The Wolverine Movie Leak: Truth And Consequences
Apr 2, 2009 by Bruce SimmonsThink there are no consequences to downloading movies illegally? Think again.
Just in case you had’nt heard, on the eve of April Fools Day a workprint of X-Men Origins: Wolverine found its way to the internet and hundreds of thousands of downloads occurred before 20th Century Fox could stop it. Though at first one might think “So what?” – there’s more at stake than just having a flick run free on the internet prior to its official release date.
When I first saw this, I held back. It was April Fool’s day. But as the hours passed, so did the proof that this was indeed real.
I shook my head in disbelief.
How Can A Movie Get Leaked?
Does that really matter? There are so many different people that handle a DVD of a movie in post-production before it hits the theaters, it’s amazing we don’t see this more often.
With the number of folk who have access to a post-production version of a movie, when do the necessary additional security measures kick in that studios may have to take? Will those measures cost us, the fan, more in the end?
Sure we might grumble at the studios, but who is really to blame?
Have You Thought About the Little Guy?
I suppose that for some, the idea of seeing a movie before it’s actually released to the public is some sort of thrill (or something). While these folks gloat about having seen a film early (and illegally), I’m sure they don’t think about the impact their cumulative actions have on others.
The “others” are those people who put in 10 to 14 hour days over the course of a couple of years creating a movie. The “others” are also the second tier people who depend on a film to be released for their livelihoods… Movie theater owners/employees, for example.
For all these people, an advance pirate copy that makes it online dilutes the hard work they’ve put into something, and takes away from the “event” status of a big blockbuster release date. A release date that has had many countless hours of effort put towards deciding how to best present the culmination of all that hard work.
As this travesty went viral, Twitter.com was aflame with people stating that the Wolverine movie had found its way to the internet.
Some cheered at the travesty thrust upon Fox. I get where you’re coming from. Fox sure doesn’t have the best track record in how they’ve handled some franchises or other matters. But if you think this through, it’s just not Fox that gets hurt. It’s shameful to ponder the idea that we might really wish harm on a person’s livelihood.
So the buzz lit up big time.
Shortly thereafter folks were out there boasting about having grabbed some popcorn and sitting down to watch their newly stolen digital media.
Yes… I Said Stolen
If you go to the trouble of hunting down what you know is an illegal copy of the film, you knowingly stole it. And don’t tell me you didn’t know. To add insult to thievery, some of you were stupid enough to brag about it on various social networking sites. Good for you! Now at least if Fox and the FBI decide to pursue this legal issue to that level, you’ve made it very easy for them to find you. Even if you didn’t brag about it, you left a digital trail to the torrent files and subsequent activity is clear as day to the packet sniffers.
As it stands, the copy of the film that made its way online did not have the majority of its visual effects complete, had missing scenes and a temporary audio/music track. So I’m sure that made for an AWESOME viewing experience.
Some Actually Posted Reviews
To further implicate yourselves, you then thought you would be super cool and leave your reviews and opinions on what you saw on various bulletin boards and websites. Most website admins removed your misbegotten opinions, choosing instead to take the high road regarding this scenario. Good for them.
Fox stated in a press release on April 1st that the FBI and the MPAA are actively investigating this crime and that:
“The source of the initial leak and any subsequent postings will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Oh yes. This little stunt can lead to some jail time. I have a feeling someone may find themselves with some new best friends fairly soon.
When All Is Said And Done
It seems that it may be pretty easy to track down who did this. Maybe instead of firing him or her, the studio should garnish their wages for all eternity for profits lost.
If you think it really doesn’t hurt studios, think of this: Eli Roth didn’t release Hostel: Part II in Mexico because it was already leaked there and you could buy it for twenty-five cents. What was the point of opening there then?
You think that if you alone “stole” a movie, who would it hurt? It adds up. One of my favorite examples of adding up is an article I wrote about saving electricity. If every light switch wielding person (estimated 211 million – it’s just a ball park for this example) in the U.S. left a light bulb burning in an empty room for only 5 minutes, as a collective, that adds up to around 2,000 years of wasted energy. It all adds up and we can make a difference.
In closing, Fox said this:
“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 fans of the film”
We at Screen Rant will never support this kind of behavior and we will not tolerate anyone posting their own review or experience in the comments.
‘Nuff said?
