Someone at 20th Century Fox is going to be fired. Late last night, Twitter and the IMDB forums were alive with chatter as a DVD quality workprint of X-Men Origins: Wolverine found its way online.

In no way is this an April Fool's joke, but it's serious business. Several other sites have verified its legit, and I took a glance at it myself at a couple minutes at different points in the movie, and it's certainly a working edit of the film.

But what a lot of people are pointing out, and this is something I agree with to a certain extent, that this won't exactly be the film we'll see on May 1st. Apparently this cut does not include any of the new footage that director Gavin Hood and the cast shot when there were worrying re-shoots in Vancouver months ago. Also along this note, the print also has unfinished effects including completely unfinished CG models of characters, green screen work and more.

We're not going to link to where you can find this leak or anything like that. If you really, REALLY want to find it, then I'm sure you will. But let me just say, that if you're looking to enjoy the movie, just hold off and in exactly one month, you'll get to see it on the big screen. It's not like you don't know what's going to happen anyway. Wolverine will get his claws out menacingly, be sarcastic, cut some stuff, blow some things up, and then Ryan Reynolds will make another joke. Game over.

Labels: 20th Century Fox, Gavin Hood, Hugh Jackman, Wolverine, X-Men Origins: Wolverine

With the return of many high profile shows, like NBC's Chuck and Heroes, viewers are now faced with a new dilemma. What do I watch? For those out there without the benefit of Tivo, or a DVR, the networks have really done a job of making us pick and choose what we want to watch. Scheduling episodes of Chuck against House, and Heroes against 24 it is causing problems with how people want to enjoy their downtime. It doesn't stop on Monday nights either, Tuesday features ABC's Scrubs up against FOX's Fringe.

Which brings me to my gripe... why? The networks see that these shows are popular, if not the most popular (stupid American Idol...) but they feel the need to set them in gladiatorial fights to the death in prime-time battles with the big loser being the viewing audience. Playing musical chairs with shows has been a favorite past time in recent years for the networks, it makes one nostalgic for the TGIF days. You'd always know that the Tanners and Urkel weren't going anywhere.

But somewhere along the way the survival of the fittest mentality got warped at the networks, and now here we all sit, remote in hand knowing that we're going to have watch the show that we decide not to watch at work tomorrow on your computer. So the fall of the American work ethic can be squarely blamed on the television networks. And worst yet the problem is simple, just get rid of the crappy reality shows and we wouldn't have this problem, and Detroit would probably be in better shape...

Labels: 20th Century Fox, 24, ABC, Chuck, Fringe, Heroes, House, NBC, scheduling, Scrubs, TGIF

Last week there was what seemed to be a bit of disturbing news from Collider regarding extensive re-shoots happening up in Vancouver for 20th Century Fox's summer blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Long story short, people have strong suspicions in Fox micro-managing the film behind director Gavin Hood's back, and even involvement from Richard Donner attempting to fix some sort of debacle that this tentpole film had fallen into.

Well, lo and behold, the waters parted and there was word from up on high. And this information came from a bit of an unlikely source...Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman. This was such an important matter to clear up that Jackman took time out of these extensive re-shoots and I'm sure his continuing busy schedule regarding his hosting the Oscars to put the collective fan boy mind at ease.

Ain't It Cool News (AICN) received an e-mail straight from Jackman, and a bit of a bonus was also included with the e-mail. Here's what Wolverine had to say:

Hey Mate- Would you mind posting this? Thank you for your support! HJ

Hey everyone -

It's Hugh Jackman, sending this note from freezing Vancouver. I have read a lot of your online comments regarding the footage that we are currently shooting and I share your passion for the Wolverine character and the movie - I owe it all to you guys!

I wanted to reach out and let you know that due to scheduling conflicts with certain cast members and location/weather considerations, we had to wait until now to shoot a couple of scenes. Please rest assured that WOLVERINE will be badass and hopefully meet all of your expectations. I am stoked by the positive response to the teaser, which clearly reflects the tone and scope of the film. If you like that, we've got much more in store!

In the meantime, here's an exclusive shot of some characters you may recognize...

Cheers,

Hugh

Well this seems reassuring enough, but it seems very hokey to me that Hugh Jackman felt the personal need to include this extra exclusive cast picture with the e-mail. This is worrying to me because I wasn't entirely blown away back when we premiered the first trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine and it seems like the studio is using Jackman's apparent trusted nature amongst the web to take care of damage control. I had the same uneasy feeling when meeting Eddie Izzard over the summer and asking him about Valkyrie. Without prompt Izzard proceeded to tell me and his Q&A audience that the jostling around of the film's release date had nothing to do with worry about the quality of the picture but simply a decision to get the movie out of October (apparently a month known for historical dramas) to a better date more accommodating for the thrilling, suspenseful picture that it really was. I love Eddie Izzard, but that just screamed out damage control to me.

Wolverine looks cool enough but maybe too action-packed to the extreme. These re-shoots are worrying and despite Hugh Jackman's reassurance, I'll hold my real judgment until the film is released this May.

Labels: 20th Century Fox, Fox, Gavin Hood, Hugh Jackman, Richard Donner, Wolverine, X-Men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine