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Sony Cancels Theatrical Release for ‘The Interview’ on Christmas

Fiddytree said:
It does look like a ****ty movie. I didn't want to watch the thing regardless.
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Now, I would buy a ticket and go just to spite them, on Christmas day. I don't care how crappy a movie it might look to be or is.

Cowards.
 
It was one of the few movies coming up I was looking forward to seeing, just a pointless shallow comedy. They can be an enjoyable diversion.

This could end up being a huge PR plus if ever released. Or it may never be released. It is a fairly bold movie advocating humor about assassinating a foreign leader.
Maybe that's not such a good idea.
 
Fiddytree said:
Potentially so. I think, however, Sony has largely set the tone for how this was going to go. It's been a Sony-centric story.
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Here's why Sony has egg on its face throughout this whole ordeal:

In addition to Sony asking for the Kim Jong-un death scene to be toned down (as revealed in leaked emails), we also learn that it requested for him not be killed at all. "There was a moment where [the studio execs] were like: 'They’ve threatened war over the movie. You kill him [Kim Jong-un]. Would you consider not killing him?' And we were like, 'Nope.'"
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Seth Rogen said 'nope' to Sony's plea to spare Kim Jong-un's life | The Verge

Now, I would buy a ticket and go just to spite them, on Christmas day. I don't care how crappy a movie it might look to be or is.

Cowards.[/QUOTE]

I won't but Sony has no plans at all to release the film on any format. Right now---it's dead."]
Gina said:
Now, I would buy a ticket and go just to spite them, on Christmas day. I don't care how crappy a movie it might look to be or is.

Cowards.
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I won't but Sony has no plans at all to release the film on any format. Right now---it's dead.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has chosen to stand down for “The Interview,” deciding against releasing the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy in any form — including VOD or DVD, as U.S. officials reportedly link Sony’s massive cyber attack to North Korea.

“Sony Pictures has no further release plans for the film,” a spokesman said Wednesday.

The studio issued the statement a few hours after pulling the planned Christmas Day release of “The Interview” in the U.S. in response to the hackers who threatened a 9/11-style attack against U.S. theaters and moviegoers if the comedy were released.
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http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony-has-no-further-release-plans-for-the-interview-1201382167/

Sony has wussed out on this film the whole time. It doesn't even exist on Sony's website.
 
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CanadaJohn said:
It sounds weak and it makes me angry that it comes to this, but in this day an age it would be irresponsible on the part of Sony and the theaters that would air the movie to potentially put crowds of movie goers in danger. Can you imagine the outcry and calls for Sony's crucifixion if they aired the movie and some ass blew up a theater or in some other way harmed people.

When someone sends in a bomb threat at an airport or government building, people don't just ignore that threat - they close down the location until everything is clear. I'm not sure how you clear anything from what equates to a terrorist threat.
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You're not-American and the above display of cowardice is to be expected.

Meanwhile in America, Sony's decision is a disgrace and an embarrassment. No doubt the terrorists got some dirt on the executives and so they caved.
 
A large part of me wants to bomb North Korea......


with millions of dvd copies of this movie.
 
They should release it for free on Piratebay.. no wait...
 
solletica said:
:rolleyes: sony doesn't care about the safety of movie-goers. It only cares about profit. The story about there being a threat to movie-goers is likely just some PR b. s. put out by the studio.

It's more likely that the hackers have information on sony that could further endanger their profitability and have threatened to release it.
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Sure - this is precisely why the Obama administration has now identified definitively that the North Korean government is responsible for the hacking and is looking at additional sanctions or actions in retaliation. I don't have much respect for Obama and his administration, but I doubt this is a PR stunt.
 
Jack Hays said:
In Israel every citizen is considered a front line soldier, wherever he/she is. Admirable.
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Good morning 2M,

That's easy to say, Israelis are protecting their country, their religion, and their way of life. They've only got one of each.

Sony and movie theaters have lots of movies and potentially dying for one is idiotic and false bravado.

I hope whomever is behind this can be ferreted out and specifically punished, in addition to the North Koreans who appear to be the instigators. But Sony and the theaters have acted responsibly, considering the threat. If the movie was distributed and showing and a bomb threat was called in, even for every theater, do you think or expect that authorities would simple say "be brave, keep your seat, we don't believe it". No, they'd clear the theater and investigate and make sure everyone is safe. It's the responsible thing to do.

And let's be clear, we're talking about businesses here, not government. Businesses cave to political correctness nonsense on a regular basis for far less.
 
