In the history of famous "off-message" missives, it is certainly right up there. A veteran Fox News columnist has lost his job after reviewing a leaked version of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, starring Hugh Jackman, which sister company Twentieth Century-Fox is desperately trying to suppress.

A statement released by Fox News said that the company and Roger Friedman had "mutually agreed to part ways immediately". The studio also weighed in to say that Friedman's behaviour was "reprehensible" and that it "condemned this act categorically".

That events should have come to this pass should not be too surprising. Not only did Friedman offer his opinion on the early cut of the film on his Fox 411 blog, joining the estimated one million people who have seen it since it first emerged last week, but he also praised the convenience of downloading films illegally and pointed out that the entire current US box office top 10 was available on torrent sites. "It's so much easier than going out in the rain!" he wrote.

On the movie, Friedman said that it "exceeds expectations at every turn", adding: "I was completely riveted to my desk chair in front of my computer." He also said he was going to download the Paul Rudd comedy I Love You, Man next.

US sites such as Aint It Cool News led the condemnation, angry that Twentieth Century-Fox could countenance Friedman's continued employment when the company had been so determined to track down the source of the leak, even reportedly calling in the FBI in an attempt to find its man.

"What's interesting about all of this is that Fox has a very rigid history on pursuing employees that brazenly break the rules," wrote editor Harry Knowles. "Like when they went after Memflix for reviewing one of their films on AICN – and got him fired. How is this situation any different Fox?

"I mean, if Fox doesn't go after Roger Friedman - aren't they basically telling the entire world... It's ok?"

News Corp, which owns both Fox News and Twentieth Century-Fox, first said on Saturday that Friedman had been fired. But on Sunday afternoon the journalist told Daily Variety that he was still in situ. Any sense of ambiguity, it would seem, has now been resolved.

Some analysts are suggesting the leak might actually help the film's box office when it arrives in cinemas in less than a month's time, although fans on messageboards who have offered their own reviews of the leaked version have been markedly less kind than Friedman. In the past, films that were leaked online before hitting cinemas, such as Hostel II, have performed weakly.