It's been a rocky couple of days in the world of Sony. After the hacking that saw hundreds of company documents released to the public, the group responsible threatened attacks on theaters in America showing Seth Rogen and James Franco's The Interview, which seems to be the catalyst for all these events. The comedy, which sees the pair attempt to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, was pulled from several major theater chains, as well as seeing its New York premiere, amid these threats from this mysterious group (un substantiated rumours persist they originate from North Korea), complete with remarks like, "Remember the 11th of September 2001". Now Sony have shelved the theatrical release altogether, releasing the following 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.
It's looking like the movie will never see the light of day, not even on VOD, with a spokesman stating, "Sony Pictures has no further release plans for the film." Another movie also seems to be a victim of these strange turn of events, with the Steve Carrell starring, North Korea set thriller Pyongyang being scrapped in the middle of post production. It's amazing that a piece of creative expression could lead to something as big as the events we have seen over the past few weeks, and I feel the fallout from this will be felt for the coming days, maybe even weeks.
