Slashdot Mirror
Wolverine Film Leaked a Month Before Release
hansamurai writes "The FBI are investigating the leak of an almost finished copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine a month before the film's cinema release. The movie was reported to have been downloaded several hundred thousand times and has since been 'removed.' Viewers have called the movie incomplete, missing some special effects and music. Fox and the MPAA are still upset, though, but say the copy is forensically marked and can be traced to the leak. The film is due out May 1st in the United States, and the leaked copy is marked March 2nd."
Damn I wanted a copy of it and to be honest I will still see it in theatres. Shame this leaked though.
I do not support "The Man". I also do not support your irrational stupidity
Disclaimer: I do not care for (nor own but a couple) manga, comic books or 'graphic novels.'
But when I was bored out of my mind one day I picked up the first of a six part series called "Origin" issued by Marvel in 2001.
The story was good (not great) but the art was phenomenal. I am glad they re-worked Wolverine's origin story from whatever they had alluded to before and I recommend you view this series based purely on its art.
I can't find any indication of which story they are basing this film on. I only hope the movie can live up to the beautiful imagery and settings in this series.
I also hold the very unpopular viewpoint that it's basically a slap in the face to an artist to view their work before they're done with it. I also find it laughable that anyone would seek this out aside from people involved in movie production or people interested in this process to study. Do I think it will hurt the movie or cause any amount of financial loss? No, it's merely disrespectful and actually kind of humorous that anyone would ruin the initial exposure of what could amount to a great film.
My work here is dung.
It's the latest wrinkle in the marketer's playbook.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
That's what happens when kids are allowed to work in the VFX houses.
no really, I'm always a day late with these things myself
in both cases they want the release to occur on Friday night and get all weekend.
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Ok, even if I don't agree, I can at least see the logic between "full movie dl's = less ticket sales." But this is a freaking action movie without completed special effects. Can you honestly tell me there are a significant number of people interested in seeing an action movie, minus special effects, who aren't also the fanboy-types who will see it in theatres?
the copy is forensically marked
Ummm if this was true then it wouldn't be an issue of asking the FBI to investigate it would be a matter of telling the FBI which guy to arrest.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes to secure a conviction in this case and just how truthful the statements on protection are.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Isn't March 2nd closer to two months before May 1st?
I'm using all of my mod points to mod ancient memes down. Please join me.
This probably all has to do with being under paid in an industry that makes ass loads of cash for the few at the top, and hardly any at the bottom.
Today is April 2nd, not March 2nd.
It talks about how the FBI has been called like it's a major disaster.
I can picture it now:
FBI: Hello FBI?
MPAA: THE NEW WOLVERINE FILM HAS BEEN LEAKED
FBI: SHIT, EVERYONE DROP THEIR RAPE CASES, THEIR KIDDIE PORN CASES, THEIR TERRORIST CASES, THE NEW WOLVERINE FILM HAS BEEN LEAKED WE MUST FIND OUT WHO DID THIS
It's just the way the leak of a film gets more news coverage than more serious stories. It's like it's an international tragedy. I mean seriously, a film with chunks missing, temporary sound, CGI missing and so on. There are companies every day that have their security breached and IP stolen. Why does it get international coverage when it's a half-finished movie?
The real response from the FBI should be:
FBI: Here's your case number, take your ticket and get to the back of the queue
On a side note the BBC also said that Fox has had the download of the new film taken down now - that baffled me a bit, I doubt very much they've managed to get it removed from the whole internet, if they have they're the first company in history to achieve such a thing!
No, and neither is reading comprehension apparently. The leaked film is marked May 1st, that's not when it was leaked. It was leaked in April, a month before the film's release.
This is not an April Fool's joke. This is real AND no one can remove shit like this from the internet.
The cat is far out of the bag.
The movie is still available on most major torrent sites.
IsoHunt
TPB
20th Century Fox confirmed the copy had now been removed
Goodluck with that
The film is not due for release until 29 April in the UK and 1 May in the US.
This just annoys me. Release it on the same date.
"Even if you see the workprint you're still going to have to go see it in the theatre to fully experience the full movie with CGI effects fully intact."
Considering I like action movies on a screen bigger then 48 inches then yes.
According to its website, Rising Sun Pictures is an Australian visual effects company that worked on the film and is currently working on production of Terminator Salvation.
