An unfinished version of the new X-Men movie, Origins: Wolverine, was leaked just a few days ago and has already made its way to the computers of more than a million BitTorrent users. The leaking of an illegal copy of the film is being looked into by the FBI, which could result in criminal proceedings.
In an attempt to keep the damage to a minimum, Fox has been sending out takedown notices to various torrent sites. Strangely enough, a journalist for Fox News was dismissed earlier this week for posting a review of X-Men Origins based on a viewing of the illegal download. Roger Friedman joked that he might watch other films using the same method. The network condemned Mr Friedman’s action as “reprehensible” before firing his ass.
The leaked workprint was a rough cut which did not contain CGI special effects and frequently showed green screens and wires attached to actors.
Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine in X-Men Origins, has called the leaking of his film a month before release a “serious crime”. The Australian actor said it had left him “heartbroken” and amounted to a “Ferrari without a paint job”. Unusual analogy Hugh but I get your drift.
He said there would still be huge interest in its release later this month, despite the “upsetting” leak. “There’s no doubt it’s very disappointing. Obviously people are seeing an unfinished film,” Jackman added.
The star, who did a fine job rejuvenating the hosting of the Oscars earlier this year, is embarking on a world tour to promote the film, which delves into the back story of his character Wolverine.
Interestingly, a poll among readers of torrentfreak.com/ indicates that most people think that the leak will actually do the movie good… 40% said they would be more excited to see it in cinemas or on DVD, even if they had downloaded it. Only 6% of the respondents believe that the leak will be detrimental to the film’s success.
Maybe there really is no such thing as bad publicity?
And it begs the question… why bother? A film like X-Men without CGI and FX is useless. It’s like watching the FA Cup final without the goals. A lot of exposition and no explosions. And where’s the fun in that?
Movies like X-Men are designed for the big screen. I personally would much rather pay a tenner of my hard earned to see it in a cinema than watch a grainy knock off rough cut copy at home on a computer screen.
And remember kids, piracy is theft. For real!
And I think I heard it mentioned on the radio this morning that Roger Friedman plagiarized the review too.
I’ve seen it. I didn’t know it was a ‘unfinished’ torrent nor would I have bothered to download it myself but it became available to me and I couldn’t say no.
It’s actually not as rough cut as is made out, I guess there were about 10-15 goofs such as seeing wires on a jump, the odd bit of bad cgi etc and a hilarious scene were the the actor terms into a silver silhouette. Most of the big action scenes were grand.
It gave a good insight actually into how little of their own stunts these guys do and also how much of it is graphics.
In saynig that, I thought it was pants, the plot is sooooooooo weak and the acting is as wooden as tree. Worst ever casting was Liev Schreiber. Snorefest.
Hugh looks hawt though.
@Voodoo Don’t you EVER criticise the great Liev Schreiber. EVER!!!
That should be turns into a silver silhouette.
In this case, I do think it is unfair that the movie was released unfinished.
Poor torrenters everywhere wasted their efforts downloading it only to find that it wasn’t up to scratch!
@Darren - I think she’s long past a good ass
whippingkicking.The casting of him as sabretooth, not him personally.
Surely the “plot” in an action movie is almost more important than the action sequences.
Think about the first 2 spiderman movies, the plot mattered more than the action. Same with X-Men 1 and 2, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
The movie should be able to stand without special effects (OK, you may need to know what A did to B and if C is still alive) but
but if you don’t care about the characters, you won’t care about the jeopardy of the action sequences.
I was tempted to watch it but I think with movies like that, it’s far more fun watching them in the cinema.
It doubt it’ll have a bad effect on the film’s takings. Leaked versions usually hit the net as soon as the film comes out anyway; this time it was just a bit earlier and it’ll probably whet the fans appetites for the real thing on the big screen.
@Annie - it will have a negative effect, not from people choosing to watch the DL rather than pay at the box office but from people giving it bad reviews based on a poor leak.
I feel the same about movies, I would much rather enjoy the fully finished, proper version. Particularly when it comes to action movies.
Personally I like the insurance fraud theory.
if the box office taking are up, it did well despite the leak. If it does badly, this illegal leak can be blamed.
I would like to see a review of the cinema release, then the same reviewer watching the leaked one to see how it compares.
I think Will has a good point there with the two reviews, leaked copy and cinema version.
Also, as I said before, the leak is not *that* bad, the majority of the movie is of perfect quality.
That doesn’t help how boring it was unfortunately
Voodoolady, the FBI know where you live. Not sure Hugh Jackman does though.
Will, some valid points, well made. I guess what I’m saying is that they are epic, event movies that should be seen in dark room with popcorn! Like Annie says, “far more fun watching them in the cinema”.
And I have no opinion whatsoever on Liev Schrieber!
I wish he knew where I lived.
sounds like a cheapo publicity stunt to me
Oh no, we accidentally let this get stolen and now some “criminal” has leaked it on the internet. I think not
didnt U2 go down this publicity avenue a while back??