7 Times Studios/Networks Have Experienced Major Leaks

Many fans were disappointed when Paramount chose to cancel a planned January theatre release for Avatar: The Last Airbender Sequel film Aang: The Last Airbender, in favour of an October 6 streaming release on Paramount Plus. Now, this past week, months out from it's official release, the entire film has been leaked online.

This is not the first time a major studio has suffered a serious hack or leak resulting in the early release of film scripts or footage. Let's look back at some of those previous incidents.

1. Scream 2

With the massive success of the first Scream, it wasn't long before a sequel was greenlit. However, soon after writer Kevin Williamson handed over the script for said sequel, an extra leaked the entire thing onto the Internet, spoiling the identity of Scream 2’s Ghostface killer. Wide public access to the internet was relatively new at the time, so this was the first time such a problem had occurred.

The solution was that much of the script was rewritten, the Killer altered, and the fates of certain characters were changed, some for better, others for worse. Fan favourite Randy Meeks was supposedly a victim of the rewrite, and Williamson apparently regrets killing him off so early in the franchise.

2. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Prior to it's release in 2005, at the time under 20th Century Fox, Star Wars Episode II: Revenge of the Sith, was subject to a number of leaks. As the final entry in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, fans were eager for any new info they could get their hands on. Bootleg copies of the film's trailer leaked weeks before it officially premiered, and shortly before it reached theatres, the full film leaked online.

Thankfully, the leak didn’t affect the film’s box office too much. The ending, Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader, was already a foregone conclusion, so spoilers were less of an issue than would otherwise have been the case, and even if they watched the leak, most fans still wanted to see the movie on the big screen.

3. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Fox suffered another major leak when a copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a Wolverine-centric prequel to the original X-Men trilogy, emerged online. Unlike Revenge of the Sith, X-Men Origins was not yet complete when it leaked, with the leaked version featuring multiple unfinished visual effects sequences.

Largely because of it's unfinished status, the leak didn't do any harm to X-Men Origins: Wolverine's box office. However, a good box office couldn't save the film from poor reviews from both fans and critics. The negative reception ended plans for a solo X-Men Origins: Magneto film, with some elements of the film being folded into X-Men: First Class, a prequel more focused on the origin of the X-Men as a whole.

One of X-Men Origins: Wolverine's biggest missteps was how it handled Wade Wilson, better known to most fans as Deadpool. The mistake was famously lampooned in Deadpool 2.

4. Doctor Who's Series 7 Finale

2013 was a big year for British sci-fi classic Doctor Who, marking the series 50th anniversary. For most of the year, the BBC and Doctor Who's then showrunner Steven Moffat hyped the revival's series 7 finale, 'The Name of The Doctor', set to air in late May, as including a game changing twist setting up The Day of The Doctor, a movie-length anniversary special airing that November.

Unfortunately, thanks to an error, 210 Blu-Ray copies of Series 7 part two shipped early in the U.S, giving 210 fans access to 'The Name of The Doctor' a week before it's airdate. Rather than resorting to threats, Moffat and various official BBC and Doctor Who accounts politely requested that those fans not spoil the episode for others, promising that a set video from Day of The Doctor would be released in exchange for silence. Miraculously, footage of the twist, a secret new incarnation of The Doctor, remained offline until after the finale had officially aired.

5. The Big Sony Hack

In 2014, a group calling themselves the Guardians of Peace hacked the computer network of Sony Pictures Entertainment, leaking emails, employee records, and full unreleased films, including Annie and Still Alice. The reason for the hack was an attempt to halt the release of The Interview, a controversial comedy in which a pair of bumbling American Journalists are granted access to North Korea to interview Kim-Jong Un.

One of the biggest reveals from the release was a series of emails between Sony and Marvel Studios negotiating a deal to share Spider-Man. The deal was made official and public shortly after the leak, with Tom Holland soon cast as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

6. HBO's 'Game of Thrones' problem

In 2017, hackers accessed HBO's online storage, leaking multiple episodes of HBO shows, most notably, a number of late season 7 episodes of Game of Thrones. The leaked episodes including a number of major plot twists, including the death and dark resurrection of Viserion, one of Daenerys Targaryen's dragons, at the hands of the Night King. In 2019, during the airing of Game of Thrones eighth and final season, plot details from the final few episodes leaked online.

Following the second leak, HBO vowed to beef up their online security..

..Then in 2022, the first season finale of Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon leaked just days before airing. The situation resulted in many memes.

7. The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender

Which brings us to the most recent leak. Earlier this year, fans were disappointed by the news that Paramount had chosen to pull The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, a sequel film depicting the characters of beloved animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender as adults, from a planned theatre release in favour of sending it straight to streaming. Many declared the move a cash-grab forcing fans to subscribe to the studio's struggling streaming service, Paramount Plus.

Recently, the complete, high quality film was sent as an email attachment and subsequently leaked online. Whether the leak was an intentional move by a disgruntled staff member has been debated among fans.

It seems the occasional online content leak is just part of the reality of the internet age. Whether fans consume the leaked content, or wait for official release is a moral question each must answer for themselves.