Images from the film of King are now trending like wildfire on social media. Main hero is Shah Rukh Khan. The movie’s investors have one huge headache right now. If this happens, somebody takes a secret picture of a film set and uploads it, it becomes a huge legal problem. It’s a major breach of IP rights in the movie industry. Studios spend crores of rupees. They create these sets, make the costumes and arrange the stunts. They own all of it. The surprise was taken from a random person with a smartphone camera. This has happened quite frequently recently. Nevertheless, this particular leak is in a different magnitude. Several important moments suddenly appeared on the Web. Fans are downloading them and sharing them quicker than anybody can catch up with.
In reality, the South Africa Leaks reveal
So, let’s see what leaked onto the Internet this past weekend. Fans witnessed Shah Rukh Khan getting really beaten up. He had a gigantic bruise on his face. His face was a very serious expression. The back area behind him seemed to be a dusty and rough area with old cars. As soon as it aired on the web, they began speculating that this was the big climax chase scene. They made this guess because the actor was spotted in the black Mustang around the shooting sites in South Africa earlier. A new photograph was posted soon after. This one had the appearance of Abhishek Bachchan. He has taken over the role of the main antagonist in King. In this particular leaked image, Bachchan is standing right on top of a moving car. He has a shotgun in his hands. It suggests a big physical confrontation between the two actors. There were even older leakages of the film that were released a few weeks ago where Deepika Padukone was seen dancing with Shah Rukh Khan on the same set holding hands. All the details that the producers wanted to hide from the public are now out on public timelines for dissection.
A Frustrated Director Speaks Out
Siddharth Anand is closely involved with the project. He was forced to halt his own work in order to post a public warning online. He was very straightforward with his message. He pleaded with fans to cease-and-desist sharing the files. He wrote a letter saying that the film crew is working all hours to make a fitting movie experience. Anand appeals to the public to wait for the actual promotional material. He wants the big surprise to occur within a movie theatre. His exact quote was asking fans to not upload or forward any leaked multimedia from the King sets. The last thing film directors want to do is experience this. They have specific dates for a poster and/or a teaser video. If they are random, fuzzy and off quality, the entire marketing schedule goes out the window.
The True Cost of Damaged Marketing Schedules
Movie marketing is a business that has a strict procedure. A production house essentially plans for an entire month at a time. They choose the precise month when the hero will appear.They select the right month when the hero will come to them. They decide the precise week they will reveal the bad guy’s look. These all have a direct relationship with intellectual property rights. One of these, the studio owns, is the visual identity of the film. They have the legal rights to the designs of the characters and the set pieces. If there is a sudden leak, the studio has no control of its own property. In some cases they need to burn additional cash simply to attempt to cleanse the internet. They contract outside companies that only send thousands of copyright strike notices to platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. They compel those platforms to remove the images as they’re not authorized to use the copyrighted images. But it’s just too fast for the Internet. Once one post is deleted by a legal team 5 more are posted on different anonymous accounts within minutes.
Dealing with Copyright Nightmares at How Studios
The movie crew becomes exhausted when dealing with stolen images. The legal teams must intervene in a prompt fashion. These leaks are seen by them as a violation of their property rights. Movie script and how it is presented visually is completely in the hands of the movie producers till the official release date. Someone sneaks into a closed set in Cape Town and gets a quick video: They’re stealing a part of that commercial product. This is the issue that King producers are facing at this moment. They are required to find the source of the leak. Was it a day’s work by a local worker? Was it a random fan behind a fence using a zoom lens? Rarely they discover the person. Rather, they engage in a lot of damage control. They post a ton of copyright strikes on social media. Fan accounts sharing the video may be permanently banned. The movie studios have to play a vicious “whack-a-mole” game to safeguard their huge financial investment.
The Cast and the December Target
King is scheduled to release on December 24th for the Christmas holiday window. The risk in this film is huge. It reunites Shah Rukh Khan and Siddharth Anand after the immensely popular Pathaan. The cast has a lot of popular faces. Suhana Khan is making her first big break in a film on the big screen with her father. Other actors on board for the project include Anil Kapoor, Raghav Juyal and Rani Mukerji. The production team is currently filming scenes in various countries around the world. Cape Town was one of the prime destinations. They still have a long way to go with their film. Now they are trying to put more physical safety in the set to prevent any more photos from escaping. All the crew are in pretty high alert right now.
