Knowles Saw Episode II -- Drudge Reports a Security Breach

Grey 1,

It's not a fake. You're underestimating the power that Harry already has. He has little to gain from posting a fake and even more to lose. He already has a huge following and studios already take him very seriously (he was named one of the 50 or 100 most influential people in Hollywood by some reputable publication). If he posted a fake review, he stands to lose the clout he has successfully gained over the past few years.

He might post fake reviews from time to time from his various sources, but anything that comes directly from him or the other main contributors of his site are absolutely reliable. I would take his review with a grain of salt, because he does tend to go way overboard with the praise or criticism, but I have no doubt in my mind that he saw a rough cut.

The only question is whether Lucasfilm intentionally leaked the film to him or if it was indeed a true leak. It would make perfect sense for Lucasfilm to leak it to him. There is relatively zero hype for this film compared to TPM, and this would be a great ploy to start generating hype. Fans will be more resistant to Lucasfilm-generated hype, so going through AICN is a great strategy to generate "grass roots" hype.

Also, it would make more sense to leak it a non-exclusive Star Wars fan site to give it even more credibility, and because Harry is such a huge Star Wars fan and Lucas worshipper, there was no way he would give it anything but a glowing review.

 

How can he lose?

if he reads all the spoilers then posts that info along with a lot fo other stuff we all know, then he wont' appear to be wrong.

He can refuse to reveal his source as a ways of 'protecting' them, but it also works if there WAS no source.

He posts a glowing endorsement - which means that Fox and LFL probably wouldn't be too pissed about what he's saying, PLUS with the anti-Star Wars sentiment still around, he can appear to be saying something new and different by talking about how GOOD the movie is.

Add in a leak to the Drudge Report along with fantasies about how LFL and Fox Security is 'going nuts' trying to fix the breach - this give the story a 'controversal' edge.

And finally he shows up on CNN yesterday.

So it could be true that what we have here is a Non Story - a Created News Event that may not have even happened.

But I'm sure his website traffic has been spiking for the past day or so.

------
Now if he had provided a picture off the tv of a scene (any scene) that hasn't been in a trailer or documantary or magazine, then that would be some proof.

 

After seeing the latest report on TF.n which refers to a CNN story makes me believe that LFL did let Harry watch the film. I think it was a smart move. They are getting alot of press do to this so called leak.


As far as the review goes, i have not read it and will not read it till i see the film. I gather that he really enjoyed it, hopefully two years from today Harry Knowles will still stand by those opinions. If after May 16 he says man that movie was awful, then he looses all credibility, but i do not think that will happen

 

It could be a marketing trick from fox and lucas. They just tell him to say that he seen the movie, and they give him a lot of dollars? Anyone

 

Nah, I don't think harry would sell his geek soul for a few bucks - I don't thinkg LFL woudl offer anyway.

The movie will make enough to pay for itself - even if it is a big box office dissapointment. paying off Harry won't effect overall criticial opinion.

AOTC doesn't NEED the critics anyway - I'm sure they'd rather have positive critical praise, but Lucas doesn't really make his movies to get praise fromthe critics (imo).

I think it's possible that LFL leaked a veiwing for Harry because they're pretty confident in the movie they have.

-------

I havent read the whole thing either - I scanned through it until a few spoilers poped up, buti read soem comments were people were saying that there was no new info in his review.

 

Lucasfilm `is glad that he likes it.'

Sus, very sus.

 

Maybe LFL arranged for him to see it, knowing how influential he is?

I love conspiracies.

 

Needless to say, I'l still see AOTC 10 or 20 times no matter what any Internet geek says about it.

 

So what does Lucasfilm stand to gain from the leak? Increased ticket sales?

That depends on how you analyze TPM's release...how much depended on hype and how much on the fact that it was a "Star Wars" movie that people were just going to see in masse.

I think the fact that TPM was, for the most part, panned by the critics tells me that people were going to see this film regardless of the hype, or lack theorof.

Thus, why would Lucasfilm leak AOTC now? People are going to see this movie regardless.

 

If i was the head of a movie corporation, (an evil one, mind you. I'd only be head of an evil one) and afraid the my big summer blowout movie might get lost in the Spiderman/whatever-the sequel storm, the "muahahaha" side of my brain would come up with a plan similar to what happened.

