SONY Cancels Release of 'The Interview' On Christmas

[Tennesseer]

"With theater chains defecting en masse, Sony Pictures Entertainment has pulled the planned Christmas release of “The Interview.”

In announcing the decision to cancel the holiday debut, Sony hit back at the hackers who threatened movie theaters and moviegoers and who have terrorized the studio and its employees for weeks.

“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,” the statement reads.

“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,” it continues. “We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.”"

Sony Cancels Theatrical Release for ‘The Interview’ on Christmas

I was more than interested in seeing the movie just to send the message to the hackers, 'Screw You.'

Was anyone else interested in seeing the movie?

[Opti]

If it weren't for the hackers, I probably would have no interest in it either.

I hope they are caught.

[Value Buy]

Dec 17, 2014 17:32:15 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

"With theater chains defecting en masse, Sony Pictures Entertainment has pulled the planned Christmas release of “The Interview.”

In announcing the decision to cancel the holiday debut, Sony hit back at the hackers who threatened movie theaters and moviegoers and who have terrorized the studio and its employees for weeks.

“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,” the statement reads.

“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,” it continues. “We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.”"

Sony Cancels Theatrical Release for ‘The Interview’ on Christmas

I was more than interested in seeing the movie just to send the message to the hackers, 'Screw You.'

Was anyone else interested in seeing the movie?

I have a standing request from all my family members.

Never spend money at any business establishment on Christmas.

My reasoning was it's Christmas, and people should not have to work.

I was almost to the point of breaking my request and see it myself on Christmas day.

My wife and I decided to see it on the 26th.

We figured it would be kind of going and see an old Cheech and Chong movie back in the day

[Value Buy]

NBC national news tonight announced the Government has traced the source of the cyber attack to the north Koreans, working in China.

[billisonboard]

I nominate "The Interview".

[Tiny]

I'm kinda confused by the whole thing... Maybe it's a tasteless marketing ploy for a tasteless/tacky movie

I'm sure it's a really stupid 'loser' movie that Sony was going to release only because there will be an over abundance of people looking to see movies over the Christmas holidays. (think HS kids/college kids) It doesn't matter what movie they go to see - they will see any piece of shlock available. And it would have been quickly forgotten.

The whole "terrorist threat" - pretty much just made sure this movie (and the fun it pokes at North Korea) will live on FOREVER.

Why? Sometimes it's best to just let distasteful things like this spring to a brief life and then fade away to be forgotten.

If North Korea was behind the "hack" you'd think they'd be familiar with how this kinda stuff works... they are masters at it.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

I'm kinda confused by the whole thing... Maybe it's a tasteless marketing ploy for a tasteless/tacky movie

No, it was a legitimate hack - and "possible" threat - would you not feel bad if some theater(s) had been attacked while people were there for the premier (even if it isn't that great a movie)? Chances of it being some prank can't be brushed off or ignored.

All threats these days have to be taken seriously. The world has become a scary place to live in.

[Tennesseer]

I see it in several ways.  Theaters are afraid of anyone being injured while SONY is hoping by pulling the movie, the leaks will stop.  Cowardly of SONY to pull the movie.

[thyme4change]

First off, I wanted to see the movie - because I think those guys are freaking hilarious.  I am down with dumb comedies and these guys are the kings.

Second - when I first heard of the hack, I thought it was marketing ploy-ish, but the longer it goes on, and the things that are coming out, seems quite real.  

Third - I am really sad that we lost a little ground here by having to postpone or worse this movie.

And lastly, I am really wondering if this goes on, and Sony and the movie theaters decide they don't want the risk of releasing it in a theater, they might do a direct to pay-per-view / amazon release.  It could be an interesting experiment for the industry to see if they can make money by doing a massive marketing campaign and then making it so people can watch at home.  

Sidebar - I thought the emails that were leaked were pretty funny.  

[Jaguar]

Dec 17, 2014 19:02:22 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

NBC national news tonight announced the Government has traced the source of the cyber attack to the north Koreans, working in China.

