The above graph is from ChartsBin, showing the top 10 most pirated movies of 2009. The list, which was collected by Torrent Freak from several sources, is pretty odd. It’s not surprising that big Hollywood blockbusters like Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen topped the list, but who would have thought that a film like Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla would end up at #3?
Also surprising is that X-Men Origins: Wolverine ended up at at the bottom of the list, at #9, even though a workprint of the film infamously hit the internet a month before the theatrical release. Alex Proyas’ Knowing places #10, which is probably a good example of a movie that people had an interest in seeing (especially after some of the WTF buzz) but weren’t willing to pay for.
How do films end up on the internet? Free Love Forum has posted a faux behind the scenes documentary of the revolutionary new bootleg of the revolutionary new movie — James Cameron’s Avatar. Watch the video, embedded after the jump.
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They say that all legendary figures are the creation of great tragedy and perseverance. But what about Santa Claus? Imagine, if you can, Santa Claus as a superhero, out for vengeance. Imagine, if you will, a movie trailer mash-up featuring The Santa Clause and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Imagine, no more. You can watch the real origin story of Santa Claus, after the jump.
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If there’s any way a text blog post could be said to be ‘coming live’ then this one is, and from the Fox Blu-Ray press event in Beverly Hills. So far this morning we’ve been treated to a host of presentations centred around the release of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine Blu-Ray, out now in the US, hitting my native UK on October 19th.
First up was Lauren Shuler Donner, X-producer responsible for all of the mutant movies so far, and by the sounds of things, plenty more to come. Though she wasn’t able to stay for a series of extended interviews, she did take some questions from the floor, including mine. The answer is coming up after the break – clarifying just what is going on with X-Men: First Class at the moment, not to mention the Deadpool movie and a couple of other, less expected mutant pictures.
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Christopher McQuarrie has signed on to pen the screenplay for a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This comes as no surprise, especially considering the film grossed over $158 million worldwide on opening weekend.
Hugh Jackman has said that a sequel will loosely follow the early 1980s Chris Claremont/Frank Miller comic book miniseries, where Logan journeys to Japan and attempts to cool his killer instincts, and trains to live life under the samurai’s code of honor and respect. The storyline was also hinted at in one of the film’s after-credits easter egg endings which showed Logan drinking in a Japanese bar. Seed Productions is producing with Jackman, who would also star again as Wolverine.
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20th Century Fox has released the final download number for the leaked workprint version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and according to THR it turns out to be four times greater than previous estimates. Wolverine has been downloaded an estimated 4 million times according to Fox. But truth be told, Wolverine wasn’t even the top downloaded movie on the internet the week after it hit torrent sites.
With last year’s average ticket price of $7.18, this equates to $28.7 million dollars! But did Fox really lose $29 million dollars due to piracy? The film made a whopping $85 million in its opening weekend, but Fox believes it could have cracked the $100 million mark if it weren’t for the leaked workprint. I call bullshit.
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Okay, I know this isn’t exactly movie related, but I found this first-person commercial for the Activision video game adaptation of X-Men Origins: Wolverine to be quite good. Is it possible for a commercial for a video game, based on a movie, based on the comic book, is better than the movie it is adapted from? Watch the commercial after the jump.
The spot was directed by Rupert Sanders, a commercial director who was awarded with 2 Grand Prix at the Cannes Festival 2008, nominated for best DGA director in 2006 and 2008, but probably best known to the average Joe as the guy responsible for the Halo 3 Believe , X Box: Joy and that Monster.com ad. Rupert is currently developing feature projects with Warner Brothers and Working Title including the remake of The Wild Geese and Warrior.
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If you could buy Mutant Powers, which powers would you choose? Greg and Lou have saved up for years to buy the powers of Wolverine. Problem is, Wolverine actually has two different mutant powers, and Greg and Lou have only saved up enough money for one ability. Watch the video below, and stick with it, it gets good about a minute and a half in. Thanks to Dan E for the tip.
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In my Final Weekend Tracking column posted on Wednesday, I predicted that X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) would reach $92M on opening weekend, despite soft reviews (now only 38% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). My first fearless forecast of the 2009 summer blockbuster season appears to be close to dead-on (missed by only 5%).
Star-turned-producer Hugh Jackman has scored his second-biggest opening ever and, easily, his biggest as a solo star. Wolverine has mauled the competition with a massive $34.75M opening day (including $5M or so in Thursday midnight sales). That could translate to a 3-day of $86.8M, getting Hollywood’s most lucrative season off to a spectacular start.
The X-Men spin-off, which has been made for substantially less than the $210M budget ponied up for to produce 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, becomes the all-time fourth-best first-weekend-of-May opening, trailing only Spider-Man 3 ($151.1M), the original 2002 Spider-Man ($114.8M) and last May’s Iron Man ($98.6M). Wolverine has also posted one of the top seven opening days ever for a comic book adaptation.
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