2ND UPDATE, 3:49 PM: Carmike yesterday became the first theater chain to announce that it was scrapping plans to screen The Interview. Now the Georgia-based exhibitor has released a statement: “The top priority for Carmike Cinemas is to ensure that our valued guests may enjoy the entertainment of their choosing in a safe and comfortable environment. Carmike must take threats against movie theatres very seriously and the recent unprecedented cyber-attacks against Sony Pictures are no exception. Therefore, in an abundance of caution, Carmike will delay the exhibition of The Interview. There are many additional excellent movie titles to choose from this holiday season, and we look forward to welcoming our patrons.”
UPDATED, 1:34 PM: AMC and Cineplex has made their pulling of The Interview official. Said AMC: “As friends and families make plans for the upcoming holidays, AMC has received many questions about which movies we are playing in the weeks ahead. The recent cancellation of The Interview‘s premiere and publicity appearances by its leading talent, and the overall confusion and uncertainty that has been created in the marketplace, brings into serious doubt whether the movie will open at all next week. At this time, to best enable AMC guests to plan their holiday movie-going with certainty and confidence, AMC is programming its theatres without The Interview.” From Cineplex: “Cineplex takes seriously its commitment to the freedom of artistic expression, but we want to reassure our guests and staff that their security is our number one priority.”
WRITETHRU WITH UPDATES: Ultimately, The Interview didn’t go well, and Sony’s controversial film appears dead. Regal and Cinemark said today that they will not screen the Seth Rogen-directed comedy, and other major exhibition chains including AMC and Cineplex are expected to follow suit. The news comes a day after a hacker threat against venues that show the pic starring Rogen and James Franco. Regal said in a statement, “Due to the wavering support of the film The Interview by Sony Pictures, as well as the ambiguous nature of any real or perceived security threats, Regal Entertainment Group has decided to delay the opening of the film in our theatres.” Cinemark simply said, “We have determined that we will not exhibit this film at this time.”
In the wake of the threat, Sony yesterday gave theater owners the option to back away from the film, which is set to open Christmas Day. And this afternoon, it pulled all TV advertising for The Interview. Earlier today the studios’ trade group, the National Association of Theatre Owners, said that “individual cinema operators may decide to delay exhibition of the movie so that our guests may enjoy a safe holiday movie season experiencing the many other exciting films we have to offer.” NATO also said several theaters around the country have scrapped press screenings for thje film. Worth noting: Regal and NATO both used the word “delay” rather than “cancel” in their statements today. It’s unclear whether that’s mere semantics or a hint about a wait-and-see attitude.
Regal’s move follows announcements by smaller regional chains Bow Tie Cinemas and Carmike Cinemas that they also are pulling the movie, which revolves around a cockeyed plot to assassinate North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. “It is our mission to ensure the safety and comfort of our guests and employees,” Bow Tie said this morning, adding that it is “saddened and angered by recent threats of terrorism in connection with the movie.” The chain’s comes despite the fact that Department of Homeland Security officials have been downplaying any real threat. Employees at multiple ArcLight Cinema locations in LA told Deadline Tuesday the movie had been pulled from its theaters, although a corporate rep said a decision had not yet been made.
Sony isn’t yet cancelling the Christmas release of The Interview, but the New York premiere of the film, which had been set for Thursday, also has been cancelled.
The hackers’ threat was issued along with a new data dump containing emails stolen from Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton, specifically referenced The Interview for the first time since Sony’s crisis began on November 24.
Tuesday’s message threatened theaters showing The Interview and invoked 9/11, escalating safety concerns and potential legal liability to theater owners who run the film as planned:
“We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places ‘The Interview’ be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to. Soon all 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. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.) Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment. All the world will denounce the SONY.”
Related: Sony Hit With Another Ex-Employees’ Class Action Over ‘Interview’ “Retribution”
The possibility of Sony removing The Interview from theaters altogether and instead releasing it on VOD is not yet a part of major conversations, an insider tells Deadline. Sony had no comment.
Meanwhile, the film faces an uncertainly future internationally. Sony already has said it will not release The Interview in Asia, save for Australia and New Zealand. In the UK, where the comedy is set to open February 6, a local press officer would only issue a terse “no comment” when asked if the company had any plans to delay, postpone, reschedule or cancel the intended release there.
A rep at Sony’s global headquarters in Tokyo declined to comment when asked by Deadline if the ongoing hacking crisis at Sony Pictures had made the corporate parent re-assess either its commitment to the film business or its own security operations given the catastrophic breach of Sony Pictures’ network.
Deadline’s David Lieberman contributed to this report.
Exhibitors, don’t cancel the movie! It would be gross cowardice and capitulation to a terrorist demand, but even more than that, a terrorist who has no ability to carry out its threat! North Korea makes outlandish threats all the time and they are farcical and not to be taken seriously. They do not have the ability to launch attacks on movie theatres in the U.S. They wouldn’t do it even if they did have the ability. They know that if they so much as light a sparkler on U.S. soil, their disgusting regime would be wiped off the earth by us in less than a week. Bluster is all they have and if we cower at their nonsense, then our society is done. Jeez, I mean, remember the Brits during NAZI bombing? Remember our rescue people who ran INTO the Trade Center? We’re talking about a movie here and a threat that has no chance of actually coming true. We can be brave enough to stand by our artistic freedom. I will be sitting in a theatre Christmas night watching this movie. This thing is going to be an enormous blockbuster, thanks in part to this idiocy.
