the street was FOX initially wanted a PG version, while Hood was looking for a grittier (R) telling of the story.
Given the stories flying around the film, there are many people out there who would have reasons to leak it on the web. The back story may become more interesting that the actual film.
The only people who would have had access to a full workprint are editorial, sound mixing, DI and probably the composer and the producers. Title companies and vfx companies are only handed the shots and sequences that they are working on, never a full edit of the movie. If they ever receive edits it will be short sequences containing the shots they are working on again never a full edit. These sequences are always heavily watermarked, usually with the vfx vendor name so as to track down any leaks.
Sounds like a manufactured leak to be honest.
All movies have production issues. All movies look weird when they’re half finished. You wouldn’t drive a half-assembled car and you wouldn’t expect an alpha web app to work well. Don’t expect a movie still in post to look right.
Of course, too many movies are still crap after release. But at least wait to judge before the filmmakers put their best foot forward. Then if it sucks, yeah, rip ‘em a new one.
I don’t get why so many are saying the movie sucks. I just watched it and I won’t be asking for my 104 minutes back. Will it win any BS awards – probably not. Is it something I would watch again if it airs on HBO, Max, Encore, etc… Absolutely. BTW, Taken (referenced above) rocked.
Well, if I found a bundle of money on the road unattended i would definitely go for shopping. Or if a pretty girl come to me naked I would not ask her any questions or if I can download sth on the net for free I would not hesitate. Blame the bearer who does not care about one stand not the receiver.
I mean I don’t want to take the burden of uncertainty that has been created by someone else cos I never new it was uncertain to receive it. So get the f..k out of here and leave me alone.
But what if the bills were marked? You’d get arrested.
What if the naked woman has std or aids. You’d wish you’d asked.
What if the Wolverine download was marked axxo and you trusted that. You’d find it was the movie studios who uploaded a fake file to obtain your IP address for future courtcases.
Maybe I should’ve left you alone and had you find out on your own? :-P
I’m watching this movie in the theaters with my friends. Much more fun that way. Oh… and I wouldn’t be a dirty thief.
If you don’t know how to market your product, then other means are required.
If you are running out of budget, other means are required.
The goal might be to create interest and get into the headlines for a not so great product.