Or how one “tiny” comedy will cost the studio millions

Dec 17, 2014 16:42 GMT  ·  By

Sony Pictures is in a giant hole and there’s no telling whether it will be able to come out of it, or the damage it will suffer in the long run. Last month, hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace (#GOP) broke into the Sony servers and lifted thousands of files containing sensitive information, releasing it in batches regularly since.

This is just the beginning.

In their warnings and threats to Sony, #GOP made it very clear that the reason they were so angry with the entire company, of which Sony Pictures is just a brand, was because of their greed and shamelessness in greenlighting a movie that stands to disrupt international peace, by making light of terrorism. So #GOP is fighting back in the same way, they say.

#GOP and “The Interview”

Seth Rogen’s most recent film is a $44 million (€35.3 million) action comedy starring good friend James Franco. Rogen also wrote the script and directed the film, which sees him and Franco playing 2 TV people whose show North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a fan of. So he invites them over for an interview.

While they can’t think of anything but the insane ratings this will bring, their government has another idea: the CIA gets in on it and dispatches agents to speak with them and task them with killing the dictator.

They have no choice but to accept the mission, so the humor in the film is derived from the fact that they’re unwilling “secret agents,” who are complete nincompoops to boot and who are trapped inside the world’s most secure location.

Speculation has it that #GOP is a group of mercenaries acting on behalf of North Korea and Kim himself, the real one, this time, and considering how much focus there’s been on the film, it’s no mystery why this rumor started making the rounds.

Authorities are still investigating the hack, but the situation took a turn for the worse the other day, when #GOP sent another warning to Sony: proceed with the release of the movie and we will bomb all US theaters running it.

As a result, various theater chains have already announced they would not screen the film, others asked Sony to pay for extra security if they wanted them to honor their end of the deal, Franco and Rogen dropped out of all promotional appearances, and the big New York premiere has been canceled.

Sony Pictures has said nothing of the latest threat yet, but it did inform theater owners that they could decide against screening the film even though they had previous understandings and contracts.

Sony has no choice but to pull “The Interview”

Nothing is more serious than a terrorist threat. Even though the US Department of Homeland Security has been telling the media that they believe the threat has no credibility, is this risk one that anyone should want to take?

“The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places [where ‘The Interview’ runs] at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.),” the hackers wrote.

This is a most serious threat, one that Sony can’t possibly not take seriously. By canceling the press tour with Franco and Rogen and plans for the NYC premiere, every indication is there that they are thinking of what to do with “The Interview” next.

The worst part is that they don’t have too much time at their disposal: the wide release date is set for December 25, and the hackers are bound to get more active as that day draws near.

A few options for Sony Pictures

As we speak, the entire movie industry is watching Sony to see what they do with this movie that’s already turned into a major headache for them. Not only did it get them exposed and shamed in the media like never before (because of the email exchanges the hackers made public), but it also stands to ruin them altogether.

One option would be for Sony to cancel domestic release of the film, and to have it out only in select markets, in the hope of cutting some losses. The other, more drastic one, would be to pull the comedy completely because, as one producer tells THR, this would be standard procedure if a terrorist threat was made for a concert: you cancel the concert.

Both options would mean that Sony was backing down from the hackers, and in doing so, dancing to their tune – even though they would do it to avoid the hypothetical (for now) risk of bombing.

The other option would be to continue with the release schedule, with whatever cinema chain is still standing by their side once the hackers are done with the threats. What with all the violence going on in the world right now and the huge number of deaths from terrorist attacks, this will probably mean they’ll be running the film in empty theaters.

To make matters even worse, other studios will also start bleeding money because no one will see their films either, if they happened to screen in the same cinema as “The Interview.”

A tough choice, an unprecedented situation

Never before has a movie studio been under this kind of pressure over a film, and never before has this kind of threats been made against it over a stupid comedy (because “The Interview” is stupid, according to Sony Pictures UK exec Peter Taylor, who put it in one of the emails that got leaked).

For years, Sony Pictures has been struggling to keep up with its direct rivals, and the hack / leak has only shown the level of desperation at headquarters to narrow down the gap. This new threat has put the studio in a very tough spot, forcing it to make a decision that may very well seal its fate.

Sony's The Interview (8 Images)

Sony Pictures will lose millions because of "The Interview"
"The Interview" is still scheduled for wide release on December 25, 2014"The Interview" was written and directed by Seth Rogen
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