CanadaJohn said:
Good morning 2M,

That's easy to say, Israelis are protecting their country, their religion, and their way of life. They've only got one of each.

Sony and movie theaters have lots of movies and potentially dying for one is idiotic and false bravado.

I hope whomever is behind this can be ferreted out and specifically punished, in addition to the North Koreans who appear to be the instigators. But Sony and the theaters have acted responsibly, considering the threat. If the movie was distributed and showing and a bomb threat was called in, even for every theater, do you think or expect that authorities would simple say "be brave, keep your seat, we don't believe it". No, they'd clear the theater and investigate and make sure everyone is safe. It's the responsible thing to do.

And let's be clear, we're talking about businesses here, not government. Businesses cave to political correctness nonsense on a regular basis for far less.
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I am afraid that we already know who dunnit. But we probably will not bomb the dictator's palace.
 
Brilliant PR move (cancelling the opening).

Now millions of people that have never heard of or had no intention of going to see this movie, now want to see it.

This move will probably make Sony tens of millions of extra dollars in the movie.
 
reinoe said:
You're not-American and the above display of cowardice is to be expected.

Meanwhile in America, Sony's decision is a disgrace and an embarrassment. No doubt the terrorists got some dirt on the executives and so they caved.
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The only relevance about my not being American is my capacity for common sense. All of this big talk and bravado would wilt away with cries for mommy from you and others if you were sitting in a theater that was attacked. And if your smug self survived, you'd be suing Sony, the theater and probably George Bush too.

But thanks - you're about as funny as the movie seems to be.
 
CanadaJohn said:
Sure - this is precisely why the Obama administration has now identified definitively that the North Korean government is responsible for the hacking and is looking at additional sanctions or actions in retaliation. I don't have much respect for Obama and his administration, but I doubt this is a PR stunt.
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It wasn't a PR stunt to sell the film--it was a PR move by sony to lie about the reason for cancelling the film, i. e. making the studio sound as if it were concerned about the safety or ordinary people, instead of losing more $$ from getting corporate secrets exposed.
 
DA60 said:
Brilliant PR move (cancelling the opening).

Now millions of people that have never heard of or had no intention of going to see this movie, now want to see it.

This move will probably make Sony tens of millions of extra dollars in the movie.
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Yeah... I doubt this is a PR stunt. Long explanation coming:

For a movie to be considered "a success" it needs to make back both upfront budget costs (production) and hidden costs (marketing). Marketing tends to be in the same range as production cost (which most studios don't actually admit) so a movie with a 100 million budget making 200 million is considered a flop. It needs to make over 1.5x of it's entire cost to be a success. Don't believe me? Well, a great example would be John Carter (250 million production) which reported losses of 200 million after earning 280 million. So this movie would need to do 150 million to be considered a success. That sounds like a small number, but it is actually pretty hard to accomplish with a comedy that isn't animated or a sequel. It's even harder to accomplish the longer a movie is kept on the shelf.

I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with your statement about PR stunts. The thing is that box office growth is actually a small percentage of a movie's actual monetary pull. Most of the money comes from licensing deals; t-shirts, shorts, product placement, DVD distribution, lighters, underwear, special edition box sets, etc. That's where studios really make their money. A movie that isn't coming out is not generating licensing deals and isn't making as much money as it could be. Furthermore, Holding it back indefinitely isn't good news for shareholders who aren't in the loop.

So yeah, holding this movie back as a PR stunt is disastrous for a studio that just spent over 80 million producing and marketing this movie.
 
CanadaJohn said:
Good morning 2M,

That's easy to say, Israelis are protecting their country, their religion, and their way of life. They've only got one of each.

Sony and movie theaters have lots of movies and potentially dying for one is idiotic and false bravado.

I hope whomever is behind this can be ferreted out and specifically punished, in addition to the North Koreans who appear to be the instigators. But Sony and the theaters have acted responsibly, considering the threat.
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The only "threat" is to sony's bottom line, which is why the corporate big wigs up there are scared ----less.

But sony entertainment has also likely bagged a few Congressional pols, and so now NK controls them as well.
 
instagramsci said:
This is being taken way too seriously
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The US govt. is in full damage control mode because it knows that sony entertainment controls a large chunk of the US Congress.

So if NK has dirt on sony, it means NK now controls a large chunk of Congress.
 
