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Sony: 'The Interview' Will Have a Limited Theatrical Release

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-was-all-a-viral-marketing-scheme dept.

New submitter clovis writes: It's not over until it's over. Sony Pictures has announced that The Interview will be getting a limited theatrical release after all. The Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain has authorization to show the film, and The Plaza Theater in Atlanta will show it as well. It's not yet clear whether the major theater chains will choose to show the movie despite the threats against them. Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Layton said, "[W]e are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience." There are unconfirmed reports that Sony will make the movie available over video-on-demand as well.

14 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Limited Theatrical Release by future+assassin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    aka we need to do whatever we can do still cash in on this other wise they just release it as normal.

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    1. Re:Limited Theatrical Release by NatasRevol · · Score: 5, Informative

      Uh, Sony pulled the plug too.

      It may have been after the major movie chains did so, but Sony didn't let it go to anyone else either. Until now.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    2. Re:Limited Theatrical Release by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We've been cowardly for a long time. Remember how America shit its pants over 9/11, and went on a fear-and-hate-based killing spree in the middle-east?

      Americans believe a lot of things about themselves that are absurd lies. "Land of the Free" is another one, despite the insane war on users of politically incorrect drugs.

    3. Re:Limited Theatrical Release by bledri · · Score: 4, Informative

      Uh, Sony pulled the plug too.

      It may have been after the major movie chains did so, but Sony didn't let it go to anyone else either. Until now.

      Actually, 9 out of the top ten chains pulled the movie. Only #6, Marcus Theaters, didn't. They are less than half the size of #5 (Cineplex Entertainment). They have about 3% of the screens of the top five.

      It's hard to have a "blockbuster" release by opening only in the midwest on a limited number of screens. So Sony pulled it until they could negotiate with enough small players to make it worthwhile. I don't get all the hate toward Sony over this. It just seems like mob mentality to me, along with conflating Song Pictures with Sony BMG.

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  2. Dear SONY: by bmimatt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Go fuck yourself.

    1. Re:Dear SONY: by bledri · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Go fuck yourself.

      Because some douchebags hacked them? Or because they have a sibling company (which they have no control over) that created a rootkit? Or because the five largest theater chains (which they have no control over) are too chicken shit to show their movie? Or because the large on demand streaming services (which they have no control over) are afraid of getting hacked and won't show the movie?

      All this hatred directed at Sony Pictures is ridiculous.

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  3. They realized how badly they screwed up by gurps_npc · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The movie probably sucks. But bowing down to pressure from North Korea is ridiculous.

    I am sure Hitler did not like The Great Dictator, but if he had tried to blackmail a US company into cancelling it, we would have laughed at him.

    Sony should have done the same. I don't care what they got from the stolen emails, the only way to deal with terrorists demanding obedience is a bullet to their head, not a bow to to their feet.

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    1. Re:They realized how badly they screwed up by edawstwin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I honestly hope that this has The Streisand Effect and breaks every box office record ever. I know that that won't happen, but it would be nice. I was on the fence about seeing this movie before all of the hoopla (Rogen and Franco can be funny, but they can also be not funny at all), but now that some asshole of a dictator says I can't, I'm going to pay for it at least twice. Thankfully, The Plaza Theater (yay Atlanta!?!) has stepped up so that I can.

      America! Fuck Yeah!

      --
      I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying. - Woody Allen
    2. Re:They realized how badly they screwed up by Sowelu · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you listened to the interviews from the very beginning, the Sony Pictures CEO's line has basically always been "Guys, I can't _officially_ say that we're still releasing it until we negotiate more, but I swear to god it's still going to happen unless the theaters are even dumber than I thought". Dude sounded really pissed and barely restrained by his PR department; I'm convinced that it was 100% playing hardball with distributors and 0% international politics.

      Honestly I'm amazed at the reporting on this. THEATERS caved. Sony said "uh, we're not going to open the show in like two theaters nationwide", theaters took about a week to snap out of "oh god horror the turrists" mode...but it seemed pretty obvious from the beginning that that was going to be the timeline here.

    3. Re:They realized how badly they screwed up by bledri · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The movie probably sucks. But bowing down to pressure from North Korea is ridiculous.

      I am sure Hitler did not like The Great Dictator, but if he had tried to blackmail a US company into cancelling it, we would have laughed at him.

      Sony should have done the same. I don't care what they got from the stolen emails, the only way to deal with terrorists demanding obedience is a bullet to their head, not a bow to to their feet.

      Sony is not who bowed down to pressure. The 5 largest movie theater chains refused to show the movie out of fear, not Sony. Why can't anyone understand this? I was listening to an interview with the CEO of Sony Pictures and he made this perfectly clear, numerous times. But the interviewer kept coming back to "won't people see this as Sony backing down to terrorists?" And then the CEO would repeat, "we are looking for other ways to release the movie, but the large streaming services are afraid of getting hacked, etc..."

      Just because it's popular to hate Sony, does not change the actual facts. Sony wants to release the movie. They want to make back the money they spent on it. But they can't force theater chains to show the movie and their normal model is to do release in a ton of theaters at once and have a big openning weekend. It looks like enough independent chains have come forward that Sony gets a Christmas present.

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    4. Re:They realized how badly they screwed up by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >now that some asshole of a dictator says I can't, I'm going to pay for it at least twice.

      That's what Sony is counting on. Don't fall for it and pay to see a crappy movie just because of a controversy.

  4. In other news... by jddeluxe · · Score: 4, Informative

    Larry Flynt has announced that Hustler is making a porn version of The Interview:

    http://www.slate.com/blogs/bus...

    Becuase Freedom!

    1. Re:In other news... by edawstwin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Called 'The Inner View'?

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      I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying. - Woody Allen
  5. Re:Bukkake on Kim Jong-un by DarkOx · · Score: 4, Funny

    Maybe with like an Eric fischl style water color filter, that would make it tasteful.

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