As excited as everyone was about the Christmas Day release of The Interview, Sony Pictures has announced that they will be canceling the release. The movie revolved around a plot to assassinate North Korea’s leader.
Apparently Sony said that they won’t be screening the film due to the wake of threats they have received by a group that supposedly hacked Sony’s internal documents.
“We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public,” stated Sony. “We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.”
Along with that, multiple news sources say that Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, Carmike Cinemas and Cineplex Entertainment will not screen the film which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco.
According to The Wall Street Journal, theaters “won’t play the film until the conclusion of federal authorities’ investigation into the three-week-old cyber-attack on Sony Pictures and subsequent terrorist threats.”
The National Association of Theater Owners stated that “individual cinema operators may decide to delay exhibition of the movie so that our guests may enjoy a safe holiday movie season experiencing the many other exciting films we have to offer.”
Yet a group of hackers by the name of Guardians of Peace stated on Tuesday that “The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2011.”
However, The Department of Homeland Security said that they don’t perceive that as a credible threat.
Issues with Sony began late November, when the group hacked their computer system and released some internal documents. This included personal details of its employees, email correspondence of top studio executives, films and scripts.
The theater that was supposed to host the movie’s New York premiere canceled the screening on Tuesday. Sony had already given theaters permission to not show the film. The studio also canceled Rogen and Franco’s promotional appearances for the movie.
U.S. intelligence officials also believe that North Korea played a key role in the computer breach and that they were behind the hack.
What do you think about this? Do you think it’s a bluff or could the U.S truly be facing a threat when it comes to releasing films?
