According to reports by Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Fox is claiming that between four and 4.5 million Internet users have downloaded an illegal workprint copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine since it was uploaded to the Internet on April 1. This is revised upwards from prior estimates placing the number of downloads somewhere in the vicinity of a million.
The degree to which this has affected the box-office take, if at all, has been the subject of some debate, with Fox apparently implying to Variety that the impact could be as high as $20 million. That seems high, since it presupposes that virtually everyone who downloaded it would have seen the film at full price in the theater, but bad word-of-mouth among fans who had seen the film shouldn’t be completely discounted either.
The film opened at more than $158 million globally–making it the biggest opening of 2009–and was the worldwide #1 movie of the week in spite of the Swine Flu outbreak causing Fox to delay the film’s opening in Mexico. The Variety story notes, though, the film underperformed in certain foreign markets where piracy is rampant, including Korea and Germany, which may lend credibility (considering its strong performance elsewhere overseas) to the notion that pirate copies of the film’s workprint did slow ticket sales at least in some parts of the world.
On a related note, while stories popped up all over the Internet this morning announcing the a sequel was in active development at Fox, cult ABC comedy Scrubs made what is likely to be its final joke at the expense of X-Men Origins: Wolverine star Hugh Jackman tonight, citing him as one of the many things in the universe that Dr. Perry Cox (played by Office Space‘s John C. McGinley) doesn’t care about. Throughout the eight seasons of the show, McGinley’s character has consistently insulted Jackman. Tonight’s episode, originally written as a series finale, has been re-billed as a “season” finale as ABC explores the possibility of a ninth season of the show.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:13 am
I’m of the impression that if a comic fan had seen a bootleg version of the film then they WOULD NOT go to the theater and pay full price to see it. On a personal note, I thought the film was only slightly better than something that should have been direct to dvd anyway.
I saw a friends bootleg version of Hulk vs the other day, and I thought it was so good that I’m gonna go buy a copy from the store today.
Fox is under the impression that fans like this film. I know I’m going to catch flack, but just because the film is a box office success, doesn’t make it a good film.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:42 am
I saw the wolverine film and i loved it. It was on the same par as iron man. I do not know why people were downloading it. i heard it was not even the fnished movie.
May 7th, 2009 at 6:02 am
People will go to see this film. It’s Wolverine. But the movie is mediocre. Once was quite enough for me. There were some good points but as a whole it was pretty much no better than most of marvel’s other average outings like FF or Hulk or X-men 3.
A Spiderman and Ironman it is not.
May 7th, 2009 at 6:46 am
I saw neither the bootleg or the big screen version. This is the first comic movie in years that I haven’t seen on opening weekend. The previews and everything I read about it (long before the bad word of mouth about the bootleg was around) just sounded underwhelming.
What Fox needs to remember is that there are plenty of comic and movie fans that had no intention of paying to see the flick whether they downloaded it or not. I’m actually surprised to see that it made as much cash as it did opening weekend. I think that’s a good think for all involved, I just wish Fox would start trying to make better movies though.
May 7th, 2009 at 6:57 am
“That seems high, since it presupposes that virtually everyone who downloaded it would have seen the film at full price in the theater”
This is ALWAYS the argument made by companies in trying to justify their claims of losses to piracy, and it’s garbage.
May 7th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I was thinking about downloading the movie, but I felt it was unlikely I was going to see it in theaters, so I opted not to. Maybe I’ll check it out on DVD eventually?
May 7th, 2009 at 7:46 am
It’s amazing the film’s doing as well as it is!
I don’t think discerning viewers needed a bootleg download to suspect this was going to be a less than remarkable outing for Marvel’s merry mutant. I wonder if the scandal of the download press didn’t actually get a few extra, curious (less savvy) arses in seats.
May 7th, 2009 at 8:12 am
I dont think its hurting them. Whats hurting the movie or going to hurt the movie is a)opening during the busiest release month of the year. B) word of mouth of it being a bad movie from not jut fan boys, but average movie goers.
Hate to say this, but for the first time ever, a game adaptation ended up being better than the movie.
Ouch.
May 7th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Didn’t see the bootleg, and based on everything I’ve heard I won’t see it in the theater either. I’ll probably pick up the Bluray on sale or at my local CD Warehouse (all used BD $14.99 or less – score!)
May 7th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I can’t feel sorry for Fox. The movie raked in 80 mil over the weekend, and according to this was the NUMBER ONE opening WORLDWIDE. I don’t care if 10 million saw the movie bootleg, with stats like that I don’t get the complaining.
Also (and this is an argument I’ve had with a friend of mine before): They really cannot assume that everybody that downloaded that movie would have been curious enough to shell out the money for a movie. Movies cost anywhere from $8-15. Some people just are not that curious. Personally, I wasn’t curious enough to waste the money OR the bandwidth, and I’m not alone.
May 8th, 2009 at 4:44 am
>The Variety story notes, though, the film underperformed in >certain foreign markets where piracy is rampant, including Korea >and Germany, which may lend credibility (considering its strong >performance elsewhere overseas) to the notion that pirate copies >of the film’s workprint did slow ticket sales at least in some >parts of the world.
At least here in Germany the main reason is more likely that they only released a neutered version (2 scenes were taken out to get a better rating) and people here are pretty allergic to that, especially if it ends up in a f***ed up job as was the case with “The Incredible Hulk” where the ending made absolutely no sense at all.
May 8th, 2009 at 6:54 am
had da option jus like every1 else 2 dl da workprint via bittorrent. i decided not 2 cuz i knew i wanted 2 pay 2 c it. still aint seen it yet cuz i wanna wait 4 business 2 go down so i can c it in an emptier theater w/o all da yip yap n cell phones.
mpaa, riaa and da entertainment biz needs 2 understand dat 1 download doesn’t equal 1 lost sale. it usually equals a sale dey never had 2 begin wit. not 2 mention da workprint was an incomplete version of da movie. so it was a no brainer dat da movie would still make $. jus like american gangster, i am legend, star wars, etc. leaked movies dont equal lost sales. i dont know y dey cant c dat.
if anything, with da advent of http, p2p, n bitorrent, deez old fogies in charge should get a clue as 2 how people want their content n entertainment delivered. hdtv’s going down in price n larger in screen size, blu-ray emerging, torrents more popular dan ever, dere should b an option 2 sample n name-ur-own-price 2 pay later if inclined or an option 2 view at home via ppv maybe @ da same time da flick cums out in theaters.
dey shouldn’t worry bout tuner cards, dvr’s, audio/video rippers n converters. dats da reality we liv in now. dey keep trying 2 stifle innovation but its a battle da big corporations jus cant win. dey should work wit consumers, not against. i know wut movies im willin 2 pay 4 n it aint many deez days, but im willin 2 pay 2 c wolvie. but seriously, if u had da option 2 watch it @ home via stream or direct dl, wouldn’t u choose dat over a movie theater if it was released simultaneously n @ a lower price point?
May 10th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Unless the pirate version had German and Korean subtitles, I doubt that hurt ticket sales. Folks in these country would probably want to see the film with subtitles for their native language.
June 5th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
What are you stating, man? I realize everyones got their own opinion, but really? Listen, your web log is neat. I like the efforts you put into it, particularly with the vids and the pics. But, come on. Theres gotta be a better way to say this, a way that doesnt make it seem like everyone here is stupid!