Amen.
North Korea enforeces quality control on Seth Rogen and James Franco, we should thank them
Yes, I’m certain their concern here is only artistic.
I certainly don’t agree that the movie should be canceled but your comment was funny none the less.
Where were the North Koreans when the Guilt Trip and Green Hornet were released? Those movies are the very definition of domestic terrorism.
this is very sarcastic. if they show it and people die then everyone will get mad at sony. sony dosnt have an armie. i think they have been through enough
Sony does have an army it’s called the American People. We do not surrender to terrorism.
You want to lay down american lives for a Japanese company, Rob? one that’s in one business — making money for the japanese?
i just can’t believe american are so afraid of north korea,this is unbeliavable
Sony should buy a block on one of the major networks and show it during prime time. Advertisers would pay boatloads to put commercials into what would be must see TV. They’d make more on that than what they will if a theater chain shows it.
Agreed!!!!!
They’re not afraid of the threats. They’re afraid of the lawsuit that would happen if someone went and followed through with the threat (those who made it or those who decided to do it themselves in their name).
What Theatre is showing this Movie , I totally agree with your thoughts. Thanks Deb.
Well said. I have no association to this movie or the companies involved but I find this threat totally absurd. If you WANT to see the movie, do it. The whole fucking mantra of the United States is ‘The Land of the free’ and who the fuck are the GoP to tell you what to do?!!
HUGE HIT? Are you crazy? No movie theater outside of LA or NY will play it. And no one outside of Hollywood cares or is even aware that this is going on. Middle America could give a rats ass about a crappy Rogen/Franco flick.
So true. Their movies make all of their money in NY & LA. You should listen more, talk less.
Nice parody answer.
I really hope they release this movie eventually in the theaters. I would love to give those terrorists my middle finger. No way am I scared
I’m from Texas and I happen to like their movies. Quit being a pussy if Americans want to do something we do it fuck them if they don’t like it to bad what they go in to do about it start a war over a movie I don’t think so.
They have no choice. This has been widely publicized, and even if the threat is a bluff, the possibility that some nut job out there will decide to attach to it and do something insane is all too real. The liability is too high for exhibitors, and honestly for Sony as well.
There is no good answer here. About the best that can be done is to move the release date until such time as more investigation can be done, and hopefully the perps incarcerated.
Make no mistake, what has been done here is a very bad thing on so many levels, Sony’s property rights have been violated, and individuals constitutional rights to privacy have been as well. It has now risen to an act of terrorism (based upon the threat).
Sony did nothing to deserve this. The value I hope comes from this is to see how devastating invasion of privacy can be, thus illuminating why the founding fathers made privacy a constitutional right.
Now, for those of you who have not been incensed by the fact or own government has been doing it I ask, “Do you get it now?”
The issue is not invasion of privacy, it’s terrorists making real-world threats to real-world places: movie theaters.
We have just emboldened other terrorist groups into making threats against us. The message we send is loud and clear: “threats work.”
liability is easily resolved. Theaters should just put a sandwich board in the lobby warning of the threat and limiting liability. Enter at your own risk. Audiences will run to see the movie just like they run to jump on roller coasters that say death is a possibility. This movie will make twice would it would have before the threat.
The possibility of lost American lives is more important than this movie that can still be released on DVD. Just like 9/11, this attack may have been planned and thought out way back when the movie was still being shot. You might even have some crazy Americans with twisted minds that would blow up a theater just for the attention. And of course New York city definitely does not want to risk another terrorist attack on their soil. The governor of that state probably called Sony to tell them to cancel the NY premiere.
Totally disagree, releasing it IS more important than possibility of the loss of American lives.
We can’t fold to this type of thing or the next victim will be the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, maybe Congress or our government itself. If we cower to threats that are absurd and non-credible then any idiot can scare us out of taking a stand on anything. We might as well hand the keys over to ISIS because they are the only world force with the courage of their convictions. We’ll never defeat ISIS (who are a REAL threat to soft targets) if we’re jumping at shadows. An yes, the wild so-absurd-they-border-on-parody rantings of North Korea is just a shadow.
So we send the message that they can do this over and over again? Really? End it now and show the film!
You’re so on point, but “they’ve” already won. They’ve crippled SONY, dominated the news cycle for days, theater chains are scared, and the public is starting to panic. Without violence, they’ve done an immeasurable amount of damage. The silver lining is in how we will now more carefully protect our digital assets.
Is the public starting to panic? Just judging from the comments section here, there are plenty of Americans who want a chance to see this movie in the theater, even if like me, they were thinking of it before as “maybe a rental” at best.
