'The Interview' Pulled From Christmas Release

James Canellos ‘ 17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

The phrase “No publicity is bad publicity” clearly has some holes in it. What started off as threats has now escalated to cyber hacking and a matter of national security in regards to Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s new comedy The Interview. The film stars Rogen and James Franco as a tabloid show producer and the show’s host respectively who land an interview with super fan Kim Jong- un. The two are thrilled until the CIA requests that they use this opportunity to assassinate the North Korean dictator. In light of all the threats, distributor Sony Pictures Entertainment has decided to pull The Interview from its Christmas release date.
Since the film’s trailer was released a few months ago, the real life Kim Jung-un has condemned the film and everybody involved in the making of it. Since then Sony Pictures Entertainment’s private computer systems have been hacked and released to the public, including emails, documents, details to future projects and more. Matters increased drastically this Tuesday after major theaters, including AMC, decided not to release The Interview after a threat from possible Sony hackers known as the Guardians of Peace stated, “Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.) Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment. All the world will denounce the Sony.”

The controversial comedy was pushed back from October to December and now it appears that the world will have to wait even longer to see the end product. The studio stated this afternoon,“We have decided not to move forward with the planned December 25th theatrical release. We respect and understand our partners’ decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theatergoers,”.
Although it’s unclear what will become of The Interview, it shall not be seen on the big screen anytime soon. As a result other companies are now skeptical about making films involving North Korea. New Regency recently decided to suspend plans to produce Gore Verbinski’s new paranoid thriller starring Steve Carell because it was supposed to be taking place in North Korea. However, Sony Pictures has already spent 42 million dollars on The Interview and is at risk of losing that investment unless they decide to find an alternative outlet of distribution.