Wolverine leaked, why does it matter?

So, the titlerific X-Men: Origins- Wolverine has been leaked online; who really cares?

I mean, I'm excited about the film (less so if the rumours they've completely screwed the pooch with Deadpool are true), but is it really a big deal? The way the studios and the media are talking, you'd think they'd lost the NOC list from Mission: Impossible.

The only reason anyone would have to worry is if the film is garbage. If it's a good film, then a leaked preview version can only make people want to see the finished version at the cinema more; if it's a bad film, and everyone sees enough of a sample to determine that and pass it on, THEN it will affect the box office takings.

Eli Roth reckons online leaks were what led to Hostel II doing badly. I think what led to Hostel II doing badly was that, when you get through the hype, no-one really liked Hostel. Roth was just sheltered from that by a tide of yes-men and celebrity hangers-on. Personally, I think it works quite well as a thriller if you can ignore the torture porn.

www.denofgeek.com also says that Chris Nolan's veil of secrecy around Dark Knight may have been what made that a success. Actually, the film being good was what led to it's success. That, and it had the good press of Batman Begins' popularity, which only increased on DVD. Follow that with a massive marketing campaign and constant press allusions to it being the Heat of superhero films and you have a media sensation.

Look at Watchmen: massive marketing campaign, huge media attention pre-release and massive takings in it's first weekend. Thereafter, not a peep from the marketers; instead, a string of bad reviews in the non-specialist press (they didn't get it). All this led to the film sinking out of sight almost immediately.

Ever since M Night Shyamalan first popularised the twist, studios have become obsessed with spoilers and leaks. They've even actually considered changing the ending of Terminator Salvation since it's plot was leaked! At how much cost!? Knowing the end of a film isn't going to stop anyone going to see it. Good marketing and a solid film is all you need for success.

Maybe free downloads might affect DVD sales at a later stage, but I've never known anyone to buy a pirate DVD that they would have bought for a fair price otherwise, certainly not when they could get a Blu Ray.

The secret there is charging a fair price for films rather than the extortionate amounts that are racked up for popular films on first release. No-one is fooled, we're not going to believe that two and a half hours of limp-wristed documentary extras are going to be worth another tenner.

The problem here is that Hollywood is completely out of touch with what the public want from them, what they care about. They're far too power mad to consider actually listening to them.