After much speculations, the “Interview” film is to be released by Sony on Christmas day afterall on a limited number of screens. This development followed the recent hack on Sony Pictures by North Korea as speculated. Theaters had to decide quickly Tuesday whether they wanted to show the film. People claiming to be the hackers threatened 9/11-style attacks on any movie theater showing “The Interview,” leading several chains to cancel showings and Sony to finally agree to the hackers terms.
Sony held a conference call with theatre owners on Tuesday and gave them the go ahead to release the movie in a limited number of independent cinemas. The decision came after President Barack Obama said Sony had made a mistake withdrawing the movie following a campaign to kill the movie that the US government believes was organised by North Korea.
Michael Lynton, chairman & CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment said the company was looking for other opportunities to distribute the movie to the “largest possible audience.”
Sony has been subject to a lengthy and embarrassing hack coordinated by a group calling itself Guardians of Peace (GOP). The hackers have released a slew of personal emails from Sony’s top executives as well as compromising the personal details of 47,000 employees past and present.
Art House Convergence, a national coalition of independent art house cinemas in the US, had petitioned Sony to allow independent exhibitors to show the film. “With this threat, the issue became larger than any film, larger than Sony and larger than the entertainment industry: societal and artistic values are in peril. We are at an important crossroads with an opportunity to reaffirm clearly our dedication to the value of freedom and the absolute necessity to keep our film industry free of restriction, censorship and violent intimidation,” the group wrote to Sony.
The comedy, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, depicts the assassination of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un. It was pulled last week after GOP issued a threat against cinema goers. “The world will be full of fear”, the message said. “Remember the 11th of September 2001.”
