After the workprint of X-Men Origins: Wolverine showed up online, Fox head Tom Rothman told Entertainment Weekly that “the version that went out” was “about 10 minutes shorter” and “doesn’t have key scenes” that would be included in the final theatrical cut of the film. Earlier this week people online noticed that both the leaked “unfinished” workprint and the final cut have the same running time of 107 minutes. How could this be? Did Rothman lie? Or does the theatrical cut actually feature ten minutes of “key scenes” not in the early cut? The answer after the jump.

AICN has seen the theatrical cut and reveals: “The workprint version IS in fact identical to the release print, sans effect and some audio work.” I understand that Fox was just trying to keep people from watching the pirated version of the movie, but did they really need to lie? And apparently the unfinished special effects don’t even look so great in their finished form Veritas says that “the finished effects are lackluster, to say the least - some really bad CGI work made me groan numerous times.”

I think the best defense against piracy is not extra security or guards with night vision goggles, but actually creating a quality product. I don’t condone stealing movies, and I have not, and will not, download the Wolverine work print. I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t speak about the quality of the film myself. If someone handed me a copy of Pixar’s Up on DVD right now, I wouldn’t/couldn’t watch it. If Wolverine was a good movie, people would want to pay money to see it on the big screen. But to me, Rothman’s lies demonstrate the company’s lack of confidence in both the material and their audience.