The Interview is over before it ever truly began. Should've written a cover letter. After the country's biggest theater chains decided against running the controversial comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, Sony Pictures decided to pull the film from the its Christmas Day release altogether after a threat of violence by cyber-terrorists. That led to some hope it could get a digital release through VOD or some other platform, but that's not going to be happening, either.
According to a Sony spokesperson speaking with Deadline, the studio “has no further release plans for the film”.
This is another surprising decision in a day full of them. Sony left the decision to show the comedy up to the individual exhibitors, and the five biggest quickly dropped out. The film drew the anger of North Korea because the plot has Franco and Rogen attempting to kill a stylized version of Kim Jong-un. But Sony's move to not release the film in any way is especially curious now that senior U.S. officials have drawn a connection between the cyber attacks and North Korea. While they did not reveal details, the conclusion is North Korea orchestrated the hacking that has publicly humiliated Sony since last month. There is some speculation they may have had assistance from insiders within Sony. One U.S. official said “This is of a different nature than past attacks."
And so the saga continues. Chances are we will see The Interview some day in some form once this whole thing dies down. Whether audiences will care at that point is another story. [NYT]