Source: BBC News
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i dont like the theaters for these reasons
1 you have to drive there and back
2 if you have to go to the bathroom you miss part of the movie. I always find myself holding it in after drinking a soda. And if you have to go #2 you’re out of luck, crap your pants or miss 15 minutes of the movie.
3 you have to deal with people talking,there stench,and them being freakishly tall where you cant see part of the screen.
Make it like paper-view tv pay 4 to 7 dollars to watch it on your tv or computer. Maybe some thing like $4 for low resolution $5.50 for medium and $7 for high resolution. they would still make a lot of money for example take 100 people who kind of want to watch a movie probly only 25 of them would go see it, but have it paper-view style and they’d get 50 people to see it. and after a couple weeks after release they could shave off a dollar or 2.
I support Fox on this 100%.
Bruce And all the folks at Screen Rant
are completly right on this .
I cant wait Until The FBI catches these morons.
wow you guys look!
A movie trailers is a preview of the movie. Most people make their decision then of they will go to see it or not. If the movie is not to their liking then you are out twelve bucks. Then again if you test dive a car, it handles and drives good, what happens 3 months down the road when it breaks down, the dealership ain’t giving you your money back. Hey i will admit that when i was down on money i watched a movie online that i did not pay for. but this entire rhetoric is kinda dumb. If you choose to watch movies illegally, then by all means continue to do what makes you happy. other people will still continue to go to the movies to enjoy a good experience. I am going to the movies to see what i want, ill wait for what i don’t want to see on the screen on DVD. Got to the theater is not just going to see a movie , it is a whole different experience. So chill out guys. Or else ill sick Logan on ya butts (P.S., Damn Vic you got a lil wolverine in your post before dude, almost had the claws come out and everything lmao J/K buddy)
This is all well and good stating your differing opinions of what is right and wrong. How bout pooling our intellect and trying to resolve the issue.
If the studios were to have a world wide release date it would greatly reduce the amount of illegal downloads.
Another possible fix would be to have “online cinemas” where we can log in and pay $12 to download a DVD copy legitimately. For this to be different to current legitimate download sites they would have to make the downloads available the exact time and date that the cinemas get the movie (globally).
Obvious answer – allow people to legally download the movie, worldwide, as soon as it comes out. That however would have the huge drawback of giving the Studios only one bite of the cherry in that we would pay for it once, whereas the current way, we pay once by going to the cinema, then a second time to rent the dvd, and if we really like it we pay a third time to buy said dvd. Greed is what it is.
All I will say is, if I were to download the film, that still won’t stop me from seeing it in theaters.
I’m not sure why the source of this article was cited as BBC News – all the BBC did was take bits of info from other places, invent a figure for the number of downloads and mix it all up into a ‘new’ article.
However, I have been amazed at the attitude of many people who feel it’s okay to download an illegal leak and that it’s somehow Fox’s fault. It isn’t. All employees in any company are entrusted with material that shouldn’t be leaked/released – the person who leaked it broke the law and violated their work contract.
It is, of course, a poltical campaign against Fox for its reputation with films etc. That’s obvious, and the comments made on fansites make it even more obvious – suddenly, completely unfamiliar people are popping up on X-Men forums blasting the movie. They are doing so deliberately.
I haven’t seen the film but, if it does have weak spots in it, Fox could now read the negativity and try to fix some of the stuff people are complaining about.
I really don’t want to watch an unfinished version so i haven’t downloaded it. And I can’t condone such piracy.
David
.,..and of course I’m not really Aprille Fewle, that was a name i cheekily used in a posting on your naughty April 1 stuff (I can’t say I’m a fan of spoof articles to be honest)
Oh my… I’ve argued both sides up and down on this issue… and it pretty much always comes down to semantic drivle anyways.
First off, I’m very interested in this “reach around policy” and I’d like to examine it deeply… and secondly, piracy is not only the reason why films cost an arm and a leg, but it’s also the reason why films suck ever so increasingly. Downloading has become an inevitablility, and therefore the studios can’t afford to take any chances. All the money goes into the safety of remakes, sequels and familiar adaptations, and very little is left for a truly original picture. This goes for all aspects from production to marketing. In my town, it seemed like I saw posters for a different Jason Statham flick every day, yet I wasn’t able to see Slumdog Millionaire in our theatres until after the oscars.
