Sony Nixes The Interview
In the wake of the Sony Hack decisions have been made to pull the release of The Interview. The movie depicted the attempted assassination of North Korean’s dictator Kim Jong-Un by America’s funny guys James Franco and Seth Rogen.
Sony announced “The Interview" will not come out as planned in a statement:
In light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film The Interview, we have decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release. We respect and understand our partners’ decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theater-goers.
Sony Pictures has been the victim of an unprecedented criminal assault against our employees, our customers, and our business. Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale – all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like. 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. We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.
(Source: huffington post)
These decisions were mainly the result of major movie theater chains promising not to pick up the movie due to recent threats made by the hackers.
The hackers stated:
Soon the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001.
(CNNmoney)
A lot of supporters of the film are disappointed by this decision. And a lot of people can’t help but wonder how the industry will go about handling situations like this in the future.
According to a report found on KTLA5,
Some prominent screenwriters and stars also expressed dismay and sadness about the outcome. “Today the U.S. succumbed to an unprecedented attack on our most cherished bedrock principle,” Aaron Sorkin told The Los Angeles Times.
Judd Apatow called the theater owners’ decisions “disgraceful:” “Will they pull any movie that gets an anonymous threat now?”
It will be interesting to watch how the film industry will react to the consequences of this monumental decision.