I was perusing the Internet yesterday and found something unusual: a movie that was to be released on May 1 instead appeared, in very high quality yet with glaring pre-production problems. The movie was X-Men Origins: Wolverine and it featured a certain very hirsute Australian actor playing a guy with claws. That’s all I’ll say.
Not to be hyperbolic, we are witnessing the rise of media terrorism. This workprint, essentially a version of the movie released to the various parties who have a stake in the film – either in testing, special effects, or editing – was not released by a happy person. The fact that you rarely see workprints of any value online – the last one of any interest was probably Star Wars Episode 3 – is a testament to the value the parties involved put on secrecy and trust. People who like their jobs don’t leak workprints like X-Men. Sure, Paul Blart Mall Cop got a workprint release, but who cares about that? I suspect the people working on X-Men proud of their work – heck, they’re making cool sci-fi movies! – and they don’t want people to steal it.
So who leaked it and why?
