Sony Officially Scraps THE INTERVIEW
Sony Pictures has officially scrapped James Franco and Seth Rogen's comedy The Interview, and they will not be releasing it on December 25th. The decision comes after the hackers threatened to blow up movie theaters if the film was released.
Sony has gone through a whirlwind these past couple of weeks, and they finally decided to back off and let the hackers have their way. I'm not a fan of anyone screwing around with our right to freedom of speech and expression, but I understand why Sony made this decision, and I support their decision. It's just so weird and it sucks that all of this happened over a harmless movie to entertain audiences.
The question is, will the hackers finally back off of Sony and let them put their business back together? Here's the full statement that the studio released:
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.