News has broken today that 20th Century Fox's main summer tent-pole film, Wolverine, has leaked online, nearly a month before its release. The net is a bluster with folk who have seen an unfinished, but apparently DVD quality version of the film, and Fox have reportedly instructed their lawyers, somewhat understandably, to go for blood. Word is now spreading about the film itself, and it is now clear that a lot of people have seen it - judging by the talkbackers on various fanboy sites - which is upsetting everyone involved with the production no end.
Hollywood is very much feeling the effects of the current economic downturn, with many of the big studios, and especially the mini-majors, all having to let large percentages of staff go due to instances just like this. I never got watching stuff online; I enjoy the experience of seeing a film in a theatre far too much, and don't think a grainy copy, shot in a far eastern cinema would do whatever the film is that much justice. But with something as massive in scale at Wolverine, which is very much about the action, and the scope and ambition of said action, I'd really prefer to see it on the big screen - even if a legit screener was offered.
There is an argument that piracy has very little effect at all on a film's final financial standing, as the current American box-office sensation Taken has managed to be one of the biggest hits of the year, despite being available illegally for some time, after it, unusually, first bowed in other parts of the world and was then leaked on the interweb. But Taken didn't have the marketing campaign that Wolverine does, and the film has already been fighting an uphill battle to silence the naysayers who were unhappy with early rumblings from the production. Still, fanboys be damned, this film will still open big regardless of said rumblings - X-Men: The Last Stand did massive coin despite the presence of one of the most derided helmers, currently wielding a megaphone. It's all about the trailer and the marketing come summer season, and Fox do both fantastically, despite some seriously subpar films lately.