Here's the story :

www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korea-behind-sony-hack-u-s-officials-n270451

[Tennesseer]

Dec 17, 2014 23:44:12 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

First off, I wanted to see the movie - because I think those guys are freaking hilarious.  I am down with dumb comedies and these guys are the kings.

Second - when I first heard of the hack, I thought it was marketing ploy-ish, but the longer it goes on, and the things that are coming out, seems quite real.  

Third - I am really sad that we lost a little ground here by having to postpone or worse this movie.

And lastly, I am really wondering if this goes on, and Sony and the movie theaters decide they don't want the risk of releasing it in a theater, they might do a direct to pay-per-view / amazon release.  It could be an interesting experiment for the industry to see if they can make money by doing a massive marketing campaign and then making it so people can watch at home.  

Sidebar - I thought the emails that were leaked were pretty funny.  

I liked them both in the movie, This Is The End.

[thyme4change]

This is the End was awesome.  So incredibly, stupidly, embarrassingly awesome.  

[imanangel]

That movie sounds hilarious!  I actually had not even heard about it until I read this thread. 

[Opti]

It was over the top, but I loved Jonah Hill's take on how he should

talk when he was possessed by the devil.

[Waffle]

I was not interested in the movie. But, I am disturbed that North Korea's was able to hack a major US company on US soil (fixed for beachbum) .  I remember hearing a lot of people say that if we (the collective U.S. citizens we) change our behavior because of terrorist threats - the terrorist wins.  Seems like the terrorists just won one round and that makes me sad.

I understand why the theaters weren't willing to take the risk, but it's still disturbing and I hope it doesn't just open us up to more cyber attacks accompanied with threats of violence.

[resolution]

I am surprised that it really ended up being North Korea making a statement about the movie. I had figured it was a bunch of angry gamers that were either upset about the playstation network or about a couple of their MMOs. 

It is disappointing how poorly they handled their encryption considering that their gaming branch has already had some of the biggest data losses in the world. This should be old hat to them by now.

I doubt I would have seen the movie. I see about one movie a year and it tends to be a superhero movie.

[ArchietheDragon]

Sony found a new way of guerrilla marketing the movie.    When it opens in a few months it will pull in far more people than if sony had never pulled this stunt. 

[justme]

North Korea had been threatening something for quite a while about this movie so when I heard about them my only doubt that it was then was if they had someone with the hacking skills to do that.

Considering all the employee social security numbers and other personal info that was leaked (heard they were suing sony for beach) there's almost no way it was a ploy.

[ArchietheDragon]

Dec 18, 2014 8:24:04 GMT -5 justme said:

North Korea had been threatening something for quite a while about this movie so when I heard about them my only doubt that it was then was if they had someone with the hacking skills to do that.

Considering all the employee social security numbers and other personal info that was leaked (heard they were suing sony for beach) there's almost no way it was a ploy.

 

That is all part of the marketing strategy.  Do you know anyone who's SS number was leaked?   I bet no one does. 

[Opti]

So Sony's marketing strategy in Archie's opinion included posting other

Christmas release movies to piracy sites just because we don't know

personally anyone who's SS has been stolen?

[ArchietheDragon]

Dec 18, 2014 8:31:57 GMT -5 Opti said:

So Sony's marketing strategy in Archie's opinion included posting other

Christmas release movies to piracy sites just because we don't know

personally anyone who's SS has been stolen?

It is diabolic.   Look how much press they are getting!

[973beachbum]

Dec 18, 2014 6:52:30 GMT -5 Waffle said:

I was not interested in the movie. But, I am disturbed that North Korea's was able to hack a major US company.  I remember hearing a lot of people say that if we (the collective U.S. citizens we) change our behavior because of terrorist threats - the terrorist wins.  Seems like the terrorists just won one round and that makes me sad.

I understand why the theaters weren't willing to take the risk, but it's still disturbing and I hope it doesn't just open us up to more cyber attacks accompanied with threats of violence.