The perfect scheme. Get a possibly influential reviewer who's out of the loop (one who could be considered a closet SW fan) to see it. Make it look like it was stolen, don't reveal the informants and let him rave his head off. Pepsi adds are child's play.

yeeees, tis all coming together now! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

 

Intrigue aside, I still don't think there is much chance of any Star Wars movie, much less AOTC, getting lost in the summer movie shuffle. TPM came out between Matrix, Mummy and Austin Powers 2, not to mention a great little comedy called Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. Nevertheless TPM performed remarkably at the box office.

I don't think Spiderman can take it down, because I think Spiderman will have its own problems. I don't think Tobey McGuire and Kirsten Dunst can carry the movie past AOTC.

 

That doesn't make any sense for Lucasfilm to be using Harry for advertising. Look, the only people to catch wind of Knowles's raving and actually care about it are us fans, and we were already going to see AOTC anyway!

 

I agree that Lucasfilm's showing Episode II to any movie critic at this point is a weak way of building up hype for AOTC. Critics have little power. However, Harry Knowles of AICN is less of a movie critic and more of a genre film cheerleader on the Internet. And, as a cheerleader, he can have more of an impact than most critics.

Yes, Harry is a cheerleader, not much of a critic. I think little of his writing skills and his talents as a movie critic. I usually end up skipping the beginning and ending of his reviews because they are full of hot-aired, first-person descriptions of how he drove to the movie theater and was thinking this and that thought before seeing the movie and how his back aches because he's too fat and how he worships this or that icon. Sorry, Harry, I'm not interested in how you got to the film or details of your personal life. Harry thinks it adds to his reviews by filling them with irrelevant detail about his life as a fanboy. He thinks he is adding subjective narrative that establishment critics suppress. Well, they suppress the filler for good reason: no one cares about the boring details of "how" critics saw the movie; they care more about what the seasoned critic thought of the film, if they care at all.

As an Internet cheerleader, however, Harry has his talents. I won't take that away from him. Harry gets the inside scoop on genre films and dishes it out to an audience of millions. He can help shape the grassroots spin on Episode II on boards much better than most agents on the Internet. If I were a Lucasfilm marketer following the Internet hype, I would be concerned. TPM-bashing is a professional sport on the Internet that has many vocal participants. Insomuch as positive Internet hype is important for the film's success among certain segments of the audience (and fanboys like us are important because we see the movie in the theater between three and twenty times -- the money for Lucasfilm is in the multiple viewings. Right now, Lucasfilm marketers should be concerned that the fanboy base may not be predisposed toward seeing the movie multiple times because of the Internet backlash against TPM and Lucas. For some, after TPM, Star Wars isn't 'cool' anymore. Of course, we don't care whether some perceive SW to be 'cool,' but Lucasfilm marketers care. Their job is to sell a product. If your product is getting slammed and shunned on the Internet [even if it is being defended in other circles], you have a marketing problem that needs to addressed. The LFL marketers would be silly and irresponsible brand managers if they didn't try to harness the power of the Internet to help AOTC full throttle. Don't get me wrong -- the Internet does plenty of good marketing work for LFL, even with the TPM Bashers running most message boards on movie sites. However, LFL should do whatever they can to weaken any pockets of resistance and negativity toward Star Wars on the Internet. That's part of their job. There could be thousands of potential AOTC zealots with access to the Internet who will not tell ten of their friends to see AOTC because of the Internet backlash. Lucasfilm should be trying to make AOTC 'cool' so that disenchanted fanboys do Lucasfilm marketing for them once again. This is a business folks, and fandom is a pivotal aspect to making money). So, giving Harry a chance to rave enthusiastically about the movie two months before AOTC comes out allows for building of positive INternet hype. There are no guarantees that Knowles's review could have this effect, but it has the possibility of changing the contours of the AOTC debate. Instead of people on the Internet arguing whether AOTC will be better or worse than TPM, people will be arguing about how much better AOTC will be.

Nevertheless, I am not sure that Lucasfilm marketing made an official decision to let Knowles see the film. It's possible that a Lucasfilm licensee who had temporary access to the film let Harry see it at the convention in Texas. But that seems unlikely. I don't know why Lucasfilm would ever let a licensee have a copy of

 

Two problems Crimson:

1) Word of mouth on AOTC is already very good. Those who know spoilers (I am only 25-30% spoiled--and I only know some "where" and some "who"...I don't know "when" or "why" or "how") seem to think this movie is going to be really good. So it seems as if word of mouth is already building.

