After an extremely busy day, Sam returned to his rented apartment. Exhausted to the point of having no appetite, he walked to the window and gazed into the distance, but all he could see were layers upon layers of tall buildings.
Through the gaps between the streets, however, he could still see the huge billboards in the Bereck Commercial Plaza not far away. Among them was a poster for The Last of Us, the latest work by his favorite director, Gilbert.
But recently, Sam had watched the trailer for Transformers online, and it attracted him even more. He found himself wanting to see that film instead.
Thus, Sam was torn—on one hand was Gilbert's newest film, and on the other, the Transformers movie that deeply intrigued him. He couldn't decide.
For someone with a better financial situation, this wouldn't even be a dilemma since the two films weren't releasing at the same time, meaning both could be watched.
But for Sam, it was different. His income was limited, and watching a movie in theaters was already a luxury. Going to see just one film was a big deal.
Taking a deep breath, Sam sat down at the small table beside his bed, turned on his secondhand computer, and browsed video-sharing sites. He also checked social media for updates on the official account of Melon Studios and rewatched trailers.
The Last of Us, Iron Man, and Transformers were the three summer films he most wanted to see this year. But he had to give one up and could only afford to see two.
Unable to decide which movie to skip, Sam opened a movie community forum, planning to post and ask other netizens for advice.
But as soon as he entered the forum, a pinned thread immediately caught his attention.
"Transformers HD Full Version—Click Fast if You Want to Watch!"
Sam frowned at the post, which had hundreds of thousands of views and over ten thousand replies.
Could the film have been leaked?
Sam wasn't exactly a hardcore movie fan, but he knew that if a film was leaked before its official release, it could cause huge damage to its box office performance.
Incidents like this had happened in Hollywood before, but they usually involved small or mid-budget B-movies, gory horror flicks, or crude comedies that didn't attract much attention.
Smaller studios often had weaker security measures, so leaks were somewhat understandable.
But this time, the leaked movie was Transformers—a major summer blockbuster with an investment exceeding one hundred million dollars. The consequences of such a leak could be devastating.
Though his instincts told him not to click the link—it could easily be a virus—Sam couldn't resist in the end. He clicked and began downloading it.
The wait was tedious, so while the video downloaded, Sam kept browsing the forum. He noticed that similar posts were spreading rapidly across the internet.
If the leak was real, Sky Dance Studios was in big trouble.
Previous leak incidents—back when the internet wasn't even as developed as it was now—had already caused severe damage to legitimate releases.
As he was lost in thought, the download finished.
Even though he knew watching it was unethical, curiosity won out in the end. Sam opened the video.
From the very first second, he knew the leak was real.
The video quality was excellent, just a notch below DVD quality. The male lead, also named Sam, was played by Andrew Garfield.
In the upper right corner was a timestamp and the Sky Dance Studios watermark, proving it was an internal version and it lacked background music, confirming it wasn't the final cut.
Sam was completely absorbed, especially when the yellow Chevrolet transformed into Bumblebee. That scene thrilled him so much he couldn't stop watching.
He quickly paused the video, ran downstairs to buy a hot dog, made a cup of coffee, and came back to continue watching.
But after a while, he noticed something off. The male and female leads were suddenly acting in front of thin air—the mighty robots were nowhere to be seen.
Then came shots with green screens still visible. Sam realized this was clearly an unfinished version.
Even more surprising, the video was only an hour long. Obviously, no theatrical movie would be that short—some TV episodes were longer than that.
Disappointed, Sam closed the video. After dinner, he lay on his bed, his mind replaying the Bumblebee transformation scene over and over. That moment had captivated him so deeply that his desire to watch the finished film in theaters only grew stronger.
And Sam wasn't the only one who felt this way. Across America, countless netizens who had watched the leaked version online shared the same thought.
In Melon Studios' brightly lit conference room, Gilbert sat with Cameron Diaz, Ivanka, Sheena Boone, Anna, and others as they finished watching the leaked footage together.
"Everyone, tell me—what do you think happened here?" Gilbert asked.
Anna spoke first. "I think there are two possibilities. One, someone inside MGM-UA leaked the source file. Two, the server was hacked, and the material was stolen."
Sheena Boone added, "I think the second possibility is more likely. If it were an insider, they wouldn't have leaked an unfinished version."
"Exactly," Cameron Diaz agreed. "If it were me, I'd definitely steal the final version."
"But why?" Ivanka asked in confusion. "If it's the first case, then it must be a rival studio trying to sabotage Transformers' box office.
But if it's the second, then the hacker should've contacted MGM-UA or Melon Studios to demand ransom instead."
"Yeah, I can't figure it out either."
The conference room fell silent for a moment. Clearly, this move had everyone confused — no one could tell what kind of game was being played.
Gilbert tapped his fingers lightly on the table, thinking for a while before a thought struck him.
"What if," he said slowly, "this whole thing was orchestrated by Sky Dance Studios themselves?"
"You mean Sky Dance Studios leaked it on purpose? But why?"
Gilbert explained, "Think about it. Put aside your personal stance for a moment. If you were just an ordinary movie fan who suddenly got to see an unfinished version of Transformers, what would you think?"
"Of course I'd want to see the full version…" Ivanka suddenly understood. "Oh, that's it! Sky Dance Studios leaked the source file on purpose to draw audiences to see the completed version — which can only be watched in theaters.
And we've also seen it — they called it the full version, but it's actually just about an hour long. The real finished footage is only in the first twenty-something minutes."
Everyone realized the point at once. Cameron Diaz covered her mouth and said, "Oh my God, that's actually a clever marketing strategy — unconventional, but it really works!"
Sheena Boone added, "Now it depends on how Sky Dance Studios reacts. I think they'll make a big show of investigating it, maybe even bring in the FBI just to blow it up further."
"Exactly," Anna chimed in. "Since the file has already spread across the internet, the key now is to make sure even more people hear about it and start looking for it.
Once they've seen the leaked version, a large portion of them will be curious enough to go watch the full movie in theaters."
Everyone began discussing, filling in the details of what seemed to be Sky Dance Studios' marketing plan.
However, all of this was still just speculation. Nobody knew what the truth actually was.
Still, that didn't stop Gilbert from making his own preparations. He immediately called Robert Iger and Doug Walter.
Not long after, Robert Iger got in touch with Sony Columbia Pictures' Japanese-American executive, Ichika Yamamoto.
..
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