Just for the record Sony isn't an American company.  It is a Japanese company.

[Tennesseer]

Dec 18, 2014 8:26:12 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Dec 18, 2014 8:24:04 GMT -5 justme said:

North Korea had been threatening something for quite a while about this movie so when I heard about them my only doubt that it was then was if they had someone with the hacking skills to do that.

Considering all the employee social security numbers and other personal info that was leaked (heard they were suing sony for beach) there's almost no way it was a ploy.

 

That is all part of the marketing strategy.  Do you know anyone who's SS number was leaked?   I bet no one does. 

How many Sony studio employees do you personally know well enough you could ask that question?

[billisonboard]

I was doing my morning catch up and read this thread. Then I went on to another and read something that I thought was appropriate to bring back here.

Dec 18, 2014 8:24:33 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

... Frankly, you can talk about me whenever you like. I don't much care; especially, since you know very little about me. However, I'm also aware everyone is not me. Some are far more sensitive. I respect that and try like heck to take those folks into consideration when I post. To me, being adult involves considering what you post before you post it. Being adult involves truly caring about the effect your words might have on someone else more sensitive than you may be.

[ArchietheDragon]

Dec 18, 2014 9:57:33 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Dec 18, 2014 8:26:12 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

 

That is all part of the marketing strategy.  Do you know anyone who's SS number was leaked?   I bet no one does. 

How many Sony studio employees do you personally know well enough you could ask that question?

0

[Waffle]

Dec 18, 2014 9:37:17 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

Dec 18, 2014 6:52:30 GMT -5 Waffle said:

I was not interested in the movie. But, I am disturbed that North Korea's was able to hack a major US company.  I remember hearing a lot of people say that if we (the collective U.S. citizens we) change our behavior because of terrorist threats - the terrorist wins.  Seems like the terrorists just won one round and that makes me sad.

I understand why the theaters weren't willing to take the risk, but it's still disturbing and I hope it doesn't just open us up to more cyber attacks accompanied with threats of violence.

Just for the record Sony isn't an American company.  It is a Japanese company.

Ok fine! A company on American soil.

[Tiny]

Dec 17, 2014 23:24:19 GMT -5 ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ said:

I'm kinda confused by the whole thing... Maybe it's a tasteless marketing ploy for a tasteless/tacky movie

No, it was a legitimate hack - and "possible" threat - would you not feel bad if some theater(s) had been attacked while people were there for the premier (even if it isn't that great a movie)? Chances of it being some prank can't be brushed off or ignored.

All threats these days have to be taken seriously. The world has become a scary place to live in.

No, I don't want people to be hurt or theaters attacked.

But, playing Devil's Advocate here - this could be the demise of Public Movie Theaters.   Any group that finds a movie (or some scene in the movie) objectional can theaten to blow up theaters that show the movie.   I suspect just about any movie is 'objectional' to someone.    Think about how often books in schools get people's undies in a bunch - bunched so much that people call for censorship of schools and libraries.     OK, yeah, in a school the book might be required reading while it's not required to see a particular movie - but the whole "I don't like X! so therefore NO ONE should have access to X! And I KNOW how to stop that from happening Bwaaa haaa haaa!" is becoming a pretty common idea/plan.

If Movie theaters need to show only 'safe to show' movies - they will vanish - because the populace can watch movies in the safety of their own homes... why go to a theater?

[b2r]

   


 

[Deleted]

I know it's just a cheesy comedy (although I love Seth Rogan), but I'm seriously pissed off that we let a ruthless prick of a dictator from another country decide what Americans can watch. 

[ArchietheDragon]

Dec 18, 2014 12:12:01 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I know it's just a cheesy comedy (although I love Seth Rogan), but I'm seriously pissed off that we let a ruthless prick of a dictator from another country decide what Americans can watch. 

Sony, a Japanese company let a North Korean ruthless prick of a dictator decide what American's can watch.    We should drop another nuke on Japan for this.