No, the silver lining would be the world wide release of the film. An American film from the countries biggest and most influential industry, whether it makes money or anyone shows up is irrelevant, the point is that GOP or North Korea or whoever will know that we will not set precedent by bowing to the will of cyber terrorists . State sponsored or not.
They don’t win if we the American People show them that it is not Sony that decides who America is. Boycott the theaters on Christmas day that refused to show the film.
No, I think Sony should pull this movie out of the theaters, not out of fear of these so called cyber terrorists but this new fear of Lawyers. One prankster setting of a Fourth of July smoke bomb could cause a riot. With all this free P/A Sony should release it today (rent/sell though) VOD. It would be an interesting experiment, the movie gets released and might make money.
There’s no going back–this movie is not going to play in theatres.
The question is, if Sony opts to stream it either over its own network or on iTunes/Netflix, will the Guardians go after those computer networks? It would make Sony look good if they can turn this into a huge commercial for how secure their Playstation Network is for releasing content.
I hope Sony shows it in theaters, but if they want to stream/release it, they should distribute it as widely as possible, so the fuckwit terrorists have to go after multiple networks to stop it. The beauty of the internet is, once something is out there, it’s damn hard to stop.
Good idea. Stream it for a fee. I’d pay for that. Not one terrorist could do a damn thing where an individual watches it. Thing is when the 9/11 came (whether faked or not), the CIA got involved and I’m sorry, but we wont put up with terrorists threats. Pulling the movie MAY seem like kowtowing, but its not. We don’t negociate with terrorists and they will be caught. It’s not someone from N. Korea doing this. It’s someone here in the US.
Better yet – get a coupon for free streaming IF you attend any other SONY release during the holiday. This way Theater Owners don’t feel antagonistic toward the studio and the studio gets all the publicity it needs to ensure decedent ancillary revenue.
Yeah right, it’s highly unlikely every single theater in America will decide not to show it.
Indeed and agreed.
You said it! If I knew what “Carmicke Cinemas” was, I’d boycott them from here on out.
It’s a large chain theatre company. Where do you live – under a rock??
It is a quite large chain of cinemas. Where do you live – under a rock?
Maybe he lives in an area where they don’t have carrmike cinemas? There’s only 1 in all of Washington state where I live
Maybe he simply has a life and does not make knowing the names of every cinema chain a priority. That’s the problem with a lot of people they get caught up in the minutia of life and let terrorist just walk in.
What a terrible precedent. What happens when a nut threatens the next movie because they don’t like an actor or a director? What happens when they just want to engage in economic sabotage to inflict harm on a distribution company, theater chain or a producer? This is a very slippery slope and all the nuts will be coming out of the woodwork.
SONY needs to PULL THIS MOVIE NOW. If one person gets injured at any theater in the country, both Sony and the theater could be liable for millions of dollars. The problem is we don’t know enough of this nutcase in North Korea. He could easily pay some gangbanger or Russian mobster to put a ‘hit’ on a theater with a bomb. North Korea has been known to hire hitmen using diamonds as a currency. Very serious situation here.
Why would Sony be legally responsible for an accident in a theater? It isn’t their jurisdiction. WB didn’t get in trouble over the TDKR in consent.
The only people that would be liable are the terrorists. Simple as that. You buy your ticket yourself, you already know the risk.
You are a coward. People like you are the reason why the US is a shadow of it’s former self. You don’t have the right to call yourself an American citizen, if you happen to be one that is. When you give in to threats and fear, it opens the door for everyone else to make threats and get whatever they want from you.
Ever deal with a schoolyard bully? It’s almost the same thing. Cower in fear, and they’ll walk all over you for as long as they can. Stand up to them and they will back off.
If theater chains were more concerned with their relationship with Sony, that would be a little more understandable. But none of them have made any comments to that effect. They’re caving in to fear because they are cowards, plain and simple.
What really needs to happen is a show of strength. Play the movie everywhere. Hire additional security if you’re that scared for your patrons. Watch it, enjoy it, and give cyber bullies the finger.
I completely agree. This guy is a complete scumbucket coward.
It is an individual choice as to whether a product is supported or not. It shouldn’t be the paranoid sectors right to tell the rest of the world what is to be made available to the masses. This is the political correctness that has devastated our culture.
Yes, by all means American Public – risk your safety so we can all prove that nothing can stop us patriots from seeing crappy fart-ire comedies from Seth Rogen. This is hardly a time to act like seeing this PoS movie is a thumbs up to free speech (I’m sure James & Seth will undoubtedly start spewing that nonsense later on) as it’s not our government oppressing us (hence, the free speech debate doesn’t even apply here). F them. Let the a-holes who were the targets of this mess clean it up. They should’ve pulled this movie from the get-go when they realized that they had gotten hacked in the first place? Why? Because the people who are actually being harmed are the employees and ex-employees of this hot-mess of a studio, but did that stop Amy Crapscal and Michael Shynton from still being the narcissistic, greedy bags that they are? Nope. They continue to pedal this craptastic PoS without any regard to the real people who have to clean these messes later (people finding jobs, ex-employees dealing with this crap far past the fact, military intervention to clean up these relations, etc). By all means, bring the entire world into your crapfight of the release of a stupid movie so that you don’t have to lose a few more dollars. JUST PULL THE MOVIE ALREADY AMY AND MICHAEL.
