According to Ming Pao Daily, the first footage of Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s latest film “The Warlords,” starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro, has been leaked on Youtube. Media Asia is crying foul, but Ming Pao decides to link the video on their website anyway. Excerpt as follows:

寰亞電影主席莊澄發火要徹查預告片被盜竊事件，導演陳可辛最擔心是長半小時的片花也被上網，對電影構成很大影響。

John Chong, the chairman of Media Asia, is furious and promises to investigate the leak. Director Peter Ho-Sun Chan is most worried that the half-hour highlight reel will also be leaked to the web, causing negative impact on the film.

對YouTube有《投名狀》宣傳片先曝光，寰亞電影主席莊澄指這是非常嚴重的盜竊罪行；這段片原本是5月初才推出的，今次有人未經電影公司同意非法將宣傳片上網，會由專人徹查並追究到底。

Regarding the footage of “The Warlords” being on Youtube, Media Asia chairman John Chong says that it’s a very serious case of robbery. This footage is supposed to be released in the beginning of May, and it’s being shown without the permission of the studio. He’ll have experts investigate to the end.

Original Chinese report

I think the leaked footage, which shows only about a minute of footage in slow motion, actually helps to raise buzz on the film. It’s not like the entire film was leaked on the web, it’s only promotional footage that can only help raise awareness of the film when it comes out in December. Chan says he’s worried that the half-hour highlight reel, edited for the overseas buyers, will leak because it ought to be seen in a cinema and that once people see it, they will lose the desire to see the film in theaters. Honestly, that sounds like a filmmaker who doesn’t have much confidence in his own film. A highlight reel ought to raise anticipation, not discourage people from seeing the film.

In fact, I’m not surprised if Peter Chan or someone at Media Asia pulled a “Heavenly Kings” and leaked the damn thing themselves and cried foul on purpose.

Anyway, this is the leaked footage. See it before it gets removed.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 9:51 pm and is filed under trailers, Hong Kong. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.