After first succumbing to threats and fear mongering by North Korea and cyber terrorists, Sony Pictures and certain theaters will be releasing and showing “The Interview” on Christmas Day, after all.
The Movie industry:
Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Entertainment: “We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day. At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.”
The President:
According to a White House spokesman “the president applauds Sony’s decision to authorize screenings of the film…As the president made clear, we’re a country that believes in free speech and the right of artistic expression…”
Seth Rogen tweeted: “The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn’t give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!”
Co-star James Franco on Instagram called it a “victory” and said, “The people and the president have spoken.”
Americans:
According to a new CNN/ORC poll, conducted December 18 through 21 and released on Tuesday, 36% of Americans think Sony made the right decision by canceling the movie, while 62% thought it was an overreaction. Men were about 20 percentage points more likely than women to call it an overreaction.
One person briefed on the effort said on Tuesday that it appeared unlikely that big chains like Regal or AMC would come on board but that Sony was likely to patch together distribution for the film in 200 to 300 smaller theaters. Already some theaters, like the Alamo Drafthouse chain, based in Austin, and the Plaza Theater in Atlanta have said they would show the film.
Kudos to my hometown Alamo Drafthouse chain and count this author among those who felt all along this was an overreaction to “a flagrant attempt by North Korea to use fear and threats to silence U.S. media and to manipulate the behavior of Americans.”