This needs an “upvote” button.
I will die for my right to see any movie I please. Have fun living the rest of your pathetic life on your knees
Response to Bemoreseemore
It’s you who is attempting to destroy the first amendment. You want to limit what we can see. My son died fighting for you to be such an idiot. Not showing the movie is spitting in the face of every soldier man or woman who ever died fighting for your right to have an opinion no matter how wrong it is. Show the movie or boycott the theaters on Christmas day to send the message that we will not yield to terrorists.
In complete agreement here, Mr. Meadows.
Would you agree to take on all legal obligations if Sony released this movie? If you want to see it so much, start a Kickstarter fund.
Would you agree to be responsible for all the terror that comes out of demonstrating so much weakness to our enemies? Start a kickstarter fund. Maybe you can raise enough money to hire private security to keep you safe from our enemies. I am not afraid of Kim Jon Ugly or any terrorist.
I wouldn’t back down either, but then when you look at the whole picture, the theaters would be held responsible legally for any harm that came to a movie-goer if something happened. I said this yesterday. These hackers are NOT from there. they or he is an American and that threat was fake. It was purposely created to make everyone think that English was not their first language. It is a disgruntled employee. An entire country would hack Sony, spend all that time releasing personal information, then threaten movie theaters? I’m not buyin’ it. It’s an awful lot to go through just for a comedy regardless of the content.
Since when did we become such a nation of cowards? Since when are we letting some spoiled man child baby dictator in PyongYang dictate what we can and cannot see in America??
I’d buy 100 tickets right now. This is about our freedom of speech. I’m proud to be living in a country that would make THE INTERVIEW.
Yes.
If I were in charge at Sony, I would mass distribute the film for free. Send free DVD’s to every Red Box outlet in the country! To hell with these pieces of pig s**t
I’m not too well informed on the attack that happened on Sony but is it only terrorism when it happens to America? Go google the j3st3r, no one calls what he dos terror because it’s in favor of the usa. Movies shouldn’t be made involving world leaders in that sense, Sony was stupid to make the movie to begin with and the actors were stupid to take part in it
Woah my bad, just googled what happened. Either way Sony shouldnt have made the movie. Wasn’t okay for them to make be movie and definitely isn’t okay for the hacker threats
Agree! Every punk out there now knows how to hold major corporations and fee markets hostage. Just post some embarrassing e-mails from the top 1%!
Yep, if Sony has also already CANCELED the promotional tour that Seth Rogen and James Franco were set to go on (as reported earlier in the trades), then the “permission slip” to theaters to unilaterally sever their exhibition contracts on “The Interview” strikes as being an easy “out-option” for the studio to relieve of LIABILITY of any “bad event” happening in markets across the country and globally. It also probably a safer, veiled route of acquiescence to these #GOP (North Korean “Slave-Boy Cyber Hacker”) email threats to make its debut release worse than 9/11.
Guess that also explains why the U.S. Department for Homeland Security so quickly and tacitly termed as “not being a discernible domestic threat” to U.S. security. Letting the big theater chains and independent operators unilaterally PULL THE PLUG on “The Interview” takes the “onus” off of Sony to it and potentially mitigates the “immediate veiled threats of terrorist-like retaliation” by the #GOP and other North Korean operatives (or “sleeper cells”) planted in this country.
It’s all starting to “make sense” in terms of how the FBI, DHS and maybe the CIA are working with Sony on easy way out on “The Interview” theatrical run instead of them having to do it themselves outright. In fact, it might be the smartest course in letting the theater chains/indie ops be the ones who look the “heavies” in this. Possibly a brilliant play on their part, but I’m sure the filmmakers (including Rogen, Evan Schwartz) and other First Amendment advocates are going to have a COW about this “outside shutdown” of “The Interview.”
I wish you would “refrain” from using “quotes” so much.
I suggest you pick up Scholastic’s Weekly Reader, which features less quotation marks and more single-syllable words. Good luck my friend! ;-D
fewer, not less
Fewer
Oy, the Grammar Police/Trolls are fishing through my posts — run for the hills! Okay, “fewer,” alright??!! :-D
It’s all right, not alright…..
i suggest you pick up an english book and learn what quotation marks are for. you obviously have no idea as your use of them doesn’t “make sense”
Let me serve myself “oats” before going to see my “pupils”. Thank you for the class “lecture” material about “free speech ” & “quotes” & “consensus”.
Whoops, I meant to write Evan Goldberg, but I doubt that it matters, because I’m beginning to think he, Rogen and Franco are going to be damn lucky if another studio EVER makes a movie with them again! They’ve officially made themselves RADIOACTIVE in this town after this “Interview” debacle.
By the way, I went over to Defamer’s site to see the purloined “exploding” Kim Jung-un head scene and I’m still wondering why Amy Pascal went to bat for Rogen (on the multiple “exploding head” edit changes) with Sony Corp eco Hirai??!!!
