CHUD has a story about the leak: How Did X-Men Origins: Wolverine Get Leaked On The Internet?

The worst thing about this movie is Deadpool.

Last night, a stolen, incomplete and early version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was posted illegally on websites. It was without many effects and had missing scenes and temporary sound and music. We immediately contacted the appropriate legal authorities and had it removed. We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it. The source of the initial leak and any subsequent postings will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law - the courts have handed down significant criminal sentences for such acts and the last person who committed such a crime is still in jail. The FBI and the MPAA also are actively investigating this crime. 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 the fans of the film.

and why is MARVEL allowing their characters to be assfucked this way??! Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Ghostrider and now Wolverine all suck. I'm pretty sure Marvel has some writers who could do justice to their own fucking characters. Hire Chris Claremont, he created half these fucking characters anyways. He wrote the Dark Phoenix saga and Days of Future Past. Hell, he could surely write a wolverine movie.

FYI: One of us here works for FOX. Some related comments are being edited and removed until I hear back from them. Obviously since this is MF it's ok to talk about having the workprint it's just that we don't distribute it

I agree. I don't understand why it isn't done. Also, most of the Wolverine sequel talk was looking to the Claremont 1982 min-series. Why not let Claremont write this one in order to connect the storyline that moves toward a sequel based on his work?

Hey folks, Harry here... Wow - didn't see this one coming! Moriarty just rang me up spitting and pissing mad about this scenario. You see, the very real and transparent shill, Roger Friedman of FOX NEWS, has written a piece where he talks about downloading and watching a 95% finished WOLVERINE - which apparently nobody else in the world has seen. Ahem. He goes on to declare, "It’s miles easier to understand than "The Dark Knight," and tremendously more emotional." and "I am, in fact, amazed about how great "Wolverine" turned out. It exceeds expectations at every turn." and even goes so far as to say he was going to download and catch up with Paramount's "I LOVE YOU, MAN" next because it was so much easier than going out in the rain.

Now - What's interesting about all of this is that FOX has a very rigid history on pursuing employees that brazenly break the rules. Like when they went after Memflix for reviewing one of their films on AICN - and got him fired. How is this situation any different FOX?

I mean, if FOX doesn't go after Roger Friedman - aren't they basically telling the entire world... It's ok?

I understand that this is damage control - the overwhelming word of mouth from this print is wretched. I've heard from fans that what they do to Ryan Reynolds' DEADPOOL is so abhorrent, that they wanted to know exactly who was responsible so they could KILL them. It was a jocular bit of hyperbole, I assure you - but the emotion was solid and real. They were pissed. I've seen fans declare, "Worse than X3" and I've seen them say, "Slightly better than X3".

Fox needed Positive word of mouth.

Now - I've been talking to John Palermo, one of the producers on the film - ever since this story broke. The word I've gotten is that the print you can see online is several months old - and is in fact the version of the film that drove FOX to spend untold millions on a couple of weeks of additional shoots. That things have been edited out and that even with that - the film now runs 20 minutes longer than that which you see online. That there was stuff they didn't like and they took aggressive and costly steps to correct that.

If they wanted Roger to write a piece to fluff up WOLVERINE - why not show him the real version of the film?

Part of the reason that I decided not to run reviews on AICN of WOLVERINE based on the work print was the knowledge that this is a 3-4 month old print - that had 2-3 weeks of reshoots and millions of work put into it to make it better, because they were not happy with that version. The only point in seeing that workprint is as a comparison to the finished version, to see the process in which the Producers and Director and Studio went through to try and make WOLVERINE as good as it could be.

It's also why I don't run script reviews after the test screening process, what's the point? Beyond the moral issues - it is old information. Script reviews when the script breaks prior to or during filming? Fair game. Test Screenings provide information on the state of the film in question - the day & night in which they screened it. But what is online is a snapshot from months ago of a film with reportedly dire issues, which they allegedly took fairly intense steps to correct.

And I did the right thing of discussing this with the producers and that is the proper way to follow up this kind of story.

But having Fox shill Roger Friedman tell everyone about this great new way to see movies for free at your home - and how all 10 of the top Box Office films right now can be seen comfortably and happily in your home, well that's criminally irresponsible and if I were FOX - Roger Friedman would be joining millions of Americans that have lost their jobs - only this time - it would be deservedly lost.

Sometimes there are clauses prohibiting us from writing about a movie before a certain date ("embargo"). But this was different: we had to sign a clause that we wouldn't even TALK about the movie until two days prior to its US release, especially on the web. I found that quite odd.

Add to that recent reports that the finished version is as long as the leaked workprint, even though FOX stubbornly insists that the workprint is missing the material from the reshoots. It makes sense, too, as the trailers have scenes that are not featured in the workprint (Wolverine carrying his girlfriend to the beach, a young Ororo in Nigeria).

Well, having seen the finished film, the mystery is solved: the workprint version IS in fact identical to the release print, sans effect and some audio work. It's obvious that FOX is trying their darndest to keep this news from getting out, because it will eliminate most of the motivation for people who have seen the workprint to pay for a ticket.

Some scenes from the trailer are not in the finished version, either.

The finished effects are lackluster, to say the least - some really bad CGI work made me groan numerous times (especially, but not restricted to, Patrick Stewart's cameo). The scene with Stewart looks so much better in the workprint - trying to digitally de-age him did NOT work this time around...

Good pacing, good lead performances, and some cool comic book fights overcome a non-existing story, horrible dialog (including the classic "I'm so cold..."), and criminally underdeveloped characters. It's a fun flick, but it will never be considered one of the great comic book movies of our time (like Iron Man, Dark Knight, Watchmen, etc.). They also have to jump through some ridiculous hoops to reset all the relationships to properly connect it to the first "X-Men" movie (unnecessary, I think - who seriously gives a shit?).

theatrical version has been seen and it's IDENTICAL to the workprint other than a few quick scenes!

so, has anybody here seen it already? (in theaters, that is)

Anything new? as shittier as the leaked WP?