When it comes to films, quality can only come with quantity. If none of those seats are filled, then why bother risking the dime on a brilliant unknown director when a sure fire hit is as easy as “what if it were Ocean’s FIFTEEN?”.
Just got off a long day of work getting ready for bed and log on to my favorite website only to be preached at. Grr arrggh those evil downloaders. Terrible fiends. We should burn them all alive that will teach them. Yawn. It gets old. With the large number of people downloading these days you most hate the vast majority of the world. The fact is everyone that I personally know that downloads if the movie was good still goes out to buy the DVD or even goes to the theater. I personally have one of the largest DVD collections of anyone I know and I go to the theater at least once a month. I can name a fairly large number of films that I would never of bought on DVD if not for downloading. I just loved being preached at by people up on a high horse whining about things that really are not all that bad. Though I’m sure none of you have ever downloaded a movie a TV show or even one song off of the internet. Say all you want, but I’d be willing to wager money at least one of the guys here on their high horse has downloaded at least one song, movie, TV show or even Video Game or maybe even a computer program. The fact of the matter is there is hardly anyone in the world who hasn’t used some quote unquote stolen property from the evil internet.
I for one, do hate the vast majority of the world.
In regards to pirated DVD’s, it’s so widespread that it doesn’t even feel like a crime to buy one. Cops don’t even raid these places anymore. I actually see cops buying them too LOL. And often you can buy a pirated DVD of a movie before it’s release date. When everyone is doing it, is it still immoral? I dunno…
Holy crap, miss a day and miss a lively thread.
Unfortunately, I have not read all 40 comments yet, but I did want to toss in my own view:
I go to the movies for an escape. For the atmosphere. For the all-emcompassing nature of a film.
I don’t get that from a DVD. So I just don’t understand why ppl get this kind of crap when it means they don’t get the full experience of the film (though there are those crazies that prefer pan-and-scan over letterbox … shiver … so yeah).
I hope they make an example out of this that has shockwaves go thru the pirates. This is like shoplifting. Stores have to charge more to make up for what people steal. I don’t like my movie tickets to go up for crap like this…
We the True Fans are the ones that get hurt by the Piracy. Even if the movie sucked or was AWESOME, someone is not going to see the movie in the theatres which take away from the profits that the company is going to make to eventually weigh out the options that there could be a Sequel/Prequel. Granted, Fox has messed up some of the X-men movies, but I am happy as hell that I am able to see my favorite toys growing up now in theatres on the Big Screen. I for one will be giving the theatre probably my money and someone elses hoping that it will continue.
@ Evie:
Right on… I totally agree with the atmospheric quality. It’s why I love live theatre, you feed off of the audience… there’s nothing quite like it.
Plus, DVD pirates are total sissies. You want to be called a pirate, you’d better grab a cutlass and some rum and start relieving port merchants of their Oranges and pork. Scurvy man…. gets the best of us.
I believe I can see a trend in the commenting …
Those who believe pirating and illegally downloading pirated movies is OK = people who illegally download pirated movies.
Ta-dah!
Ahh. Sorry I didn’t read all the comments. I really don’t think that this leak will actually affect the box office numbers. Piracy has been rampant for some time now and box office numbers have actually been going up!! And with or without piracy, inflation coupled with greedy studios and theatres are the reason for $12 tickets, NOT piracy! That’s just an excuse the theatres and studios use to charge more! But I don’t agree with piracy, theft is theft, end of story. But I’m sick of hearing that piracy is responsible for studios losing money or raising prices, because it’s not! Studios are making more money than ever! Get a grip.
Another thing, if this movie doesn’t do that well at the BO, people will yell and scream that it was due to the leak. Truth be told, I’m a little aprehensive to see this just because of the travesty that was X3. My faith, and that of other movie goers, in the X-men franchise was hurt by the last movie. It’s entirely possible that that, or simply that the movie is a piece of sh*t, will be the reason for the failure, and not the leak.
Downloading an unreleased version of a movie to determine if you want to see it the theater baffles me.
The first week at the box office will tell you a lot, the second week, hands down will determine how people are perceiving the movie.
Like it was stated earlier on, most law enforcement won’t pursue the downloaders themselves… it’s small pickings and labor intensive versus tracing the source.
I’ve seen an occasion or two where the downloaders are pursued. It is really no fun for them at all, but more than likely, they skate.