Now, if Rogen’s aspirations with “The Interview” were to make this an EPIC black comedy in the vein of “Dr. Strangelove,” he FAILED on every level. That’s because you know a TALENTED filmmaker like Stanley Kubrick would not be showing “exploding heads” when the nuclear bomb goes off in Russia to end “Dr. Strangelove” — that was an era when GREAT filmmakers like Kubrick understood SUBTLETY and how to let the audience appreciate refined scripted comedy, not this “in-your-face” head-exploding assassination SHITE from Rogen & Company.
jeez,I love this comment. So true. If Rogen had an ounce of comedic sense he’d know this of course. Alas, he does not.
Yes he does, you are both crazy.
The artistic merits of this movie are sort of beside the point, aren’t they? This doesn’t have to do with whether this is a fine piece of art.
Have you seen the movie?
I saw it at a sneak preview two weeks and it was pretty funny.
You should watch A Cloackwork Orange or The Shining once again if you believe Kubrick was subtle.
Clockwork I mean. Clockwork. Yes, I know how to spell it.
Are you Dr. Evil?
Let’s just really kill that little fat boy dictator and get on with it.
George W. Bush isn’t president anymore.
No Obama is president and our allies no longer respect us and our enemies no longer fear us.
The ghost of Neville Chamberlain is saying: “Makes sense to me.”
Anyone else think Sony is trying to shift the blame onto the theaters if anything bad happens? If something bad does happen, they can just say,”Oh we told you you didn’t have to show it but you went ahead it showed it anyways”.
Yes the gutless weasels Sony should just
drop the movie and substitute
a Xmas classic!!!!!!
everyone looks forward their
favorite holiday movie wonderful spirited
and
a big screen would be great.
Want a list???
it’s a brilliant strategy though–one that seems designed to let Pascal and Lynton keep their jobs and stand up for the artistic community, while pitting off the decision to pull the movie to the rxhibitors. The terrorists win, the email disclosures stop, the current management team stays in place, and THE INTERVIEW gets released on Sony’s DOA Playstation streaming platform (where nobody will watch it for fear of being hacked).
The name of the movie should have been
THE TWO MORONS.
They steal someones identity and publish it
in a movie.
Hohohohoho !!!!!
Idiots.
This isn’t about “letting the patriots win” and this movie is no “South Park” with something to contribute to a bigger discussion. Every aspect of this project was driven by greed, naivete and utter stupidity. Sony, Rogen and Franco are already cowards for putting their stars into hiding. Why should we be the human shields for them? Responsible execs would never have let this crapfest happen. Let them loses buckets of money, they deserve it.
But the cowards aren’t the people who are making the threats to attack American Soil… anonymously… riiiiiight. Yeah, it’s totally Sony and Rogan and Franco for doing something that South pPark has been doing for years. I guess there’s also a difference between Tarantino lampooning Hitler’s death in Inglorious Basterds and these guys doing Kim Jong Un’s death in the Interview (because Hitler was evil, but Jong Un isn’t — ) Want to preach responsibility in this situation, how about those who are too afraid to take responsibility for these threats … over a piece of fiction! Get real, chump!
Hitler is dead. There is a reason that Seth did not lampoon Vladimir Putin.
So it’s only okay to parody vicious dictators when they’re dead? What other limitations on free speech would you like to arbitrarily impose on us?
And Putin is hardly in the same league here. He isn’t a murderous whack job.
this isn’t a court of law — this is the world. Americans have the right to throw rocks at hornet nests, but only idiots do so. Yes, they have the freedom to make this movie — no one’s questioning that. But:
– making so was a tremendous, stupid risk. They were told that by sony tokyo and numerous others, and they made it anyway.
-They made it to make money. not to “shine light on an evil dictator” — there’s nothing in this movie about Jong Un that isn’t in the news every day.
– they’re not just putting themselves at risk, they’re putting YOU at risk, to get your 14 bucks.
and all this talk of bravery. If they’re so brave, why didn’t they make this movie about China? They kill and starve more citizens that North Korea. Or Russia? or ISIS?
the discussion must’ve gone: “yes, north korea is gonna be mad — but what’re they gonna do about it?” I can’t imagine any other argument to go ahead with making this movie: “Yes it’s inflammatory — but what can NK do? Unlike Russia, China or ISIS, which could real hurt us?”
that’s not bravery, that’s bullying. That’s picking on the little guy. and, if this really was NK who did the hack, boy was Sony wrong.
we all know Jong Un’s regime is monstrous, but this was not the way to ‘change it.’ this was a way to make money.
NK shows movies where americans are horrible blood thirsty monsters, and we say that’s wrong. we just lowered ourselves to their level.
Good point and the reason why I dont think this has ANYTHING to actually do with N. Korea. Gee, how about threaten to murder every family member of the South Park crew if the episodes air on TV? I’m not buying that it’s N. Korea. Someone tried to make us think that English wasn’t their first language when they wrote that threat. Stupid idiotic people do the dumbest things and they will be caught.
So, no making fun of monstrous dictators eh?
