14 DAY TRIAL // Terrorists be damned! After weeks of pressure and negative attention from the media and industry people, after canceling the release of the action comedy “The Interview” following 9/11-style threats from hackers grouped under the moniker Guardians of Peace, Sony Pictures has reconsidered its stance and is releasing the film in US theaters on Christmas day after all.
The studio initially shelved the film completely when #GOP, which had broken into its servers last month and had been releasing sensitive information online as a way to pressure them into canceling the release, threatened to bomb every theater screening it.
All major theater chains were given the option to choose between screening it or not, and they all chose not to, so Sony pulled the film. These chains are still not on board, so if you plan to see the film tomorrow, you should go to the smaller, indie circuit.
Sony never gave up on “The Interview”
Despite how the cancelation looked (hint: as if Sony was giving up on the film, dropping it like it was a stinker because of pressure from #GOP), studio bosses say in a statement to THR they never really stopped considering the release.
“We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we're excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day,” Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, says. “At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.”
Right now, about 200 theaters from across the US will run the film, including Alamo Drafthouse, which was very vocal against the initial cancelation – and which promised to make up to moviegoers by screening “Team America: World Police” instead, until Paramount Pictures stepped in and forbade it to.
The same media outlet reports that interest in the film is peaking and that many people have already secured tickets (some even more than for just one viewing), not necessarily because they like James Franco or Seth Rogen, the two stars of the film, but because they want to make a “statement.” That statement is, of course, that the movie industry should not be subject to political constraints, censorship or acts of terrorism.
Obama saved “The Interview”
As was to be expected, Rogen and Franco – and pretty much everyone else involved in the making of the comedy – have already voiced their excitement at the news on social media. Rogen believes that “the people have spoken” and that Sony chose to do the right thing because they saw the kind of support the movie had and what the cancelation meant in the larger scheme of things.
Franco, on the other hand, thinks President Barack Obama (or “Obacca,” as he calls him, after Obama mistakenly referred to him as “James Flacco” in a press conference) saved the film. Obama was very direct when asked about the Sony Hack, saying he believed the studio “made a mistake” in canceling the release because that’s what #GOP told them to do.
He was definitely not the only one to say this, but his words probably did weigh heaviest in the balance.
The Sony Hack and #GOP’s issue with “The Interview”
What seems to have started all this (and prompted the November Sony Hack) was the fact that, in “The Interview,” Franco and Rogen play 2 TV people who score an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who happens to be a big fan of their show.
They’re excited that they get to travel to North Korea for a sit-down with him, but the CIA has other plans for them: agents intercept them and task them with Kim’s assassination. With the hundreds of emails between Sony executives, #GOP also leaked the ending scene of the film… and let’s just say that the dictator probably had a reason to be upset about the film, because he meets a glorious (and gory) end.
An FBI investigation has determined that North Korea was behind #GOP and the Sony Hack, which, obviously, North Korea has denied.
After all, based on Sony’s most recent announcement, it seems that the same investigation has also determined there was no credibility to the threat. By the way, Sony won’t be providing any extra security for theaters opting to screen the film on Christmas day.
The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn't give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) December 23, 2014
VICTORY!!!!!!! The PEOPLE and THE PRESIDENT have spoken!!! SONY to release THE INTERVIEW in theaters on XMAS DAY! A photo posted by James Franco (@jamesfrancotv) on Dec 12, 2014 at 10:26am PST
CELEBRATING!!!!! "The Interview" starring Seth Rogen and James Flacco saved by President Obacco! I MEAN PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!!! Sorry!!! 😬😬😬😬😬 A photo posted by James Franco (@jamesfrancotv) on Dec 12, 2014 at 10:31am PST
