Well ladies and genleman, the news that we have all knew was coming has been made official: Sony Pictures Entertainment has pulled its highly publicized film The Interview. It will no longer be released next week on its scheduled Christmas Day date.
The news comes mere hours after almost every national theater chain opted to pull the film from their respective theaters, all citing the recent threat from anonymous hackers that people should avoid going to theaters where The Interview is playing. AMC, Regal, Cinemark and Arclight Cinemas were just a few of the many chains that had come to this decision, each showing their concern for moviergoers and their overall fear that families would avoid the box-office entirely if the controversial film, that contains a plot about an attempted assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-unwas, allowed to run.
"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," Sony said in its first official statement on the matter. "Sony Pictures has been the victim of an unprecedented criminal assault against our employees, our customers, and our business. ... We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie. ... We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome."
While last week's Los Angeles premiere went off without a hitch, Thursday's New York City premiere had already been cancelled due to the recent threats. But until now the film was still slated for its Christmas Day release.
The situation is a unique one as there are two definite sides of the equation. While everyone is concerned for the safety of those who do venture out to theaters this holiday season, many have argued the value of free speech and the power you give a criminal when they can stop something as big as a film's release.
But the main problem lies in the possibility that people will avoid theaters altogether. It's very easy to see that not just The Interview could be hurt by this threat. The other Christmas releases like Disney' Into The Woods and Universal's Unbroken would likely be hurt as well. Pulling the film was quite possibly the only way to preserve this year's holiday box-office numbers across the board, and get people into theater seats when studios all need attendance numbers most.
That being said, I have a sneaky feeling that had The Interview been released, more people would be wanting to see it now than a month ago. It will be interesting to witness just how Sony handles the situatoin going further, and if the film will ever have life on the big screen.
