The Interview | Limited Release on December 25, 2014

[ChD]

Sony's CEO responded to the President on CNN:

 

 

http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/19/media/sony-executive-michael-lynton-responds-to-president-obama/index.html?sr=twmoney121914sonyent0415story

 

Yeah... How about DVD? DVD Stores and Websites are afraid of exploding/getting hacked.

 

Or Play stations randomly exploding across the United States.

[MovieGuyKyle17]

This needs to be in the Box Office forum not On The Lot. So many twist and turns. This will be looked back on for a lot of things.

[Alpha]

Yeah... How about DVD? DVD Stores and Websites are afraid of exploding/getting hacked.

 

Or Play stations randomly exploding across the United States.

 

Let's all sell our HDTVs before North Korea bombs them.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Alpha

[Alpha]

Sony is "actively surveying" different ways to release the film, so consider this as a confirmation that it will be released in the near future.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/19/7423921/sony-not-one-major-vod-has-stepped-forward-for-the-interview

 

Sony Pictures Entertainment is and always has been strongly committed to the First Amendment. For more than three weeks, despite brutal intrusions into our company and our employees’ personal lives, we maintained our focus on one goal: getting the film The Interview released. Free expression should never be suppressed by threats and extortion.

 

The decision not to move forward with the December 25 theatrical release of The Interview was made as a result of the majority of the nation’s theater owners choosing not to screen the film. This was their decision.

 

Let us be clear – the only decision that we have made with respect to release of the film was not to release it on Christmas Day in theaters, after the theater owners declined to show it. Without theaters, we could not release it in the theaters on Christmas Day. We had no choice.

 

After that decision, we immediately began actively surveying alternatives to enable us to release the movie on a different platform. It is still our hope that anyone who wants to see this movie will get the opportunity to do so.

 

Also, BitTorrent is willing to release the movie.

 

http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/19/bittorrent-invites-sony-pictures-to-release-the-interview-on-its-platform/

 

Like everyone else around the world, we’ve been following this egregious hacking of Sony’s servers over the past few weeks.

 

A trend has emerged among commentary in the days since Sony announced they would not release the motion picture, “The Interview.” There have been calls for Sony to release the film online. And many have contacted us asking: Would they be able to release the movie using BitTorrent?

 

Though we normally would not offer commentary during such a trying time for another company, the answer is yes. BitTorrent Bundle is in fact the very best way for Sony to take back control of their film, to not acquiesce to terrorist threats, and to ensure a wide audience can view the film safely. It would also strike a strong note for free speech.

 

Bundle has a self-publishing platform that anyone from Sony can use: https://bundles.bittorrent.com/publish. Using the paygate option, Sony are able to set the price for the film and release it widely without implicating anyone or exposing any third party to a terrorist threat.

 

We disagree, however, with some that have suggested that Sony should make the film available through piracy sites. That would only serve to encourage bad actors. It’s also important to make the distinction that these piracy sites are not “torrent sites.” They are piracy sites that are wrongfully exploiting torrent technology.

 

BitTorrent Bundle is a safe and legal way for Sony to release this film and they would join the nearly 20,000 creators and rights holders now using the Bundle publishing platform.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Alpha

[grey ghost]

I'm hoping for release on dvd  and VOD

 

It sends a bad message to Hollywood when a terrorist can decide which movies get canceled.

Edited December 19, 2014 by grey ghost

[Alpha]

Even if they do go the route of an online release, there's no way it comes in the next few weeks. It's really easy to say "just put it on VOD" without thinking of all the contracts that'll have to be unwound that count on this thing having a wide release. It'll probably take months before it's even possible we could see this movie.

[AniNate]

Here's a good article semi-justifying Sony's decision

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/us-must-defend-us-culture-from-north-korea.html?mid=twitter_nymag

 

Now that Obama has publicly come out against pulling it, the government definitely ought to step in to protect Sony from liability.

[grim22]

This was... inevitable: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hustler-produce-porn-parody-interview-759578?utm_source=twitter

 

The porn industry is jumping onto the bandwagon in the wake of the Sony cyberattack.
 

Hustler Video, the purveyor of an endlessly expanding library of pornographic parodies of pop cultural touchstones, from The Simpsons to Glee to Game of Thrones, will produce This Ain't the Interview XXX, an adult-video spoof of the Seth Rogen North Korea-set comedy.
 

The story will center on two civilians recruited by the CIA to assassinate the leader of North Korea. 
 

"If Kim Jong Un and his henchmen were upset before, wait till they see the movie we're going to make," Flynt added.

 

[Alpha]

This was... inevitable: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hustler-produce-porn-parody-interview-759578?utm_source=twitter

 

Looks like North Korea is now gonna blow up my dildo.

[Ozymandias]

I'm not usually one who puts any stock in anything that celebrities have to say about the world, but I'm liking these:

 

Sean Penn: "The damage we do to ourselves typically outweighs the harm caused by outside threats or actions. Then by caving to the outside threat, we make our nightmares real. The decision to pull The Interview is historic. It’s a case of putting short term interests ahead of the long term. If we don’t get the world on board to see that this is a game changer, if this hacking doesn’t frighten the Chinese and the Russians, we’re in for a very different world, a very different country, community, and a very different culture."

 

Ben Stiller: “Really hard to believe this is the response to a threat to freedom of expression here in America.”

 

Judd Apatow:  “I think it is disgraceful that these theaters are not showing The Interview. Will they pull any movie that gets an anonymous threat now?”

 

Jimmy Kimmel: “I agree wholeheartedly. An un-American act of cowardice that validates terrorist actions and sets a terrifying precedent.”

 

Rob Lowe:  “Wow. Everyone caved. The hackers won. An utter and complete victory for them. Wow.”

