Update: Variety reports that U.S. officials have officially named North Korea as the perpetrators of the hack on Sony.
The past 48 hours or so have been fascinating and frustrating to watch unfold. With the (ironically named) hacker group Guardians of Peace issuing a direct threat yesterday to theaters that planned to show Seth Rogen and James Franco‘s "The Interview" (our review), tossing around comparisons to 9/11, it didn’t take long for cinemas to react. Before the day was out, Carmike announced they will not screen the movie, the New York premiere was canceled, and Rogen and Franco pulled out of their scheduled media appearances. But today, things escalated.
By this afternoon, Regal, AMC, Cinemark, Bow Tie, Arclight, and Canada’s major chain Cineplex all announced they won’t show the movie either. Now bear in mind, this was not Sony‘s decision. The studio, by all accounts, was ready to proceed with the release, though they did give exhibitors their blessing to opt out. And they have en masse. Now Sony has decided to scrap the release of the film altogether. Here’s their full statement (via THR):
This is a shocking move for a number of reasons. Firstly, Homeland Security has already stated they have no credible intelligence about any attacks on movie theaters, but moreover, it sets a terrible precedent. Who is to say they won’t make another similar threat when another movie comes down the line that is "offensive." Granted, no one wants to undervalue the threats only to have something happen, but it’s the start of a slippery slope.
There is another troubling element too. When three or four distributions can effectively force a major studio to drop release plans for a movie, it’s makes you wonder when that power might be exercised for other "controversial" films that may not fit the tastes of certain groups or audiences. For a long time, film distribution has been in the hands of a few major players, but we perhaps haven’t seen until today how problematic that can be. Here’s a little trivia fact: Canada’s Cineplex dominates 77% of the box office market in the country. Their actions alone in dropping the movie effectively killed any chance of it being seen north of the border.
Now, here’s an anecdote that should lend some context to what’s happening. In 1940, when Charlie Chaplin made Adolf Hitler spoofing "The Great Dictator," not only was it released to much success, he also sent a copy directly to the Nazi leader.
There’s no word yet on what the future holds for "The Interview." We can’t see a climate in which theater owners will be comfortable with screening the movie, and with the hackers promising further Christmas "gifts," maybe Sony can beat them at their own game and usher this out on VOD next week. For more, check out Rogen and Franco talking to Howard Stern about the hacks right here.
Why don\’t they play along with the leak and "leak" the movie through their official sites. Maybe a one day only thing (nice Christmas gift for us all).
Actually, a more interesting production \’Pyongyang\’ was canceled in light of this, so the precedent has been set… that crap films from fart pioneers Rogen-Franco can poison the well of an entire culture being the subject matter for any Hollywood film for a while. Parker and Stone got away with this because their film was full of content, the Rogen-Franco film became the target of this avalanche of whinging because principally, the film is a hack attempt at a lame plot that on the whole attempts to accomplish nothing but moon North Korea while making money for Sony and co. They admit this in their own words, this film is garbage and they expect dumb people to be the primary audience.
Hopefully this sets a precedent of Seth Rogen and James Franco movies getting canceled.
Yeah, Chaplin. Yeah Yeah but you know, the Chaplin film didn\’t revolve around a plot to have a foreign leader murdered. Why no one thought N Korea wouldn\’t feel threatened by this film is beyond me.
Well, if US OFFICIALS say so, it MUST BE true…
Although I have heard of threats being made against Seth by all those with a \’Lynn\’ name…
What a bunch of pussies these cinema CEO\’s must be — is there even a shred of evidence North Korea was involved? Heck, maybe they have a bunch of WMD\’s as well, eh?
Sony – put it out on VOD — I\’ll pay up, and I don\’t particularly want to see the flick, based on the trailer, I\’d rather go watch TED again
America have been setting terrible precedents since sep 11, 2001
Next week Al Queda is stopping the release of American Sniper. Watch.
Nothing gutless about saving lives.
Holy s–t, this is insane. As a strong-principled person, I think it\’s lame and gutless of them to pull it because of the precedent it sets, but who wants to risk having theaters full of people blown up because they wanted to send a message that the terrorists won\’t win? It\’s understandable, but unfortunate.
I was led to believe that there was more to this article after the use of "Firstly."
North Korea barely has any energy for lights and yet they caused this much disruption, crazy. Horrible precedent being set.
Gutless.