UPDATE: Sorry, conspiracy theorists, Sony says, no, the studio did not post the trailer on YouTube.
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Is it an unauthorized leak, or is it a publicity-seeking plant?
Suspicious sorts think they know who's behind the pirated-looking Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trailer on YouTube—and they don't think it's Dutch pirates.
"The only logical explanation is that it's intentional," Movie City News' David Poland told us.
That's intentional as in, Sony Pictures, the studio that's releasing the much-anticipated, David Fincher-directed Dragon Tattoo in December, accidentally on purpose let the trailer cat out of the bag.
From a Salon feature to a Movieline tweet ("How do you know the 'Dragon Tattoo' trailer 'leak' is probably from Sony? Hint: It's in stereo."), the conspiracy theory gained traction.
As Poland explained it, the intrigue started last week when a rumor went around that a Dragon Tattoo teaser had debuted in Europe. The curious, if not impossible, thing was that the clip didn't show up here.
Then, on Saturday, it did.
A red-band teaser, with all the pulsing music, motorcycles and in-your-face graphics you'd expect from Fincher, if not the freaky, international best-selling thriller novel upon which it's based, popped up courtesy a newly created YouTube account credited to a 36-year-old in the Netherlands who goes by the user name Sony Pictures dobvlvstiuwir.
In the hacker spirit of Lisbeth Salander, the YouTube clip looks as if the trailer was hacked—videotaped on the sly off a screen. But from where?
"My guess is it's showing in the Cary Grant Theatre on the Sony lot," Poland jokes.
Then again, the trailer was attached to some prints of The Hangover Part II, and per the Hollywood Reporter, that's where Sony thinks the trailer got captured by a camcorder-carrying pirate.
Dobvlvstiuwir's YouTube clip scored more than 1 million views before it was pulled down Monday afternoon at Sony's insistence. (Of course, the fact that the original clip was up for as long as four days only served to act as "proof" that the studio must have wanted it out there.)
And while we're trying to unravel mysteries, why exactly is the trailer considered red-band worthy? What's so R-rated about it?
Well, assuming you can still find the clip online, around the 35-second mark, as Poland clued us in, Rooney Mara's right nipple makes a very brief cameo.
If you're looking for a presumably nipple-free Dragon Tattoo preview, then you're in luck.
Sony's set to release the film's teaser trailer on Thursday.
Or should that be the film's second teaser trailer?