Top Five Theaters Won't Show "The Interview" Sony Cancels Release

tobiasly writes The country's top five theater chains — Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, Carmike Cinemas and Cineplex Entertainment — have decided not to play Sony's The Interview. This comes after the group which carried off a massive breach of its networks threatened to carry out "9/11-style attacks" on theaters that showed the film. Update: Sony has announced that it has cancelled the planned December 25 theatrical release.

Comments

Home of the brave?

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh huh...

Re:Home of the brave?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, this only emboldens the bad guys, now that some hackers have actually gotten companies to run away screaming from a fictional movie.

The movie theaters have just fscked themselves. Now they can't present any controversial material out of fear.

Like the old counterstrike game:

"Terrorists win."

Re:Home of the brave?

[reboot246]

More like home of the pussies.

Re:Home of the brave?

[Obscene_CNN]

So if 9/11 style threats against theaters will stop a movie from being released, Why the hell didn't someone think of that when Twilight was released?

Re:Home of the brave?

[reboot246]

Yes, I'd go to the mall. I have a better chance of being killed in an accident driving to the mall. I have a better chance of being killed by lightning. Why not go? It's not a matter of being "tough". It's simply a matter of math. Do the math.

Re:Home of the brave?

[bughunter]

Humans are brave, and motivated by ideals like liberty and honor.

Corporations are risk averse, and motivated solely by profit.

Re:Home of the brave?

[kylemonger]

If they launch an attack on the U.S., North Korea can kiss their asses goodbye and they know it. They can threaten Sony and get away with it, because public corporations are cowardly by nature. But it is a whole other thing to kill Americans in a terrorist attack today. Iraq is still living in butthurt due to 9/11 and they weren't even involved. Sony should have released the film and called North Korea's bluff.

Re:Home of the brave?

[frovingslosh]

Well, SONY might not be as "All-American" as "Home of the Brave" implies.

But, while the terrorists have won, SONY could do their part to rob the terrorists of their victory. Since they have decided NOT to release the movie to theaters anyway, they could score a great public relations victory by giving away lots of free copies. Imagine free DVDs at lots of retailers and/or sent to anyone who signs up for a free DVD on a Sony website getting a copy in the mail, delivered by an agent of the U.S. Government. And, of course, free digital downloads for people who don't care about quality. And it would send a nice message to all munchkin dictators. Hack us because you don't like what we say, you don't get to silence us, you get us to send out our movie to even more viewers than would have seen it before.

Not that I expect Sony to do something that would have such a positive effect; I expect them to allow the terrorists to win and focus on making money. Just saying that it is what I would do if I ran Sony. I do not.

Terrorists Win

[mcolgin]

Terrorists seem to win over and over.

Re:Terrorists Win

[tverbeek]

"A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once." – W. Shakespeare

Sets a precedent

[guytoronto]

Now every terrorist organization around the world will see how easy it is to control North American media.

Re:Sets a precedent

[ArcadeMan]

And you don't even need to get elected to do it!

Boycott

[ottawanker]

Well, I'm boycotting any theatre that isn't showing this movie because of a terrorist threat. If they don't want to show it because it's crap, that's fine with me.. But not because of some threat.

Re:So stream it...

[jandrese]

Sony should say screw you to North Korea and release the entire movie for free on the internet. Make sure everybody has a chance to see it. Of course they won't because they still have to monetize it somehow, but it would be something to say "we're not going to give in".

Re:What happened to

[Cro Magnon]

They didn't negotiate. They just capitulated.

Opposite of the reaction they should have

[Anonymous Coward]

They should be advertising the sht out of this movie as the film that terrorists are afraid of, including funny made up quotes from bogus North Korean hackers and party officials, etc.

They should be running to the fire on this, not away. It could send a message and increase their sales at the same time. The ONLY people in the whole world who really care about this two-bit movie are the North Koreans. They're not going to pull off any real terrorist attacks. Their hack of Sony was impressive, and I can understand the studios being wary of that, but really, some consulting dollars could mitigate a lot of that risk. Run a security blitz at the studios and poke NK in the eye. It's what they deserve.

Hyperbole Much?

[Irate Engineer]

'9/11 style attacks'? So if these movies are screened, attackers will sneak in, fueled up with convenience-store-bought Raisinets and armed with box knives? Or are they going to crash an airliner into each theater?

We've become a nation where a college kid wishing to avoid a final exam can call in a bomb threat to close a campus. All threats, however implausible, must be taken seriously, just in case it truly is a real threat and an attack occurs. 99.999% of the time the threat is bogus, but if one doesn't act hysterically and it turns out to be the 0.001% situation, you're screwed (more likely by lawyers after the fact, not so much by the attack itself).

By caving to the threat, they are validating the use of this strategy, and are ensuring that they will get more threats like this in the future. It works.

Re:There is a difference.

[squiggleslash]

Well, if you're lucky, the terrorists may kill you before the movie starts.

If you're not so lucky, the last thing you hear before your death is Seth Rogen laughing...