On the other hand, if one of them tries to reload a “stolen” vid, well then… “we all sleep in the bed we make”.
TO ALL
I recognize we all have great different perspectives, regardless of which side of the fence we’re on, and we at SCREEN RANT appreciate how you’ve been very cordial in stating your own perspectives without lambasting someone else for voicing their opinions.
That’s what we’re about. A place where you can state your take and not have to worry about being singled out.
YOU ARE ALL AWESOME… Thank you.
What happened to “We at Screen Rant will never support this kind of behavior and we will not tolerate anyone posting their own review or experience in the comments.”?
I can see a lot of experiences being shared here!
If the movie will suck or not, I still hope they crack down on the bastards that leaked it. I am not in the movie industrie, and know no one who’d undergo any negative effects from ‘stealing’ movies like this (at least, not directly), but I am very principle in these things.
I personally have over 300 movies and 300 music albums (same things apply), all legal. I’ll admit I was once (very shortly I might add) a member of the downloadcommunity, but I soon got disenchanted with it.
Several people I know think i’m slightly odd for being this ‘nice’, then again, my country (Netherlands) has a saying “if you can get if for free, do it!”. This is more than in some other countries…the sales of cd’s for example dropped about 30% in one year a while ago, because they were all over the internet. With movies ofcourse, the drop doesn’t go quite as fast, but it’s dropping nonetheless.
I will not download this leak, because as you said there are so many reasons not to. It doesn’t even have the correct visual graphics as everyone who’s seen it says.
On the everlasting debate on piracy. I agree, piracy is a crime. But it’s done by millions so there has to be a solution rather than a penalty for everyone who does it. How about selling the movie online at the same time it hits theatres for a reasonable cost? I’d definately pay for it. People will still go to theaters, it’s not like I can take hundreds of friends into my livingroom and watch it on a huge screen. I believe there is a solution somewhere in all that which will have to replace piracy, otherwise it will probably remain.
People slay me, they really do. You can rationalize anything I guess.
Fine, maybe the car analogy wasn’t a valid one… you want a better one? Go to a restaurant, order a meal and then don’t pay for it because “you just wanted to see if it was good.”
That one doesn’t work for you? Ok, maybe you’re the same person that goes into Barnes & Noble and sits there all day reading an entire novel to decide whether you want to buy it or not. Nothing wrong with that in your misguided eyes either, I suppose.
How about this one: There’s a hot babe you’ve been eyeing forever that doesn’t want to sleep with you – so maybe it’s OK to slip her a “rufi” and do your thing against her will, right? Sure that’s extreme, but that’s where you knuckleheads are headed. “I want it and I’ll take it no matter what, who cares what you say.”
And as to the technology argument… sure, maybe the studios need to figure out a way to utilize it better, but that doesn’t mean that in the meantime you STEAL their content.
The bottom line is you are TAKING something from someone else WITHOUT their permission. If someone came into your house and stole your stuff and then you found it for sale at a pawn shop, would you be cool with that? And spare me the “it’s not physical property” argument. It’s STILL property, albeit intellectual, digital or whatever.
Vic
@arrell
We are obviously not “supporting” piracy. We are discussing it.
Vic
No one supports piracy that I know. But the people I know who downloads tons of movies claim it’s not even a crime. The laws differ from country to country but it’s true that you shall not take copyrighted material that isn’t yours. That has to be illegal otherwise the idea with a copyright is dead.
I don’t support piracy at all, so I hope the FBI, MPAA and Fox catch their perp.
I have a feeling we’ll be hearing about some Fox employee or someone working for Fox as a contractor who leaked it (allegedly) and will be arrested.
Lucasfilm had to look for a leak once, years ago, and found out someone was stealing and eBaying props, artwork, etc. And that wasn’t even the leaker!
heath
BTW, I know there are more important things for the FBI to go after. I guess part of the reason I get so annoyed with this whole thing is that one of the groups of people who gets hurt by this is all of us: the movie fans. Especially fans of “niche” movies like Hellboy and this type of film in general.
If a movie ends up making less money due to illegal downloads, the studio makes less money off it and the lower the likelihood of sequels or similar films being made.
Empire had a great post on this that addressed that facet of it more than the “wrongness” of it:
http://www.empireonline.com/empireblog/Post.asp?id=499
Vic