Hatuey said:
Yeah... I doubt this is a PR stunt. Long explanation coming:

For a movie to be considered "a success" it needs to make back both upfront budget costs (production) and hidden costs (marketing). Marketing tends to be in the same range as production cost (which most studios don't actually admit) so a movie with a 100 million budget making 200 million is considered a flop. It needs to make over 1.5x of it's entire cost to be a success. Don't believe me? Well, a great example would be John Carter (250 million production) which reported losses of 200 million after earning 280 million. So this movie would need to do 150 million to be considered a success. That sounds like a small number, but it is actually pretty hard to accomplish with a comedy that isn't animated or a sequel. It's even harder to accomplish the longer a movie is kept on the shelf.

I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with your statement about PR stunts. The thing is that box office growth is actually a small percentage of a movie's actual monetary pull. Most of the money comes from licensing deals; t-shirts, shorts, product placement, DVD distribution, lighters, underwear, special edition box sets, etc. That's where studios really make their money. A movie that isn't coming out is not generating licensing deals and isn't making as much money as it could be. Furthermore, Holding it back indefinitely isn't good news for shareholders who aren't in the loop.

So yeah, holding this movie back as a PR stunt is disastrous for a studio that just spent over 80 million producing and marketing this movie.
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Some (probably) North Korean group (who Homeland Security say are not a credible terrorist threat) threatens a theatre or two so SONY shuts down the entire release? Come on now.

I am not saying the threats were fake.

I am saying Sony's PR dept. is loving the threats and milking them - brilliantly - for all they can.

You disagree...fine.
 
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Grant said:
It would have been interesting to see how many people would have attended despite the threats. My guess it is that it would have been SRO.
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In Texas, anyway. Half the attendees would be there just for the chance of shooting a terrorist. :lol:
 
So I guess this means that nobody gets paid? I think it's weird that NK retaliated by hacking into sony's emails. Like there aren't other things of more importance they could have done or hacked into. I'm sure this terrible looking movie will be leaked and shown anyway... Just not in theatres!
 
My guess is that Sony's capitulation has undermined the deterrence value of any possible cyber countermeasures that might be taken against North Korea's government. Had Sony gone ahead with the film, North Korea's interests in stopping the film would not have been served. On top of that, cyber countermeasures would have inflicted a cost on that regime for its conduct.

Now, any such measures would be measured against a trade-off, big benefits from Sony's capitulation in exchange for costs that would appear to be modest. Hence, deterrence value almost certainly wouldn't be achieved. In that context, it may now make little or no sense for the U.S. government even to undertake such measures (risk of retaliation for measures that would now have no meaningful deterrence value). Public condemnation and traditional law enforcement may now be the only reasonable approach. I can't overstate how Sony's capitulation has essentially gutted the possible effectiveness of a strategic cyber response against North Korea.
 
DA60 said:
Think what you like.
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This is not a statement of belief. I know that's how these things work. A movie being held back is not a PR stunt in any sense of the word because a movie on a shelf, is a movie that isn't making money.

I am saying Sony's PR dept. is loving the threats and milking them - brilliantly - for all they can.
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I don't think you actually understand that this issue is about far more than a movie. The initial hack involved the release of emails between top Sony executives and producers. A lot of these e-mails have damaged the relationship between Sony and the stars it contracts to work. The most high profile of whom which is Angelina Jolie. Did Sony's PR department plan on burning a bridge with both her and by extension her husband? What about Adam Sandler? Did the Sony PR team plan to burn a bridge with a guy who is in the top 50 highest grossing actors? Again, this is a lot bigger than you think and right now their PR team is in damage control mode with celebrities, producers, directors and their friends.
 
solletica said:
All corporations think $$ and nothing else (assuming there are no activist shareholders on the board).
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Look at you - the corporate expert.

No profits = no corporations = no employment.

Good job.
 
CanadaJohn said:
Good morning 2M,

That's easy to say, Israelis are protecting their country, their religion, and their way of life. They've only got one of each.

Sony and movie theaters have lots of movies and potentially dying for one is idiotic and false bravado.

I hope whomever is behind this can be ferreted out and specifically punished, in addition to the North Koreans who appear to be the instigators. But Sony and the theaters have acted responsibly, considering the threat. If the movie was distributed and showing and a bomb threat was called in, even for every theater, do you think or expect that authorities would simple say "be brave, keep your seat, we don't believe it". No, they'd clear the theater and investigate and make sure everyone is safe. It's the responsible thing to do.

And let's be clear, we're talking about businesses here, not government. Businesses cave to political correctness nonsense on a regular basis for far less.
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When we watch one fall victim and do nothing it diminishes us all and erases a bit of our own freedom. Yes, Sony is a business, but the victims were Americans.
 
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