The fact that movies leak online will be known by all but the most innocent or law-abiding in this day and age. These usually happen just before a movie is released, with days rather than weeks the delay between a film hitting torrent sites and actually being officially released.
However, X-Men Origins: Wolverine has leaked a full month before the movie is set to open in the U.S. You can now watch the X-Men spin-off using one of the many torrent sites available, although you would be breaking copyright laws and risk getting caught if you do so.
According to Dark Horizons, the leaked version of Wolverine is a near DVD-quality workprint copy which appears to be missing a few effects shots. The cut is around 15 minutes shorted than the version being officially released, meaning those late re-shoots are also likely missing.
Fox is already trying to shut down these illegal copies from spreading but once a movie has leaked there’s little hope of containing it. Having said this, I doubt very much whether this leak will affect box-office takings to any great degree. Not only do people who use torrent sites usually still go and see movies they want at the cinema, there are enough people who stay on the right side of the law to mean X-Men Origins: Wolverine will still be a huge hit.
Illegal file-sharing of a movie this far from release isn’t good for anyone, with downloaders seeing a crappy version and the studios knowing there has been a leak in the distribution chain. Thankfully, it’s highly unlikely to do any real damage to the film and its hopes of doing good business.
