Sternly-Worded, "The First Rule of 'Fight Club' Blu-Ray Secret" Wantonly Ignored; People This Is What Begat Project Mayhem

Early this week we got our review copy of the new 10th Anniversary (has it really been that long? God we’re old) Blu-ray of David Fincher’s underground boxing classic “Fight Club,” along with a strongly worded note affixed to the box.

“The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about the gag,” the note reads.

“The ‘Fight Club’ Blu-ray disc includes a special gag for the ‘Fight Club’ fans designed by David Fincher. Upon insertion of the disc, the gag is evident and for that reason, we are asking that it be held under embargo… Fincher created this gag as a surprise for the fans, so we want to honor his intentions by keeping it under embargo until after the street day.”

One day after, to be exact – Fox gave all the “Fight Club” super-fans out there (probably a lot of angry teens who have Playstation 3 gaming consoles) exactly one day to discover the gag all their own. Then Fox themselves decided to ruin it for everyone. And their method of dissemination? Another press release, of course! The Consumerist put it up online yesterday.

Here it is: “As you have probably noticed, there is a ‘Never Been Kissed’ gag on the ‘Fight Club’ 10th Anniversary BD, evident immediately upon insertion. As promised, below you’ll find the background on this prank, which was devised by David Fincher himself.

Fincher was heavily involved in the 10th Anniversary BD and as you may know, is a bit of a prankster. As a fun gag for the Fight Club fans, Fincher wanted the Fight Club Blu-ray Disc to begin with “a fake menu” of a romantic comedy from the same year as Fight Club, as a trick on the audience. “Never Been Kissed” was his top choice and he eventually went to Drew Barrymore for her approval. When users insert the disc into their BD player, the menu for “Never Been Kissed” will pop up for a few seconds prior to the real Fight Club menu.”

Yes, you put in the disc and you get a menu for the goopy Drew Barrymore romantic comedy, and then it quickly transitions to the “Fight Club” menu. It’s very cute. And it was a fun little surprise for everyone, for a day. At the end of the press release, it says, “Please feel free to let your readers know about this prank and Fincher’s intentions.” Of course. Because the notoriously finicky Fincher went through all that trouble, got approval from Barrymore, so a bunch of critics and bloggers could ruin it the day after the release. Doubtful.

Also doubtful: that Fincher had much of anything to do with this Blu-ray. While there are a couple of very brief new pieces on the discs, and it looks and sounds incredible, it’s all mostly warmed-over stuff from the admittedly great two-disc DVD from 2000. Here’s hoping those persistent rumors of a Criterion edition of “The Game” finally come true in 2010.

Also, remember these? Funny.