This movie doesn’t deserve the same pedestal as past films that served a much more noble purpose. This is not Chaplain’s “Great Dictator”. Even South Park has something to say behind all the crude humor when it lampoons foreign countries and their leaders. This movie is a frat prank whose creators and backers didn’t think about the incidents it might cause in its drunken fervor. If you want to go to a theater to see it, feel free. I’ll exercise my right not to. And to speak in dissent about it.
Go Travis, “not go” to the theater! Glad you cited “The Great Dictator” because that was a classic dark political satire about a dictator as was “Team America: World Police,” “Dr. Strangelove” and the Marx Brothers’ “Duck Soup.” Rogen’s stoner frat house-inspired “The Interview” can’t hold the JOCK STRAPS of the “creative connections” behind those aforementioned classic comedies! Yeah, not even “sniffing their jocks” while you’re going your “naked dance” for those faux North Korean guards “qualifies” as something resembling comedy — just LAME!
It’s not up to you. Good art? Bad art? It’s just personal opinion but even if its the worst stinker in motion picture history we live in a country where it should be released and people who choose to see it should be able without threat of violence. The quality of the picture is almost secondary.
JamesW is completely correct. So what if this movie is crap? Most Hollywood movies are crap. The issue is free speech, not artistic merit.
Oh how brave of you. “Dissent” against a silly frat house movie, ahahahaha. I hope the secret police don’t take you away for your courageous “dissent.”
Next thing you know, “South Park” will be making an episode about the whole fiasco.
So true, and I can’t wait what Stone and Parker do with it!! :-D
Agreed. The decision to make the movie in the first place was idiotic and disrespectful. How would the U.S. respond to a movie about Seth Rogen and James Franco going to Washington to assassinate Obama? Especially, if the movie included a scene with Obama’s head being blown up. By now, Sony should have came out with a statement addressing the fact that the decision to greenlight this movie was in poor taste and they should apologize to North Korea for making a movie that makes light of killing their leader. Show some respect you ignorant jackasses!
I agree.
“How would the U.S. respond to a movie about Seth Rogen and James Franco going to Washington to assassinate Obama? Especially, if the movie included a scene with Obama’s head being blown up?”
With a big yawn. Or are you seriously suggesting, even as an imaginary exercise that we would threaten death to North Koreans going to watch it in North Korean movie theater? That’s ridiculous.
Agree with your analogous examples there, too! But, I guess I wouldn’t be infuriated if Rogen had instead chose to lampoon Dick Cheney by stick roman candles up his are and setting them on fire as a form of “forced anal feeding” cited in Congress’ newly-released “Torture Report.” Now there’s some high-concept comedy for ya! :-D
You sound titillated with the roman candle bit up the “arse”. Your type will always be angry about something. It is the self loathing. Merry Christmas.
wake up ! freedom of speach, step forward Bitch, join the coward club!
How about “Death of a President” “Death of a President” – fictional assassination of President George W. Bush “controversial” is an understatement. Many Americans feared it could inspire a real assassin, while others fretted about the toxic tone of American politics. However, according to “Entertainment Weekly,” the movie makes even the most ardent Bush-bashers “recoil” at the thought of his assassination, says “Entertainment Weekly.” There were other movies made about the assassination of an American President as well.
That’s the difference between us and them. We let people say what they want and fight back with free speech and selective purchase at the box office. We don’t threaten to kill people no matter what the movie is about. Show the movie or boycott the theatres that said they would not.
I am not saying that this movie was going to be “fine theater” but it certainly didn’t look any worse than a dozen other movies made just this year. That we would even have to consider that people would be threatened for making a movie that makes fun of a petty dictator is evidence of just how insane Kim is. Do you suppose the British would threaten theaters and their customers if someone made a movie about assassinating the Queen? I don’t even think that Putin would go crazy if a movie was made in which he was killed.
It is unfortunate that then question of freedom of speach is being brought into focus by a silly comedy, but free speech is all about freedom, not about quality.
I’m not condoning the hackers hacking, whether it’s North Korea or not, but let’s put the shoe on the other foot for a second. What if North Korea made a movie of assassinating our president? How would we react? Again, not condoning the hacking or sheer lunacy of threatening a terrorist attack, but it probably wasn’t the smartest move picking a real world leader to portray in the movie. Just sayin’….
The most smartest comment I’ve read.
I think you meant “most smarterest.”
I disagree. What if North Korea made a movie about assassinating our president? First of all, we would yawn and not care to see their movie unless it had it Robert Downey Jr. and Morgan Freeman. Secondly, their movie would not likely be shown in the U.S. because we don’t normally care to watch North Korean movies of any kind, just like we don’t care to watch Chinese or Russian movies. Thirdly, we already have had movies about assassinating the president, as well as other leaders and have never had any repercussions. In fact, last year there were two movies about attacks on the White House, one of which depicted the North Koreans behind the plot (Olympus has Fallen). Finally, North Koreans aren’t even allowed to watch American television shows and movies, so why are they so concerned? Besides, if it is unconstitutional for our government to violate our right to free speech, why on earth would we allow some maniacal dictator half way around to tell us what we can and cannot watch in our own country? Kim Jong-un should join his uncle, Jang Song Thaek.