So when can I expect an early release of Terminator salvation?
The Federation Against Copyright Theft said a leak of this kind was extremely unusual as pre-release security had been tightened in recent years.
I had a full dvd rip of LOTR 3 two months before the movie was released to the movie theatres. By full rip I mean the DVD you would buy in stores when the movie was to be released to stores. This is not unusual/uncommon.
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" the studio said.
Obvioulsy we will condem it, but that won't stop an "estimated several 100,000 times" of downloads from happening.
In 2007 director Eli Roth blamed an online leak of his horror film Hostel: Part II for reducing box office returns.
Yes there will be some people who say "meh i saw an early release so no reason to see it in theatres" There will also be people who want to see the completed version on the BIG screen.
In an interview with MTV he claimed: "You could buy Hostel: Part II for a quarter in Mexico City. As a result, in a lot of countries where the piracy was bad, they just didn't even release it."
This part is a shame...people who are willing to pay 25 cents for the movie because they want to view it but aren't willing to go to the movie theatre or buy it on legit dvd. These movies aren't free to make.
In a change from recent years, the adverts move away from the message that piracy is theft. Audiences will instead see a trailer, fronted by Dr Who actor Noel Clarke, thanking them for paying to come and watch a film.
About time - i would prefer to see someone thanking me when I buy/rent a legit dvd. I understand the need to have the message there, but I have seen it ton of times. I wish they would make it so I could skip over it.
I do not support "The Man". I also do not support your irrational stupidity
my torrent download is screaming fast now
Jesus saves souls and redeems them for valuable cash prizes
I had absolutely no interest in this movie and no plans to see it. The opportunity to see a work in progress is intriguing though, and I would be more inclined to go see the finished movie after watching the work print to compare the two. I'm not necessarily saying it's a good thing that this was leaked, but in my case (and maybe a few others), this might change a "not interested" into a potential customer interested in a peak at the film making process.
Since I have an interest in CG and filmography I downloaded the workprint just because I wanted to see how they blended the CG with real effects. I will be seeing the movie in theaters as well.
The X-Men series has been pretty good thus far (OK, the third not quite so good as the first two).
I'm plenty willing to pay and see this one, as opposed to an unfinished download that some dork posted up online.
And for the record, I do hope they catch whomever did this.
I hate to ruin it for you, but he dies in the end.
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
Its a shame the FBI will spend time and resources to investigate civil crimes such as media piracy --- yet the FBI continuously fails to investigate political corruption, vote fraud, and a number of other seriously criminal acts that happen in the US.
I am somehow reminded (living in CA where it is illegal) of the local police and highway patrol constantly using their Cell Phones while driving...
I guess the FBI knows not to bite the dirty hands that feed them.
I hadn't even heard that they were releasing a new X-men movie. Now I know all about it thanks to this. If anything, this might increase the box office takings.
Get free bitcoins: http://freebitco.in
Why wouldn't they just go for 1 million people?
This is MPAA, after all.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
An incomplete workprint gets leaked...so what. People that will be grabbing this are more than likely fanboys who will be waiting in line opening night anyway. Missing special effects and the soundtrack in a movie that depends heavily on both is just a prelude to the real thing for fans. Unless the movie is absolutely horrible I cant really see any damage being done. Not that I condone piracy or leaked films before they were intended to be seen but lets be realistic about it.
I found my weekend project. Add the special effects to the new x-men movie. Final Cut and After Effects here I come!
If the movie is good the positive feedback will bring out more viewers, if the movie sucks then nobody will want to go see it in theaters.
Technically, though, you could now monitor the number of people who access the torrent and speculate more accurately as to how many hypothetical dollars are lost. I believe an above post mentioned ~60k downloaders total and at about 10$ a ticket (rounding up), it should be a loss of 600k. This is probably the upper limit since most tickets range from 5$-8.50$ and there will be some unknown percentage of people who will see the move anyways. So, leaving the mark at 600k, a movie usually needs to gross several million to break even with production costs. I'm not sure what the costs where, but in terms of similar movies' revenue, they tend to break 100 million easy. So, technically, they're losing 1% (maybe ~1% if you subtract costs) to piracy and, it seems, shouldn't be a valid scape goat.