Edited December 20, 2014 by Ozymandias

[dashrendar44]

Now that's funny:

 

 

An Open Letter from Troma's Lloyd Kaufman 

to Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

New York, N.Y., December 19, 2014 - Greetings from Tromaville! We here at Troma Entertainment wish to publicly express our adulation for the supreme leader, Kim Jong-Un; Great Successor, Young Master, Brilliant Comrade, founder of the first ever "K-pop" girl band in North Korea (Moranbong), and our Lil' Kim. In light of recent events, Troma wishes to distance itself from Hollywood's

for the Great One. 

 

 

Troma stands proudly with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and offers our sincerest apologies for this shameless, disrespectful, and tasteless terrorist film "The Interview". Do not worry--if the film is released, our box office analysts have projected at most a 20% success ratio for the film, much like North Korea's beloved space program.

Our political and social code stands in stark contrast to the evil imperialist lapdogs Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Rupert Murdoch, Time Warner, and the like. Since our founding in 1974, Troma has only produced films that are of upstanding socialist values, such as 'Surf Nazi's Must Die' and 'The Toxic Avenger' (going as far as only including its 28 state-approved haircuts for all our actors). 

 

 

 

For 40 years The Outstanding Leader and his ancestor Gods have been the role model for Troma Entertainment. This is evidenced by the fact that we have patterned our economic strategy of "no revenue" on the North Korean economic model. Kim Jong-Un has also inspired us (like his father before him, who learned to walk and talk at the age of three weeks and wrote 1500 books in three years) with how well he treats his loyal citizens and how happy he has made them... We can say with great pride that, likewise, our employees have not asked for any pay raises and are so happy in their work that they do not ask for Christmas bonuses or overtime pay, wholeheartedly enjoying their six-day work weeks as well as their enforced "volunteer" work.

 

Your researchers have concluded that North Korea is the second happiest country behind China, and we want to be happy too. If the People's Republic needs any of our private emails or passwords, we will fax them to you promptly. Any who refuse will be sent to a prison labor camp, along with their families, for three generations of punishment. We would also like to assure you and the state for the record that the dishonorable propagandists James Franco and Seth Rogen will not be cast in our upcoming film 'The Toxic Avenger 5: Toxie Goes to Chernobyl.' Most important, we pray that none of these recent obscenities have tainted your pure and chaste friendship with our greatest national treasure, Dennis Rodman.

 

ALL HAIL THE YOUNG MASTER.

 

Lloyd Kaufman and the Troma Team

[SpiderByte]

It's perfectly ironic that by trying to kill it North Korea made this one of the most anticipated releases of the year.

[Noctis]

Yea...this shit wouldn't have happened in Europe.

I'm not a fan of Obama at all, but I like what he said. Can't they release it in January?

[Alpha]

Looks like all of the movie's promotional material is wiped from the Internet. For Lynton to say stuff like "we aren't giving in," there's a lot of shit that's being purged.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/19/7425465/no-traces-of-sonys-interview-movie-sites-online

 

Despite making overtures that it has not "caved," or "backed down," in the face of hacker threats, Sony Pictures appears to have been quietly pulling each and every online promotion for its movie, The Interview. As of Friday evening, the film's website, Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram, Tumblr, and YouTube channel (plus trailers from Sony Pictures' channel) have all disappeared without so much as a note that suggests they'd be back.

 

It's unclear if this is a direct result of an earlier threat from the hacker group that demanded the studio remove any and all signs that The Interview ever existed. A purported email sent to top Sony executives threatened to release more information if the studio did not scrub "everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version" from the internet.

 

Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the removals were intentional.

Edited December 20, 2014 by Alpha

[Alpha]

I think at this point, they're just gonna wait until all loose ends are tied up (AKA perpetrators caught), and then find a release date that isn't too far away (in order to prevent any other events from happening), and restart their marketing campaign.

[skykisser]

Here's a good article semi-justifying Sony's decision

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/us-must-defend-us-culture-from-north-korea.html?mid=twitter_nymag

 

Now that Obama has publicly come out against pulling it, the government definitely ought to step in to protect Sony from liability.

 

This, IMO liability is really the only thing stopping Sony and theatres from not giving in. Reality is there are sue-happy opportunists out there that are maybe crazy enough to create an incident at a theatre. Doesn't matter which studio, they would have all done the same. Look at Paramount pulling Team America.

Edited December 20, 2014 by skykisser

[filmlover]

I think at this point, they're just gonna wait until all loose ends are tied up (AKA perpetrators caught), and then find a release date that isn't too far away (in order to prevent any other events from happening), and restart their marketing campaign.

Agreed with this. If the hackers are caught by say February or March, they should just instantly go for an April release.

 

That's the most likely scenario at this point instead of doing something completely unprecedented by releasing a major Hollywood movie (one that has stirred up as much controversy and headaches as this has) on a major streaming platform, risking said platform getting hacked too. Both Sony and the major chains both deserve equal amount of the "blame", not just Sony like Obama did; if the studio hadn't basically surrendered and given the theaters the "go ahead" to drop the movie, that would likely have an impact on the future of the studio/theater chain business relationship when it comes to distributing movies. This is already a completely unprecedented situation, so the way they are reacting, when really thinking about it, doesn't seem that absurd.

[lab276]

I hope it goes in theatres and not VOD or something.

[Chewy]

I hope it goes in theatres and not VOD or something.

 

Seems unlikely at this point

[CloneWars]

He does have a point. The theater chains are the ones that pretty much forced Sony to cancel the theatrical release.

Still not an excuse to release it digitally.

Umm...There were small theaters that wanted to show this film. It could have played there, done huge business, had a great PTA and expanded. Also, Sony told theaters they could pull the film and that's what happened. Sony is backpedaling and 100% at fault here.