Thursday, April 23, 2009

Wolverine Leak a Crowd Killer?


FOX is currently having a sh*t fit over the leaked release of this summer's blockbuster "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". The movie giant is attempting to woo back fans who've already downloaded a copy of the film by claiming that the theatrical version includes a number of changes. The Huffington Post claims that the movie hasn't been reworked and points to the film's running time (107 minutes) as being exactly the same as the bootlegged versions.
I really don't care either way. The question I pose is whether or not the leaked version of the film will actually diminish box office returns? With all the added publicity surrounding the leak, and the question of what, if anything was changed as a result, could the film possibly be garnering a larger audience as a result?
Studios have been known to "leak" clips from popular movies in the past. Even if they just put selected scenes on their website they are still giving fans a glimpse into the unknown, and thus piquing interest. Oftentimes clips used in trailers, and even leaked clips from the film themselves don't end up in the final cut (The trailer for "The Perfect Man", for example, used scenes that were not in the theatrical version).
Maybe it's not such a bad idea to leak pre-cut copies of films as a marketing tool. I wouldn't want to give away the entire movie...but packages that include scenes that won't make the final cut could certainly give fans something to stew over while waiting for the final project. Studios normally put these things on the DVD extras...why not use some for a little pre-movie promotion?

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