I agreee I honestly don’t care :( . There’s been worser movies made so they can make whatever they want I’ll just choose not to watch it or care lol . Not wasting my valuable time .
Sadly, the extreme right-wing factions in this country would pressure their extreme-for-hire representatives to start talking tough about it, and making needless threats. What we should do if that happened is…absolutely nothing, and simply BE the example of a free-speech nation. But this country has had a big problem practicing what it preaches to tehr est of the world in the last few decades.
Good grief!
Yes this would all happen in your moonbat fantasy world.
Okay I’m tired of reminding people of The Death of a President (go Google it), a fake documentary about assassinating President Bush from a few years back, that caused such consternation and outrage in America that nobody even remembers it existed.
I have to say I tend to agree with this. What would our response be if say a French filmmaker in 2003 had made a movie about a couple of Al Jazeera reporters coming to America to assassinate President Bush? We would not have been thrilled (and we would have started checking Al Jazeera reporters very closely at the borders). North Korea is a failed country ruled by a despot, but you had to know using a real leader from a real country was going to be very unpopular in some quarters. I was surprised when Sony went for this and unfortunately I’m not really surprised there has been blowback. Very surprised at the scale however.
North Korea has already made short movies about destroying the United States with nuclear weapons. They show the ruins of cities and laugh about it. Nobody really cares, though, as it is just propaganda.
What are you talking about? WE make movies about assassinating the POTUS. If North Korea did it, big deal.
North Korea frequently produces “films” (they’re really short videos but for the sake of argument) depicting them nuking the United States – I’d argue that’s up there. The fact that Sony is taking any of these threats seriously is a disgrace to their courage – North Korea has long blustered and threatened to kill everybody everywhere and this is no different.
It’s different though because nobody takes North Korean films seriously, whereas American media dominates the world. We can’t really imagine what it would be like for a completely dominant superpower to make movies about killing our leaders because there are no dominant superpowers other than us. It’s not a situation we’re prepared to understand.
I completely agree. If another country such as North Korea made a movie about killing Obama, and has an actor portraying him, we would be up in arms. I hate this guy as much as the next, but I don’t think we should make a movie, even a comedy, about assassinating him. And now we are in a position of defending a film that turns out to be a piece of crap any way.
Hollywood already makes movies about assassinating the President so your point is moot.
Next.
The Sony has to do this to reduce their potential legal liability in case of any multiplex shooting by anyone who thinks it might be fun to go kill people. They aren’t really worried about North Korean Terrorism.
The more likely possibility is a crazy person decides to sneak a gun in “to teach those Hollywood assholes a lesson they’ll never forget” and you then have another Aurora tragedy to deal with.
By giving theaters the option to get out of their contract Sony can avoid any lawsuits that result from family members of anyone who gets killed or injured.
As always the bottom line is what governs all studio decisions. They can’t risk being sued and this way they put the legal burden on the theater owners who chose to show the movie.
You so GET IT, The Sony! You’ve hit all of the legal liability aspects with laser-like aim! Cheers!
You know if it is the North Korean government behind this I don’t think it will be an Aurora type thing. These people are very technically sophisticated. The Sony hack was one of the most spectacular of all time. And of course North Korea is the smallest, poorest country to every develop their own nuclear bomb. I don’t like what they are saying about danger to people in who live near the theaters that show the movie. If this is real, I am wondering if the danger is chemical or biological. I don’t think asking movie patrons to open their bac packs or pocketbooks is going to eliminate the risk.
North Korea is a JOKE. They use refrigerators from the 1905’s as the standard household appliance. This was a very sophisticated and costly Chinese Job. They played it masterfully: they crafted “faux asian” language in the threats, called the organization the “GOP” to further pin it on those dumb donkeys in North Korea. North Korea is undergoing a coup. Kim Jung Un is about to be tried at The Hague. The whole country is being brokered for oil, rail, mineral, shipping and finance deals.
And yes, The Interview was a State Department play from A to Z. One that I fully support. They sent North Korea the ultimate message: your dirty nukes from 1975 are blunted arrows compared to our media machine. Job well done for America.
Correct. The Chinese are behind this using North Korea as a convenient and logical scapegoat. FBI and DHS won’t ever arrest anyone in North America because the hackers are all in Asia. If they arrest anyone it will be purely for publicity and the person they arrest will be framed and railroaded. The Chinese are trying to hurt Sony a major Japanese corporation and they are doing a really good job at hurting Sony.
This could be the prelude to a hostile corporate takeover where you have a Chinese consortium paying expert hackers to do this in order to drive down the stock price of Sony which is happening. If the stock price falls enough then Sony can be acquired for a much lower price.
The North Koreans are enjoying this because for them it’s free retributrion they get to see an evil company and its millionaire execs and movie stars damaged and they can claim it’s their revenge for The Interview. It’s a brilliant plot all around. The Chinese money men get what they want (ownership of Sony at a fire sale price) and they put the blame on North Korea who they are constantly annoyed at for good reason.