2) Leading into my second point, why would Lucasfilm risk the currently positive word of mouth by showing the film to Knowles? What if he hated it? The movie would be sunk.

 

Whatever happens, it can't get worse. And neither LFL or Fox has lost money on this. AND if they subversively (it sounded right at least) 'let' said employee do said tast without a direct order, then said employee could also be fired as well. Then, along with more generated interest, you have one less guy on your payroll. This whole thing might not do much or anything. But it CAN'T get worse.

again: "MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 

From my certain point of view, it seems like it can't get better. Like I said, word of mouth is already VERY strong, despite the hatred some hold for TPM.

 

Word-of-mouth for AOTC as a near-finished film has yet to begin for the simple reason that few have seen the movie to glow about it on the Internet.

It's true that a small subsection of the potential Internet audience has been highlighting and reading spoiler information on AOTC for over a year. But most of the potential Internet audience for AOTC probably have not been following spoilers religiously. And since when should LFL rely on spoilers alone to drive their Internet marketing? LFL does not rely on millions of people highlighting meely-mouthed, poorly written spy reports on TheForce.net to drive their marketing campaigns. They rely on trailers, advertising, and word-of-mouth reviews. Word-of-mouth reviews are only just starting.

Whatever positive word-of-mouth there is about AOTC already on the Internet could be magnified by ten or twenty with the right grassroots support. I am not sure that Lucasfilm is behind the Knowles viewing. But I am sure that LFL hopes that the positive word-of-mouth snowball starts rolling on the Internet, regardless of whether they showed Harry the film. You can't have too much positive word-of-mouth on AOTC if you're an LFL marketer.

So, as a Star Wars fan, I'm optimistic that the Knowles viewing and, more importantly, subsequent positive reviews that pop-up on the Internet will increase the pro-Star Wars sentiment across the Internet and the media.

 

"In the spolier forum, there was a thread with a spoiler contained within the subject (which they got from the Knowles review)... Sigh... that's the last time I visit the spoiler forum. I should have known better."

It happened to me too. Before I was spoiled and a frequent Spoiler Forum vister. I'm not majorly spoiled, read a few scenes, and know about some major things in the movie. But not THAT spoiled...hopefully. Anyway, I'm going Spoiler-Free now till May 16th.

 

Right on! I'll resist temptation til May 16th. I will be master of my domain!

 

When I started in the forums they directly threw me into the spoiler forum (if you click on the link on the ep2 page). I did not really find major spoilers there, so it was funny. It was kind of the non-spoiler-forum now with all the official stuff that has been released. I left when the major things popped up, but I guess I'm not spoiled too much. The movie will still be so very, very cool.

Plus, I found out that there might be a digital cinema in the neighbourhood! I just asked them if it's true, hope they answer soon... who needs a crappy video tape anyway?

 

Miles Lodson-

To address your second point (I believe Crimson_Jedi adequately addressed your first point):

"Leading into my second point, why would Lucasfilm risk the currently positive word of mouth by showing the film to Knowles? What if he hated it? The movie would be sunk."

Harry was a sure bet to write a positive review. In the past few weeks, he was shamelessly campaigning for someone at Lucasfilm to show him the film and practically guaranteeing them a positive review. And it's perfect to use him rather than someone from a Star Wars-only fan site. Gives it the false appearance of being neutral, as Harry is certainly not neutral.

And remember, that all important first review is going to come early from somebody. If you're Lucasfilm, why not try to control that first review by putting it into the hands of someone that is well known and a sure thing. Makes perfect sense for them to "risk it" with Harry.

 

Word around the campfire is that Harry's "mole" has been caught.

This was not a publicity stunt on Lucasfilm's part.

 

Any word on who the mole actually is?

 

Nimbleknight (and Crimson I guess) I still think word of mouth is strong on this film. Everyone I talk to seems really excited about this movie. All the trailers have been well received. I still think Lucasfilm risks ruining the word of mouth that does exist by leaking this movie.

Of course, if Knowles was guaranteed to review it positively, that's a different story.