The WORKPRINT release is just that: a work in progress. You can see tether wires, the cgi is basically conceptual and not anywhere near finished, the lighting is off in many scenes, and you can tell when there is a greenscreen in the background. Still good movie.
The game.
sitting in your cold basement in front of a 17 inch monitor by yourself isn't superior to all of the negatives of the movie going experience you list, and any more you can think of
fact is, movie houses have been declared extinct many times: in the 1950s, television was supposed to kill it. then the vcr in the 1980s. then the dvd in the 1990s, then the internet...
and all this time, ticket receipts have gone up and up
humans are social creatures, and just the subconscious knowledge of others munching popcorn around you and going ooh when you do and cringing when you do is something that heightens the viewing pleasure, yes, in spite of the babies and cell phones, its a net plus. nevermind the giant screen and the soon-to-be-standard 3D
so please, by all means, don't go to movie houses. you and the other 10 of you who won't go won't be missed, and don't matter to the bottom line, or the discussion at hand. you're just a loud tiny minority
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Well, if you didn't live in the US of A, you wouldn't have to worry about being sued for a victimless crime.
Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
Well if you want better movies you need to pay to see ones you like.
The slashdot crowd always says movies suck, alongside bashing the MPAA and proudly defending their right to torrent everything.
newsflash: Movies are made for people who *pay* to see them. if you don't pay, the movies are not aimed at you, so don't act amazed when you don't like them.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
So has this site given up all pretence of being 'news for nerds' and become a side-project for the pirate bay now?
Every story concerning piracy takes the pirates POV, every criticism of thepiratebay is brushed aside, and now top stories are new hollywood movies, complete with +5 modded links to copyrighted material.
I thought bit-torrent was only used for free speech and linux distros?
+5 hyprocrites
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
First. I agree with the OP and the BBC. How the hell does this get some sort of express FBI coverage? It's a freaking movie. Not a bomb threat or a kidnapping. So some sweaty fanboy snagged a pre-release copy. So freaking what?
It's sickening how the government will instantly bend over backwards for big business. Pathetic.
Second thing.
But it is reasonable to pursue something like this, because realistically a work print this early will drive down sales in a major way costing the producers millions, easily.
Prove it.
How do you know this won't work like an extended commercial, drumming up interest? Studies have shown that people who illegally download music also happen to spend more on music than other people.
The FBI may be trying to bust someone who helped, rather than harmed the studio.
The main problem with crap like this is how do you assess damage? We all know that it's possible to skew the numbers in such a way that a single mp3 download is equal to either thousands of hours worth of free advertising, or thousands of dollars worth of lost sales.
Until someone resolves that debate, you really can't call this anything more than a single copyright violation. And certainly not worthy of anything more than a raised eyebrow from the FBI, rather than this gigantic government funded reacharound they're giving the MPAA.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
I don't hope they catch whomever did this.
They fucked up Deadpool, and a good chunk of this is absolutely non-canon. It's a movie made to suck money out of suckers.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
You should get to know your local FBI agents, you will get a better feel for the cases they work. you might change your opinion when you see the variety of different cases they pursue. Join a local chapter of Infragard so you can become informed. Most interesting are the sessions where they break down a case from beginning to end, explaining how and why they got involved, the course of the investigation, and how they closed the case. FBI Agent even have a pretty good sense of humor believe it or not..
Here in Cleveland they DO go after political corruption (The number of local raids this year has been astonishing), Child porn, Computer based Crimes, the list goes on and on.. The decision to accept or not accept a case is sometimes determined by the Financial losses incurred, Of course that criteria would not apply to all types of crimes.
I hope you aren't basing your opinion off of how the FBI is portrayed on television and in the movies. If so then maybe you believe Wolverine is a real person too...
far...out
Please define "fair wage"
Also, I think you're attempting to be sarcastic, but it occurred to me that your sarcasm is itself sarcastic, and the literal meaning is the one you really intended.
Please clarify that as well.
Let me just start out with I had NO intention on watching the movie AT ALL in the movie theaters.
A friend of mine managed to snag a copy of the movie and we watched it on tv. I must say I was so impressed with the movie and just seeing the special effects they added and seeing the CG not complete and everything peaked my curiosity.
Just watching everything bumped this movie to the top of my list to watch when it comes out!
The FBI is investigating this, why?
