Leaked Movies: Video Vigilanteism or Planned PR




The other day, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which yes, I absolutely intend on seeing in the theater) was leaked online sans watermark or any of the other typical "Not for general viewing" markers that traditionally grace movies that haven't been released yet.

According to Fox, "[they forensically mark [their] content so [they] can identify the source..." To me, that means that it must have been an inside job, someone with access to the movie and with motive to release it to the public (perhaps a recession casualty taking his aggression to the Web?). It would seem that this is a bit of entertainment PR damage control...

Now, what makes the release suspect, as far as some rogue (ex?) Fox employee leaking the movie is that Fox further went on to state, "It was without many effects, had missing and unedited scenes, and temporary sound and music." What the leak effectively did was give people a good sense of what the movie would be about, but since it was incomplete, they'll still feel compelled to see it in theaters.

And since the film was quickly taken down off the website on which it was posted, news of the nefarious leak generated more buzz and was known by more people than the number of people that actually watched the full version of the leaked video.

If this were a Public Relations stunt (which you can never discount), then it seems to have worked out in Fox's favor. Despite the unfinished nature of the leak, people are giving it solid reviews and are looking forward to legally watching it when it comes out on May 1st.

To read more about the leak, check out TechCrunch's take on the leaked X-Men Origins: Wolverine.


http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/02/how-did-the-world-get-a-workprint-of-x-men-origins-yesterday-blame-terrorists/

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