Tracking Remains High

[narrows101]

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/...ine-disas.html

'Wolverine' tracking data: Interest in the film remains high, despite Internet leak
Apr 13, 2009, 06:45 PM | by Christine Spines

Execs at Twentieth Century Fox, who were facing the potentially lethal leak of a copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine two weeks ago, may now have reason to relax -- and actually be excited -- for the film's May 1 opening.

A tracking report containing consumer research statistics shows a high "wanna see" rating for the film, which is said to be the No. 1 choice for young men and guys aged 31 and older. Those two demographics are key to boosting the first-weekend numbers for a male-targeted superhero franchise film like Wolverine. (Fox has no comment.)

This is quite a dramatic turnaround for a movie that was hit with a crisis scenario two weeks ago, when a full-length, unfinished copy of the movie was uploaded onto the Internet and subsequently downloaded by more than 100,000 viewers free of charge. That could have translated into a lot of lost ticket sales, and, indeed, some industry observers predicted the effects could be catastrophic for the big summer tentpole. But this research seems to contradict that line of thinking and support those who wondered aloud whether the leak might actually turn out to be a positive development for the X-Men spin-off by generating heaps of free publicity.

One exec from a competing studio says that it's too early to predict Wolverine's opening weekend numbers, but they're sure to be huge.

"Wolverine is in fabulous shape," says the source. "They could open today."

[Celestial]

Last night, I ended up at the PerezHilton site (yeah, I know) and read the comments on Wolverine. Quite a contrast to SHH! as lots of people said they'd seen the leaked version, loved it and said they would be seeing Wolverine in the theatre. Of course, it represents a different demography but I was quite shocked by the enthusiasm.

[danoyse]

I saw similar positive comments all over Facebook too. Hope that's a good sign.

[squeekness]

This is encouraging. I hope this movie makes a lot of money so we can get another X-movie, one that hopefully won't get leaked in advance.

[BMM]

Originally Posted by Celestial

Last night, I ended up at the PerezHilton site (yeah, I know)...

Honestly, I haven't read too many negative comments outside of the likes of movie message boards. I don't expect the leak to have much of an affect on the film's performance at the box office. If anything is going to hurt the film's performance, it will be the film itself, if it's bad.

[Celestial]

I think there was a screening for journalists this morning before the Rome press conference. That means it will also be screened in London this week and word will start to filter out.

[BMM]

Great! I can't wait to hear impressions of the film.

[sniktsnakt]

This is good to hear.

[TNC9852002]

Yeah, comic fans are very sensitive about their movies, especially a FOX distributed one...that...was unfinished.

I'm pretty sure the general audiences will like the movie just fine.

I still remember how quite a few casual moviegoers thought that X3 was the best X-Men movie.

[PunisherPoster]

I don't think the leak will end up hurting it much, since the franchise enjoys such a strong mainstream appeal. Fanboys know how to find and download it, but the average moviegoer does not.

[ross2287]

Originally Posted by PunisherPoster

I don't think the leak will end up hurting it much, since the franchise enjoys such a strong mainstream appeal. Fanboys know how to find and download it, but the average moviegoer does not.

Plus average moviegoers love Hugh Jackman, especially female moviegoers. If anything, the leak should have enticed the people who saw it to go see it again. I remember watching TDK online a few times after I saw it in theatres. It was all right when I 'needed a hit' so to speak and didn't have money but I much preferred seeing it in theatres.

I'll be there, opening day, with my 7-11 slurpee.

[Nevaratoiel]

Originally Posted by narrows101

Only men? What about women? Aren't we important?

[bullets]

At this film's worst it could still be considered a decent action film from what I hear.

[LostSon88]

Originally Posted by danoyse

I saw similar positive comments all over Facebook too. Hope that's a good sign.

Same here.

Seriously a majority of the negativity i've been hearing towards Origins comes from the SHH Boards.

[The Apatow Crew]

I looked at my theaters opening week screen out and their playing it 20 times in one day! 20 times! Thats the most i've seen a movie played in one day. They removed like 7 other movies to make room for it. It's gonna be on 4 seperate screens. So if its like that all over and each of them is filled, this movie is gonna make a killing!

[danoyse]

The theater where I'm seeing it is having 23 showings on Friday.

[The Apatow Crew]

Originally Posted by danoyse

The theater where I'm seeing it is having 23 showings on Friday.

Wow, and i thought 20 was alot. They must have the showings start at like 9 am or so. The first showing in my area is 10:30 am.

[danoyse]

The first show starts at 10, and it's pretty much running every half-hour after through 1am. They're also doing midnight shows Thursday into Friday.

I was in Target this weekend, and the new X-Men trilogy blu-ray discs were completely sold out and the endcap with the Wolverine toys looked wiped-out too. A lot of the pegs were empty and they only had one claw toy left.

Guess people are psyched for this one.

[The Apatow Crew]

Originally Posted by danoyse

The first show starts at 10, and it's pretty much running every half-hour after through 1am. They're also doing midnight shows Thursday into Friday.

I was in Target this weekend, and the new X-Men trilogy blu-ray discs were completely sold out and the endcap with the Wolverine toys looked wiped-out too. A lot of the pegs were empty and they only had one claw toy left.

Guess people are psyched for this one.

Must have a big theater. Mines a 16 theater place. They have ones playing at 10:30. 11, 11:30 and 12pm. Then so on and so on.

Yeah, when i was there last saturday only a few of them were there for sale.

Yeah, i'm sure alot of kids and parents are.

[Downhere]

Originally Posted by danoyse

The first show starts at 10, and it's pretty much running every half-hour after through 1am. They're also doing midnight shows Thursday into Friday.

I was in Target this weekend, and the new X-Men trilogy blu-ray discs were completely sold out and the endcap with the Wolverine toys looked wiped-out too. A lot of the pegs were empty and they only had one claw toy left.

Guess people are psyched for this one.

I noticed Target being sold out as well of the X-Men Blu-ray pack, but Best Buy had a whole bunch, so I bought mine there. Can't wait to see all the films back to back.

[danoyse]

I still don't have a blu-ray player, but I start watching the regular DVDs of the first 3 films this weekend.

[The Apatow Crew]

Originally Posted by danoyse

I still don't have a blu-ray player, but I start watching the regular DVDs of the first 3 films this weekend.

They had all three films in a set down at walmart for 10 dollars with some free movie money and most of them were sold out.

I was thinking of watching all three before seeing Wolverine: Origins...

but it might be another couple of weeks before I see Wolverine.