On this week’s show, we reported about the leak of a working print of “X-Men: Origins: Wolverine” to the Internet.
And while the FBI and the MPAA may not have any leads yet on who leaked the film on-line, there is still some major fall-out happening over the leak. SciFi Wire reports that peer-to-peer sharing site Torrent Freak reports the movie has been downloaded over a million times since it hit the Internet last week.
The FBI and MPAA have been working to shut down the leaked movie, but as one on-line voice said, it’s like trying to put toothpaste back into tube.
20th Century Fox has been concerned about the impact this could have on the box-office. A poll taken indicates that 40 percent of those who downloaded and watched the workprint still plan to see the final product in theaters and/or DVD.
In a related story, an entertainment blogger with 20th Century Fox has left his post over a dispute about the movie. Columnist Roger Friedman wrote that he’d seen the work print and discussed it in his column last week for his Fox411 column.
Friedman’s column led to his departure from 20th Century Fox. He met with studio execs yesterday to discuss the situation.
The review itself was positive. “I doubt anyone else has seen this film. But everyone can relax. I am, in fact, amazed about how great “Wolverine” turned out. It exceeds expectations at every turn,” he wrote.
But he also described how easy it is to download any film or TV show and joked he might decide to catch up on some other recent films via illegal downloads.
Fox — pointing that out Fox News is a separate business under the News Corp. banner — responded Friday, “This behavior is reprehensible and we condemn this act categorically, whether the review is good or bad.”
The column in question has been removed from the site and deleted from the cached history for the site.
Trekscribbler says
Two words: WOLVERINE bail-out.
vysen1 says
How on Earth do you take a poll on this!
the lows says
seen it, will still see the movie when it comes out in theaters. would say there is more wire work in this one than crouching tiger, but great movie overall. (gambit needed more depth.) I am sure this stuff happens all the time. Have to wait for my questions on Logan.
Tim
Billy Uno says
Have also seen it. Once all the effects and everything are in it should look really good. And it should open up more plotlines for future movies. Liev Schreiber did an excellent job as Sabretooth, and made Tyler Mane look as though he phoned the part in. If they don’t take the game as “Canon” (at least for the movies) there should be some great potential for Sabretooth to return later on. One thing I didn’t like is when great characters get messed with then killed off. Not to spoil anything, but it happens and it kinda makes me a little mad. If you’ve seen the movie, (or when you have seen it) you’ll know what I’m talking about.
One thing I do have to give credit on is the writing, which closes the loops really nicely, and is something I hope continues with future movies. I think Storm should have an origin story.
BTW: I do plan to see the movie in theaters.