UPDATE: Sony Pictures cobbled together a limited release of The Interview through art house theatres and online through Google Play and other streaming services over the four-day Christmas weekend.
UPDATE: The White House says the massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures that led the studio to cancel the Christmas Day film release of The Interview is being treated as a “national security matter”.
Will we ever be able to see Vancouver-shot political spoof The Interview starring Seth Rogen and James Franco in an improbable plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jon Un? Sony Pictures cancelled the movie’s Christmas theatrical release this afternoon after several chains, including Canada’s Cineplex, pulled the comedy from their schedules because of threats of possible terrorist attacks on theatre-goers by a hacker group linked to North Korea. US officials confirmed to CNN and the New York Times this afternoon that North Korea was “centrally involved” in the unprecedented cyber attack on Sony Pictures which President Obama called “very serious” and began in late November with leaks of stolen films, damaging emails and personal information on thousands of employees. Tuesday’s threats of possible 9/11 attacks on theatres — “Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time.”– were not considered credible but Sony shelved The Interview anyway with no plans to stream it or release it on video-on-demand or DVD or Blu-ray either.