Do they have nothing better to do?
You'd think this kind of PR would be good for the movie.
Question everything
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Maybe the whole point of Conflicker was to steal and spread that movie (ok, maybe others too) or was a side effect of it (behold the power of dark google ) and maybe the origin of the leak is unaware of it.
HOW exactly is this important, or meaningful? Almost nothing good comes out of Hollywood anyway, and this certainly doesn't look like anything good.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
I agree completely about Hollywood quality. However, you're missing the obvious workaround: animation studios! It's almost universally original work, and always good. Literally everything that Pixar has produced has been excellent (though I don't see a way to top WALL-E, I'm sure they can do it). Dreamworks has been a bit disappointing since Shrek, but I'm sure they'll pull out of the slump.
Honestly, Coraline has been the best movie this year and most of last, in my not-so-humble opinion. If you haven't seen it yet, go do it. Though I guess it's still a Hollywood production, Henry Selick isn't exactly a typical guy.
Or, you could just watch indie films. Hell, Slumdog Millionaire took most of last year's awards, and there are plenty of awesome releases lately, like Let the Right One In (dubs suck, watch it with subs).
This is considered corporate espionage instead of piracy. The work print was unreleased and therefore considered intellectual property and not copyrighted.
I know it is strange for the law to be so wonky in this area. This is why we need copyright reform.
We need new forms of copyright written into law by smart men who want the best compromise for all parties involved; not written by greedy lawyers trying to horde money.
We need to regulate what is essentially industry protectionism.
We need a digital copyright which covers both a checksum/hash and a similarity comparison test for visual works.
We need new rules on how long you can hold a copyright and what happens in the limbo between copyrighted and public domain.
They're using their grammar skills there.
I could swear I saw it on TV as an Ad yesterday. It looked cool.
Life takes interesting turns, but the most interest is when you're off the beaten path.
why feel alone in an intimate setting when you can feel alone in a cavernous setting?
(rolls eyes)
movie houses are going nowhere. nothing replaces the subliminal camraderie of a movie house that heightens the movie going experience. in spite of the babies and the cell phones
go ahead and deny that. they've been announcing the death of the movie house for 50 years. all the while, receipts have climbed
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I was half-expecting someone to push the button, and it turns out that the joker had lied, and the button actually blows up _your_ boat, (or both boats) not the other guys.
Like that parable about the 2 foreign monks that are visiting Vlad the Impaler. Vlad, (knowing that he's hated and feared by his subjects) asks each monk, separately what the people think of their ruler.
One monk, knowing what a murderous psycho he is, is terrified of telling the truth and displeasing the ruler, so he lies to flatter him. The other monk tells the complete and un-varnished truth.
In the morning, Vlad had _one_ of the monks executed, but which one?
The plural form of "anecdote" is "anecdotes", not "evidence".
Ok, how bout a review? Surely someone here has watched it.
The saturation point is when Hollywood bankrupts itself on all these high budget piece of crap movies targeted for children and teenagers, then asks the government for a massive bailout larger than AIG's because of "piracy".
I think most people would be more satisfied with lower budget movies, but put more thought into them. Hollywood focuses on special effects and the lowest common denominator so much, they don't think about much else.
They fucked up Deadpool
If he doesn't break the 4th wall at least once, I'm blowing up the cinema in his honour.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
I can't remember where I heard the joke that "trying to take something off of the internet is like trying to get pee out of a swimming pool".
The plural form of "anecdote" is "anecdotes", not "evidence".
Is that age tends to weed out the those with more "beauty than talent."
Give it a decade or two, and the "pretty faces" have for the most-part faded off, and more of those with actual talent (or good connections) are left.
The current generated of "pretty faces" just hasn't had enough time to be trimmed down yet.
Try an app called "thepiratebay", they pre-shrink it for you, removing all the unwanted bits and it don't cost you a dime. Amazing!
Sadly, there service is not always spot on and sometimes you get a full release they missed and you have to deal with all the annoyances yourself. I wish the movie companies would work closer together with the piratebay so we customers can get our product the way we want it.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Here, go read this: War is a Racket, by Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC.
And before you think he's some kind of whacko, know that he is a two time recipient of the Medal of Honor. Here's a quote from him:
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
That whole liberty and justice thing we're so proud of? That only lasted about fifty years in and was sacrificed to capitalism a long long time ago.
