Chapter 580: The Worst Film Leak in Hollywood History

Pushing open the door, Drake stepped into his rented apartment. He slipped off his jacket, hung it on the rack by the entrance, and lightly pinched the bridge of his nose. It had been another unusually busy day. Staring at a computer screen for so long had left his eyes aching, prompting him to stand by the window and gaze into the distance.

The location was excellent. From his window, he could see most of San Francisco Bay. The famous Alcatraz Island sat right across from him.

Seeing the island immediately reminded Drake of the most famous movie featuring it—The Rock, a film he absolutely loved.

"Duke Rosenberg's new film is coming out soon."

Retracting his gaze from San Francisco Bay, Drake turned back to the room. Like most young men in North America, he had his walls plastered with movie posters. In the most prominent spot hung a poster of a flying man in red and gold armor, advertising the upcoming Iron Man.

These were the latest posters released by Warner Brothers. Anyone who managed to collect them before the film's premiere was either a hardcore Duke fan or a diehard Iron Man enthusiast.

Drake happened to be both. He had been tracking the progress of Iron Man ever since the project was greenlit.

After resting for a moment, Drake sat at his desk and turned on his computer. He logged onto Duke's official website and Instant Sharing account to check for updates. The promotional material and content for Iron Man were the same as yesterday's. Nothing had been updated. The trailers were still limited to the single one released so far, and it seemed Warner Brothers had no intention of dropping a second.

"The wait is so frustrating."

Just like last year, Drake desperately wanted the Summer Season to arrive sooner.

After browsing through a few official sites, he navigated to a film and television forum. The moment he opened the movie section, he noticed a thread pinned high at the top.

"Completed version of Iron Man. Come on in if you want to watch the movie early!"

How had the film leaked online?

Drake frowned slightly. He clicked into the thread and found that the view count had already surpassed a hundred thousand, with tens of thousands of replies...

Had the film really leaked?

As a veteran moviegoer, Drake certainly understood what this meant. Although a voice in his head warned him not to click the link—it could easily point to a virus-laden site—he ultimately couldn't suppress his curiosity and his burning desire to see Iron Man early. He gently clicked the mouse.

It was an external link. Since he had already opened it, Drake tossed his remaining concerns out the window and hit download.

The wait was agonizingly long. Sitting bored in front of his computer, he browsed through several other film forums and found the exact same thread on nearly all of them. The speed at which it was spreading across the internet was simply staggering.

If the content online was real, Duke Rosenberg was in deep trouble.

Hollywood had seen pre-release copies leak before, even back when the internet wasn't as developed as it was now. Those films had all suffered catastrophic blows.

Surely, with Duke's influence, he could weather the storm, right? Besides, the files floating around online might not even be real.

Just as Drake was thinking this, the download finished. Even knowing it was highly unethical, curiosity and the human instinct to get something for free won out. He dragged the downloaded file into his media player.

"This... this is really Iron Man!"

Although it lacked the studio logos for Warner Brothers, Marvel Comics, and Duke Studio, the Iron Man title card was unmistakable. Shortly after the video began, Robert Downey Jr. appeared on screen, sporting Tony Stark's iconic look from the comics.

The version was surprisingly clear, easily rivaling the picture quality of past Warner Brothers DVD releases. The only flaw was the timecode and the Warner Brothers watermark stamped across the screen. It was obviously a stolen copy, though how someone had managed to steal it remained a mystery.

Still, it was perfectly watchable. The opening explosion scenes, in particular, captured Duke's early cinematic flair.

Hitting the pause button, Drake brewed a cup of coffee. He returned to the computer and resumed playback, but it wasn't long before his brows knitted in a tight frown. This version wasn't finished at all.

It was clearly the scene where Tony Stark was supposed to debut in the Mark I armor, so why the hell was Robert Downey Jr. standing in a gray skintight suit in front of a blue screen?

After a moment's thought, Drake figured it out. Robert Downey Jr. was wearing a Motion Capture suit, and the blue screen behind him was meant to be replaced by a composited background in post-production. The special effects for this scene clearly hadn't been added yet.

With a sigh, Drake decided to endure it for now. Perhaps only the effects for this specific scene were unfinished, and the rest of the movie would still be worth watching.

However, the further he watched, the deeper his frown became. The film was completely unwatchable.

The movie had finished editing, sure, but absolutely zero special effects had been added. Aside from a few shots of Robert Downey Jr. walking around in physical props, where was the supposed Iron Man? Drake couldn't see him at all.

