First of all, Fox is just not having a good day. In the launch of their new pilot program to offer bare bones DVDs for rental outlets (and full fledged special editions to buying consumers), they apparently accidentally mailed thousands of rental copies of Slumdog Millionaire to customers who had actually purchased the disc through Amazon and what not. Sometimes, it's just not your day.More on the X-Men Origins: Wolverine leak. Apparently, Fox is out in force screaming at the top of their lungs that A) it's an incomplete version with missing music, FX, and allegedly unedited scenes, and B) it may contain a super virus that will kill your first born children if you watch the movie (not true, it would seem). Which is pretty much what I told them to do this morning (because of course, Tom Rothman reads Mendelson's Memos). As I mentioned in the previous post, if the movie was terrible, then immediate suspicion would fall on Fox for leaking it to create an excuse for box office under performance. At the time, I was just tossing it out there. But, as a friend correctly noted, this could be a form of insurance fraud. If Fox has insured the film from all matter of maladies, could they cash in said insurance policy if they can somehow convince the carriers that the film flopped because of third-party criminal action?
As it is, if the film is a hit anyway, then this becomes a goofy embarrassment. If the film flops, especially on opening weekend, the leak becomes one of the biggest entertainment stories of the year, period. Oddly enough, we now likely have every studio in Hollywood hoping and praying that Wolverine pulls in $60 million or more next month. If it only pulls in $40 million or less, then every studio will start to panic. As far as consequences, the only people responsible for this are the ones who leaked it, period. If Fox wants to publicly crucify them, then so be it. But, if Fox cracks down on critics and press screenings and/or public paid screenings, then there will be a huge press backlash. Either way, this is going to be a very interesting month in the fall out.
Scott Mendelson
