Multiple theatres are now announcing that Sony Pictures has authorised screenings of The Interview on Christmas Day in the US. There are also reports that the company will also announce corresponding video on demand release. They’re not such cowards after all!
https://twitter.com/hashtag/Victory?src=hash
That’s Tim League of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a Texas-based movie theatre chain, who supported a petition for Sony Pictures to allow independent theatres to show the movie. The Drafthouse Cinema in Dallas will be one of the select theatres, and tickets are now for sale. This tweet came from Plaza Atlanta, the longest-operating cinema in Georgia, where the movie will also be shown:
Breaking Plaza News: The Interview will open Exclusive on 12/25 . The Plaza will be one of the few theaters in the nation to open the film .
— Plaza Atlanta (@PlazaAtlanta) December 23, 2014
Within minutes of these tweets, news emerged that Sony Pictures was planning to announce a theatrical release and VOD strategy. Promotional pages for The Interview, namely the movie’s Twitter page, also started come back online.
Details remain vague about exactly how many theatres will be screening The Interview. An unnamed sourced told The New York Times “it appeared unlikely that big chains like Regal or AMC would come on board but that Sony was likely to patch together distribution for the film in 200 to 300 smaller theatres.” That’s better than none.
The Interview, of course, is the Seth Rogen comedy about assassinating Kim Jong-Un that’s supposedly to blame for the massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures. (North Korea is reportedly to blame.) Less than a week ago, the top five theatre chains in the United States decided to drop The Interview, after receiving threats from hackers that screening the film would result in 9/11-scale violence. Sony Pictures announced later that day that it had no plans to release the film in any way.
Then, the president got involved. Last Friday, Obama said that Sony Pictures “made a mistake” by deciding to pull The Interview. In the same breath, the president reiterated the importance of free speech. He said of Sony Pictures, “I wish they had spoken to me first.” Well apparently, Sony Pictures has heard him now.
Update 1:15 p.m.: Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton issued the following statement about the limited release:
We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theatres on Christmas Day. At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theatres so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.
It’s worth remembering that Lynton also said that Sony Pictures had not given up on the film last Friday after his company got scolded by the president. Lynton added:
I want to thank our talent on The Interview and our employees, who have worked tirelessly through the many challenges we have all faced over the last month. While we hope this is only the first stop of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.
It’s unclear if Lynton is talking about the hackers who attempted to suppress free speech or his own company which pulled The Interview from theatres in the first place.