Was a superhero movie without special effects even a superhero movie anymore?

Not only that, but outside of a handful of scenes with live on-set audio, much of the film had no sound. The score was completely absent from start to finish...

In the end, Drake didn't even finish it. He simply closed the player, checked the time, and decided to go to sleep. But after he lay down, his mind was entirely filled with Iron Man. Before watching the downloaded file, he had merely wanted to see the movie. Now that he had seen a piece of it, his appetite was thoroughly whetted, leaving him restless and impatient.

What he had just watched didn't quench his thirst at all. Instead, it was like a traveler in the desert getting a taste of water—only to find it was a single drop. The tease made it all the more agonizing.

Tossing and turning without sleep, Drake simply got out of bed and booted up his computer again. He logged onto Google and did a quick search, discovering that starting next week, tickets for Iron Man would be available for pre-order by phone, online, and through other channels.

Let next week arrive quickly. Let the Summer Season start already...

Drake wasn't the only one harboring these thoughts. Countless others who had watched the leaked Iron Man video felt the exact same way.

Ordinary fans weren't the only ones paying attention to the leak and the surrounding buzz. Many media outlets, especially digital ones, reacted with staggering speed.

Yahoo Entertainment responded almost instantly.

"Iron Man Source Material Leaked Online!"

"The opening blockbuster of the Summer Season, famous director Duke Rosenberg's new film Iron Man, is scheduled for a North American release on May 5th. Unfortunately, the source file for this massive production was leaked online today and is currently spreading silently across major film forums."

"The leaked file boasts DVD-quality picture and is reportedly the full-length version, though special effects, voice dubbing, and the musical score have yet to be added. Furthermore, it features a clear timecode and watermark that severely impact the visual experience. Even so, this might be the largest pre-release leak of a blockbuster in Hollywood history. Just what kind of blow this will deal to Iron Man remains to be seen..."

Inside a Warner Brothers conference room, Tina Fey turned off the projector, and the Yahoo Entertainment report vanished from the screen. Even though it was already late into the night, Duke's team, along with relevant executives from Marvel Pictures and Warner Brothers, were all seated around the table.

Everyone wore a solemn expression. This was undeniably a very serious incident.

The meeting had been going on for over half an hour, but they still had absolutely no clue which stage of the process had failed.

"Whether the online leak originated from Duke's team, Marvel Pictures, or Warner Brothers is something we have plenty of time to investigate later."

Penny Kalis, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up. As a public relations expert, she specialized in handling sudden crises. "Gentlemen, obsessing over where the film leaked from is pointless right now!"

After an incident like this, it was only human nature for the different parties to harbor a bit of mutual suspicion.

"Doug, Kevin..."

Looking up, Duke glanced at Warner Brothers CEO Doug Walter and Marvel Pictures CEO Kevin Feige. "I think you both know that Rob Zombie's Halloween and Eli Roth's Hostel both suffered pre-release leaks, and it noticeably damaged their box office performances."

He slightly hardened his tone. "But none of those past leaks were as severe as this one. Don't forget the investment in Iron Man. We must use every means necessary to mitigate the negative impact."

During post-production, increased demands for the special effects had pushed Iron Man's final production budget up to 150 million dollars. If an investment of this scale suffered catastrophic losses, Duke, Marvel Pictures, and Warner Brothers would all find themselves in incredibly dire straits.

This was especially true for Marvel Pictures. Should Iron Man fail, the entire subsequent franchise wouldn't necessarily collapse completely, but it would certainly face indefinite delays.

However, a crisis of this magnitude was not easy to handle. Hollywood had no precedent of successfully overcoming something like this. Even a seasoned veteran like Penny Kalis, who had navigated Hollywood and the entertainment industry for decades, couldn't immediately come up with a viable solution.

"If I find out who did this..."

Sitting beside Duke, Doug Walter kept his expression perfectly calm, though the veins pulsing on his forehead betrayed his rage. "...then he's dead meat!"

Duke cast him a glance but said nothing. Having rushed straight to the Warner Building the moment he received the news, he still hadn't seen exactly which version had been leaked. If it was a nearly finished digital copy, Iron Man's box office might not collapse completely, but it would almost certainly fall drastically short of expectations.

A knock echoed through the room. An assistant walked into the conference room and handed a disk to Tina Fey, who promptly fired up the projector again.

The online leaked version of Iron Man appeared on the projection screen. But after watching for only a short while, Duke's tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

This was the version stored on the Warner Brothers servers.