Setting a dangerous precedent, Sony Pictures The Interview from movie theaters, in fear of retaliation from the North Korean government. The Seth Rogen and James Franco movie, features a possible CIA assassination attempt on North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
Michael Lynton, CEO to Sony Pictures, backed out in fear of terrorist actions by North Korea or further by their ominous Unit 121, a cyber hacking unit that operates in North Korea or in cities within the borders of China, but near North Korea. Lynton blamed movie theater chains for backing out of showing the movie.
The problem with that is, that there are movie theater chains, including independent ones that are still publicly saying they are willing to show the movie.
Even if all movie theaters backed out, Sony Pictures would still have avenues to distribute the film, but at this point, have ruled them all out as well. While they wouldn't recuperate all their costs in making the film, they could still recuperate some of their $44 million costs by releasing the film on video-on-demand.
If they are scared that terrorist attacks could happen in individual theaters, let movie spectators view the movie in the safety of their own homes. North Korea can't attack every home in America.
The movie was originally slated for a Christmas release date. Imagine all those families that join together over the holidays, watching the movie at home for $10, which is a steal of a discount for the movie spectators and still a way to lessen Sony Pictures' loses.
"To date, we don't have any takers — neither on the video demand side nor on the e-commerce side," said Lynton. "People have been generally fearful about the possibility of their systems being corrupted, and so there have been a lot of conversations about the robustness of various systems to be able to make sure they're not hacked, if and when we put the movie out digitally."
This is another falsehood by the Sony Pictures CEO. While a small percentage may side with him on this, many more people don't. They want to see the film.
It was even suggested that The Interview be shown on Sony PlayStation systems, which can stream movies. Lynton backed out of this as well, saying he believes that if the movie were to be released, it would have to be on a wider scale.
Sony finally announced today, that they plan to distribute the movie on Crackle, a streaming service that they own. Unfortunately for many moviegoers, this limits the possible audience that can see it. Crackle is the fourth most watched streaming service in America, behind Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
Hacker group, Guardians of Peace, released a follow-up threat to Sony Pictures, stating, "Now we want you never let the movie released, distributed or leaked in any form of, for instance, DVD or piracy." They continued to say, "And we want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately."
While lacking in grammatical skills, the threat still has Sony Pictures shaking in their boots.
The situation even garnered attention from the American government and President Barack Obama called Sony Pictures' standpoint, a mistake. President Obama said that Sony could have contacted the U.S. government and found a way to distribute the movie, not letting a foreign dictator determine whether a movie comes out or not in America.
It sets a dangerous precedent said Obama. He's right. If movie studios are so willing to back out, other dictators or even terrorist organizations such as ISIS could possibly follow a similar route now, when a movie or even a documentary is slated for release, that they don't approve of.
Unfortunately, Sony Pictures is not the only movie studio to bow down in fear of the North Korean government. Paramount Pictures, which screens their film Team America: World Police in individual venues because of the movie's cult following, has pulled the plug on the movie being shown.
Team America: World Police features an American paramilitary unit going in to assassinate then North Korea leader, Kim Jong Il, father to Kim Jong Un. Starring a cast made of marionette puppets, the movie was to be shown at the famous Alamo Drafthouse. Paramount Pictures followed Sony Pictures lead and pulled the plug.
When these movies were originally green-lit, the studios had to been aware that the movie could anger the North Korean government. To claim different, is either a blatant lie or the lack of backbone at the last second.
Falling under the radar is the fact that pulling The Interview from theaters, has cost Seth Rogen millions of dollars for writing, directing, producing, and starring in the movie. Despite having the opportunity to sue Sony Pictures with just cause, Rogen announced he'll refrain from doing so.
So what's next? Al-Qaeda forcing Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to pull DVD sales of Zero Dark Thirty? What about Warner Bros. being threatened by Iran for the hit movie, Argo? Setting a dangerous precedent, Sony Pictures has now opened the flood doors for other studios to also be attacked.
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