Just moments after the largest theater chains in North America pulled The Interview from their Christmas Day schedules, Sony has bowed to pressure from hackers and pulled Seth Rogen and James Franco’s The Interview.
The film, written and directed by Rogen and Eric Goldberg, centers on a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. A group of hackers, known as the Guardians of Peace, which have released batches of emails from Sony Pictures’ computers over the past few weeks, threatened theaters that planned to show the film, referencing Sept. 11.
That lead to a domino effect, as Carmike cinemas and Bow Tie Cinemas pulled the film from their schedules. Then, AMC, Regal and Cinemark also pulled the film. That made it impossible for Sony to successfully launch the movie on Christmas Day.
In a statement to the media, Sony noted that after the exhibitors’ decision, they have “decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release.” Later in the statement, the studio added that they still stand behind the filmmakers, their “right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by the outcome.”
FULL STATEMENT from Sony on canceling Dec. 25 release of "The Interview" pic.twitter.com/Yp2IaM1kAG
— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 17, 2014
Rogen and Goldberg, the team also behind This Is The End will go down in film history as the first filmmakers to have a movie pulled because of threats from hackers. It was clear that the moment the message threatening violence was issued on Tuesday that the studio and theaters were going to make a move and that ultimately was a decision to pull it. There’s no word on how Sony plans to distribute the film - if at all - in the future.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com
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