If I'm wrong, then why is this guy who is guilty of a single charge of copyright violation being hunted down by the FBI like a serial killer over some trumped up notion of potential lost profits? Anyone else commits copyright violation and the FBI wouldn't give them more than a raised eyebrow. I'll bet there are a dozen teenagers on my block right now who've done it hundreds of times. And strangely enough, the FBI is not pursuing them.
I mean, when a judge is passing sentence on a murderer, do they take time out to figure out how much money the victim might have contributed during his lifetime before they pass sentence? Of course not. So why the urgency with this guy? Because he pissed off a money making machine, that's why. Capitalism is offended, and we don't allow that no sir! And that's why they're going to absolutely crucify this poor bastard when they catch him.
It's unequal justice, and evidence that our government cares far more for big business (and the tax money it generates) than it cares for us.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
you know the only decent thing in this film will be the special effects, and they are all missing from this. Only a dumbass would watch it, you will just spoil it for yourself, wait for the finished version fools.
What if Tetris was invented by Nazis?
Yep, you missed it.
For the first and only time, something that has "leaked" to the internet has been completely and utterly removed from it. You need to be quicker next time.
You're wrong.
Google has been doing this since a couple of weeks ago with their Gmail's Undo sent mail. When you Undo a sent mail, Google will stop the internet, grab your email from its recipient, then resumes the internet!
I had pretty much forgotten they were making a prequel. Leaking incomplete or small portions of a movie might actually be a good way of getting media coverage. Then you can sue your fans. It's the only marketing campaign that pays you!
I can say [REDACTED] anytime I want!
Poor food, poor seats, poor video quality, and most of all poor company.
True in many cinemas but definitely not all. I've been to some pretty cool ones that serve you decent food in your seat, have comfy chairs, and very cool crowds. Plus the blu-ray can't be any better quality than the film the movie is recorded on so it's not clear to me what your logic is for that complaint.
The only advantage cinemas still retain over my living room is their sound systems,
Somehow I doubt you have a movie theater sized screen in your living room. Methinks you might be missing one rather significant difference between your living room and the cinema...
If you don't think the cinema is providing a good value that's cool but just say so without all the angst. The cinema DOES provide a few things that are hard to get at home. Whether you think those things are worth it is another matter. The cinema is expensive and I totally respect folks thinking it is overpriced.
I'm just a popcorn eater. I went to see the X-Men 3 movie a couple summers ago at the drive-in in Tulsa, Ok. Your idiot comic book characters spent the first 15 minutes of the movie planning a wedding or some such shit.
You have nothing to worry about here. I won't download this leaked copy and I won't purchase a ticket to any future installments.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Films get leaked every day!
My girlfriend and I watched it last night and sadly, the movie is not very good at all. Besides the unfinished effects, which make the film look like a Saturday morning kids production - or something the BBC would make (Dr. Who production quality) - the acting is dull, the plot is weak and the character development is very poor.
I'm sure the film will look much better in it's finished form - but I doubt cgi will make up for the rest of the movies problems.
If people by word of mouth start to spread the story is crappy, the dialogue corny, and laughable, etc.... then it might sink the movie before anybody see it. Then OTOH it would sink the same way by word of mouth after the first few day, but one month bnefore release it might be in a state which could make a good movie or an average one worst than it would be if finished.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Medieval grifter peasants would try to sell pigs (quite a valuable animal) in an alley or whatever for a cheap price, but the trick was that the animal itself was ensconced in a sack, and was actually a cat to boot. A bit like the speakers for sale out of the back of a white van.
Anyway, if you were smart enough to open the sack right there then "the cat's out of the bag" and presumably you bludgeon the grifter with your cudgel and get your sixpence back.
maybe the turnout for that was low because it suxed
Ask Me About... The 80's!
Only if you live in the US... Maybe.
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
+2 Troll is Slashdot's way of saying groupthink is confused
why does there have to be a choice?
the people who download films are not automatically people who would go to the movie house had downloading not been an option for them
you've presented a false dichotomy. the people who download movies are not automatically people who previously would have seen the movie in a movie house. not even most of them
"would you pay $10 to see this?"
"no"
"would you watch it for free in your den?"
"yes"
that's the majority of downloaders
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it