(Note: any resemblance to real events, past, present, or future is purely coincidental)
Once upon a time, a Big Media Conglomerate acquired the film rights to a Certain Media Property and one day assigned the Property to a subsidiary Film Production Studio for development. And from this development work, a Script was written, and Production started. And since the Titular Character of the film was to be computer-generated, Motion-Capture and 3D Modeling was conducted to bring the character to life.
Then on a certain day, it was determined that Sufficient Composited Footage was available to produce A Preview, so one was edited together and released on-line. When The Internet saw The Preview, the outcry was Loud and Thunderous, and many Aspersions were cast upon the Film Production Studio regarding the Extremely Sub-Standard Quality of the 3D character concept as it appeared in what would come to be known as The ‘Damnéd’ Preview.
So, the Film Production Studio walked back The ‘Damnéd’ Preview and told The Internet that it was going to Rework things and come back with Something That Actually Looked Like The Original Character As It Had Appeared In The Source Material And Every Other Medium In Which It Had Ever Been Included Since Time Immemorial.
“Yes, You F*cking Morons,” The Internet said, “that is what you Should Have Done The First Time!”
And then, several months later, the Film Production Studio released an Updated Trailer which “Took Into Account All The Great Feedback That They Had Received From Fans” and The Internet looked upon it and It Was Good. In fact, it was Perfectly In-Line with what A Reasonable Person with Even A Passing Knowledge Of The Character would have Originally Expected.
And, like so many things during Those Divisive Times, two major Factions arose within The Internet. One believed the Film Production Studio had Honestly Made A Huge Mistake by originally designing the 3D model of the character in Near-Complete Opposition to how it had been popularly presented for Nearly 30 Years, but had since Made Amends. The other believed that the Film Production Studio had Orchestrated The Entire Thing in order to Generate Viral Publicity for an otherwise mediocre and “bog-standard” film adaptation of the Certain Media Property.
Both sides Argued Endlessly on Social Media sites with Evidence to back up their opinions, often having Their Own Interpretations of The Same Evidence and whether or not it was Evidence of The Conspiracy or Disproved It.
However, in the end, neither the Media Conglomerate nor the Film Production Studio cared. Their Marketing Budget for the Project, whether it had always been small or had to be reduced in order to offset Major Overruns in the CGI Budget, was still going to be More Than Enough because The Internet and the Popular News Media (who the Media Conglomerate also owned a Not-Insignificant part of) never failed to generate Free Publicity for Controversial Things. They knew that no matter what side of The Controversy individuals might align themselves with, The People would now feel Compelled to see this film anyway, even if they weren’t part of the Original Niche Audience.
And so the Media Conglomerate and the Film Production Studio continued to live happily ever after, already counting the Box-Office Returns.