The True History Of Movie Spoilers
The Internet Changes Everything
A 1982 Usenet post about Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan just four days after its was released casually used the phrase "spoiler alert", and by the mid-90s, the Washington Post had published an article discussing the utility of the spoiler alert in online film discussions.
It's worth noting that, until relatively recently, it was incredibly common for major Hollywood blockbusters to receive staggered worldwide releases, with films landing in Europe many months after they've come and gone stateside.
But films also typically enjoyed a slower rollout through cities in decades past, yet as the Internet became a spoiler-filled commodity to be reckoned with, a clear incentive arose for studios to release movies globally as often as possible.
Today, anyone can whip out their phone the moment a movie finishes and post an anonymous spoiler dump online, even if they've signed an embargo.
In extreme cases, they could even post bootleg video of the most spoilerific moments - as happened with leaked footage of Avengers: Endgame's ending 10 days before its worldwide release. And so, the staggered release of a massively anticipated Hollywood tentpole is largely a thing of the past today.
The unpredictable nature of anonymous people is one thing, but it gets even more interesting and messy when you consider professional reviewers who get to see movies ahead of release...
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