Smart move by Carmike. No movie is worth the loss of life. Sony should have done the right thing from the onset and pulled the movie.
Nice one Kim Jong
Yes it should have never been made , stealing someones identity and publishing it illegally in a movie. Really idiots. Sony told him not to.
He’s a disgrace to the film business.
No permission (to use the persons identity.)
sound familiar????? No permission yet distributors somehow just keep these freaks in the fold continuing on with promoting
their thefts.
NOW is the time for Sony to go right to VOD with this movie. What’s north Korea going to do then? Go after each and every house? Give it a $20 rental only fee on iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Cable VOD, etc… And let EVERYONE get the chance to see it. Either that of just call their bluff and “quietly” open the film on Friday instead of Christmas.
Watch the “dominoes fall” in terms of the theater chains like Carmike and indie operators starting to unilaterally dump “The Interview’s” theatrical run. It’s the easiest, best face-saving “exit strategy” that Sony could hope for at this point — let the theater ops be the “bad cops” in front of the filmmakers and First Amendment advocates.
I really can’t blame Sony, because maybe this diffuses all of the “implied threats” of something “terrible” happening Xmas day (or after?), when the movie is supposed to open. It also clears DHS and FBI of similar “tampering,” influence charges as it pertains to potentially violating the filmmakers’ First Amendment rights and instead letting “The Interview” face an “outside shutdown.” It might be the smartest, safest exit from this self-generated epic debacle.
This is just good judgment. If North Korea needs to enforece quality control on Seth Rogen and James Franco, then perhaps we should thank them.
Too funny!
Best comment yet !!!!
Hire that Korean to green light pictures at Sony.
LoL. You know what eeks me Rogen is from Canada and the supporters of this movie are citing America’s Freedom of Speech. Has there been any great support from Rogen’s home country?
Take the film to Toronto first before opening in all of North America. Rogen is a lot like the North Korea dictator in many ways.
You can thank them when they’re running our re-education camps.
It just a movie
I never cease to be amazed by the level of snark on this topic. Sony should have known these loons would threaten to blow up theaters over this picture? These crazies have been emboldened by the media support for their anti free speech terrorism. Now the media will work for the terrorists, whip up the fear these and wake up to the realization that the whole business of public gatherings — movies, music, sports — has changed for good. But who cared when it was only Sony’s ox being gored? And how about those Pascal- Rudin emails! Snark on dear readers!
You mean kind of like how Ebola was a huge topic that was threatening the downfall of America up until the elections ended and it was miraculously cured? Fear in the media is us. We use it literally all the time, only this time someone else is using it against us and goshdarn it we don’t like it.
Some topics while valid are just too sensitive. For example you can’t make a movie ridiculing Mohammad. You just can’t. It is too dangerous. Somebody who is really sophisticated and has a lot of time and resources does not want “The Interview” to appear in theaters. I would not be surprised if the North Korean government is behind it. If you want to produce a documentary, “Kim Jung On, a Study in Tyranny” that is one thing. But some sort of comedy where Kim’s head is blown up on screen is all wrong and might very well be dangerous.
If a hard-hitting documentary about Kim Jung On were released in theaters, I would expect much the same reaction from them, especially if they realize their terrorism works. And others would also get in on the act – any nutcase with a grievance can pull this shit. So much for free speech.
Cowards. I’ll bet they’re the first ones to cry for war in Iraq, et al. Amazing how some people just cave in the face of adversity.
DO NOT PULL THE INTERVIEW. DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS!!!!!!!
last I checked the North Koreans weren’t in the business of suicide bombings or movie theater massacres. this whole thing seems like a joke, led by someone with an axe to grind against Sony.
This is becoming more and more like South Park’s Cartoon Wars.
Didn’t the premiere already happen? This is an obvious bluff aimed at hurting the movie’s opening weekend. I liked This Is The End, but I was on the fence about this one. Now, I’ll be sure to take he family opening day.
You know there are multiple premieres at multiple cities, yes?
Please don’t cancel the movie. Don’t let Kim Jong Un win.
I wonder whose going to replace Amy Pascal.
i honestly can’t believe a COMEDY MOVIE has sparked so much controversy. i genuinely hope no one ends up hurt as a result of this, and i wish the creators of the movie didn’t have to be censored by this fucked up totalitarian country. that being said, i will definitely still be seeing the movie.
the Department of Homeland Security has stated that they have not discovered any active plots against USA movie theatres at this time. Carmike are cowards for allowing themselves to be censored by ungrounded online threats. Hopefully, the hackers’ warnings turn out to be naught but hyperbolic bluffs and the movie is a huge success. This has become so much more than an issue of satire or propaganda; this movie is a statement of free speech and independence, two concepts that are nonexistent in the alienated world of North Korea.
for anyone interested, i wrote a little piece yesterday on my thoughts on the sony hack on my blog
What’s stunning is that North Korea can find hackers with the talent to do something this sophisticated, yet they can’t find a single person who can write a threatening email using correct English?
Not setting a good precedent here. smh.