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Well the Interview is essentially fucked.

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/the-interv ... 97412.html

This is really shitty and pisses me off.

Holy shit, I can't believe they all caved. We all know the threats were bullshit, but it's really surprising that AMC and Regal gave into terrorist demands.

If nothing, at least The Interview's PTA will be out of this world now. I have a feeling people will seek it out wherever it's playing to make a statement.

The vague bomb threats were probably bogus, but the chance of being hacked is very real, so why risk it over a movie that was never going to be a big hit anyway. A theatre chain's responsibility is to its shareholders and its employees and no one else. It's the government's job to stand up to terrorists, not Cinemark's.

It sucks that the hacker/terrorists/bullies/nutjobs are getting what they want, but it's just a Seth Rogen movie I had no intention of seeing anyway. He'll have another one ready to drop in six months, assuming anyone will want to release it.

And now it looks like Sony is cancelling The Interview altoghter.

It's so crazy. How can theater chains be so cautious about an unverifiable threat coming from people who are probably North Korean and are just provacating as North Korea have always been for the last 60 years. Nothing is gonna happen in the theaters playing the film.
It probably will boost the theaters deciding to play the film anyway and give it, as you say Banks, a hell of a better PTA than one could have imagined for the film. And once they all see nothing happens, and the numbers are off the charts in terms of PTA, the chains will play the film after all.
(well, I hope).

Sony does cancel the theatrical release of the film. Mega bummer : https://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony ... 201382032/

I can't believe this is happening. This is ridiculous.

Now everyone will know how to prevent the release of a film if someone doesn't want it to be released. Hack the studio releasing it, threaten them, and the film won't get released.

Agree that this sets a TERRIBLE precedent. People are always going to make controversial films and it's a GOOD thing that people have that freedom. Not only does this show that studios can be bullied into not releasing a film, it also means that those same studios are going to have major concerns about this happening to them. That means less risk taking and much safer movies. Sad...

JohnErle wrote:The vague bomb threats were probably bogus, but the chance of being hacked is very real, so why risk it over a movie that was never going to be a big hit anyway. A theatre chain's responsibility is to its shareholders and its employees and no one else. It's the government's job to stand up to terrorists, not Cinemark's.

It sucks that the hacker/terrorists/bullies/nutjobs are getting what they want, but it's just a Seth Rogen movie I had no intention of seeing anyway. He'll have another one ready to drop in six months, assuming anyone will want to release it.

But the problem with this is that it will only lead to more threats, either from the same group or from others. So whatever it's immediate decision may be it's creating a potentially much greater risk going forward.

And if a chain shows the movie and the hackers respond the way we know they're capable of, it establishes the same precedent, plus your shareholders suffer. No corporation wants to go through what Sony is right now, so why shoot yourself in the foot when the end result is basically the same?

Someone on HSX suggested The Interview could end up being the most expensive straight-to-DVD film of all-time. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised.

Edit: Sony is now apparently shopping the film to other distributors. I can't see any major distributor taking it but I wouldn't be surprised if a smaller label such as Relativity or another company in need of a hit considered it.

Straight to DVD would be cost prohibitive - what they'd want to do is VOD. Why press up blu-rays and DVDs when you can sell it digitally with no overhead?

I also seen rumors that it may just be delayed. Theaters were scared that their holiday business would be impacted by scared theatergoers, but if they put together another marketing campaign for a March/April release, I think it'd have no problem playing in America.

Sony is launching a VOD distribution platform in January with Predestination as the premiere title but I can't see a film with a reported $95 million budget going out in a way that would still cause chains not to play it (also the highest grossing on-demand title this year, Snowpierecer, grossed only $7 million on the format). At least with a straight-to-DVD release, more businesses would carry it (and you could promote it as "see the movie Kim Jong-Un and the movie theatres didn't want you to see") and you would still have those television deals to look forward to (FX will definitely shell out a decent amount for basic cable rights).

As for opening in the Spring, April 3rd is a possibility but no one wants to face Furious 7. Also, Sony has Chappie and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 in March and April and earlier this week, Fox scheduled another James Franco film in April. At this point, Sony is probably just going to clean house and forget they ever greenlighted the film. There are simply more important things there to worry about (such as finding a replacement for Amy Pascal, who's probably gone by the beginning of next year).

And yet right now "The interview" has instantly become one of the hottest movies of the moment, and there are no signs the film will get scrapped outside the US. Chances are, the film will get released internationally, and everyone will rush to see the film the US decided not to screen because the last Stalinist regime on the planet which barks a lot but never bites threatened them.
Not only Sony, but everyone in Hollywood will regret this move from the studio.

I don't know. Many of Sony's international branches haven't liked the film or its chances (Australia being an exception), citing the sudden shift from comedy to violent action film in the last half-hour as a main problem (other problems have included the American-centric premise and James Franco's lack of draw internationally). If it opens internationally, it will be probably be limited or straight-to-DVD in non-English speaking markets.