Many theaters pull The Interview due to hacker threats

[SP33Demon]

This is great news, anything done by Seth Rogan has been painfully awful. Hey, at least we know we can now call in threats (under the NK moniker) for movies we don't like and theaters will now pull it.
Twilight 8? Hunger Games 10? New Seth Rogan movie? /threaten, release pulled

On a more serious note, we are now Great Britain: The Sequel. Only a matter of time before all guns and large kitchen knives are banned.

 

[GTaudiophile]

The WSJ has a piece today on the US GOVT should buy the rights to the film, make copies, and literally drop them on NK. But yeah, buy the rights and let it spread like wild fire. Enough of this shit.

 

[OutHouse]

Charlie Chapman is rolling in his grave. "The Great Dictator" was a big F-U to Hitler.

Now look at us now.

This

 

[mmntech]

Was just reading an interesting counter argument to the folks calling Sony cowards.

Theatres were the first to refuse to screen the film after the threats of violence were made. I'm sure a lot of them still have the 2012 Aurora shooting fresh in their minds. That theatre in question was sued for failing to provide adequate security measures for their patrons. Box office sales would have been slow anyway due to scared patrons staying away.

Sony had been prepared to release the film, but the theatre chains backed them into a tight corner. It's hard to premiere a film when nobody will show it.

It's also a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Had Sony released the film, there would have been a sizable number of people taking to social media, "outraged" that greed was taking precedent over the safety of movie goers. In the unlikely event something actually happened, Sony would get blamed and sued up the ass for it. We all know how much Americans LOVE to sue. Sue everyone.

Furthermore, the industry failed to stand by Sony. Not one other studio made a statement in defense of the film.

In the wake of the hack, streaming services don't want to risk putting the film on their servers, as it would make them a target.

Now, this is the 21st century so I'd be very shocked if the film never does see the light of day. I do know that there are review copies out in circulation. All it takes is one person to torrent it. Given the Streisand Effect, it would be very hard for Sony to put that genie back in the bottle.

 

[Jeff7]

...
It's also a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Had Sony released the film, there would have been a sizable number of people taking to social media, "outraged" that greed was taking precedent over the safety of movie goers. In the unlikely event something actually happened, Sony would get blamed and sued up the ass for it. We all know how much Americans LOVE to sue. Sue everyone.
...

The ability to sue people or companies so freely has effectively turned people into lottery tickets.

"I hope this person who stopped to help me and my disabled car will really screw up something. I could make so much money off of someone who decided to show me some helpful decency!"

It also helps enhance the bystander effect. Why help someone? If you unwittingly do something wrong, you could be on the hook for a lot of money, whether you win or lose a court case. It's safer then to just keep out of it entirely.
It'd be a fascinating social experiment on the effects of incentivizing behaviors if it was being done on a small control group and not an entire society.

 

[ImpulsE69]

The ability to sue people or companies so freely has effectively turned people into lottery tickets.

"I hope this person who stopped to help me and my disabled car will really screw up something. I could make so much money off of someone who decided to show me some helpful decency!"

It also helps enhance the bystander effect. Why help someone? If you unwittingly do something wrong, you could be on the hook for a lot of money, whether you win or lose a court case. It's safer then to just keep out of it entirely.
It'd be a fascinating social experiment on the effects of incentivizing behaviors if it was being done on a small control group and not an entire society.

That's why lawyers should be banned. There really is no other alternative that doesn't lend itself to stupidity or abuse and/or greed motivations. Just remove them completely and let people defend themselves. Not the prettiest scenario..but oh well.

 

[Dari]

Was just reading an interesting counter argument to the folks calling Sony cowards.

Theatres were the first to refuse to screen the film after the threats of violence were made. I'm sure a lot of them still have the 2012 Aurora shooting fresh in their minds. That theatre in question was sued for failing to provide adequate security measures for their patrons. Box office sales would have been slow anyway due to scared patrons staying away.

Sony had been prepared to release the film, but the theatre chains backed them into a tight corner. It's hard to premiere a film when nobody will show it.

It's also a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Had Sony released the film, there would have been a sizable number of people taking to social media, "outraged" that greed was taking precedent over the safety of movie goers. In the unlikely event something actually happened, Sony would get blamed and sued up the ass for it. We all know how much Americans LOVE to sue. Sue everyone.

Furthermore, the industry failed to stand by Sony. Not one other studio made a statement in defense of the film.

In the wake of the hack, streaming services don't want to risk putting the film on their servers, as it would make them a target.

Now, this is the 21st century so I'd be very shocked if the film never does see the light of day. I do know that there are review copies out in circulation. All it takes is one person to torrent it. Given the Streisand Effect, it would be very hard for Sony to put that genie back in the bottle.

Here's a better one...

Let's think about this in context.

Several other films were releasing the same day and the final Hobbit film came out last week but is expecting to do the majority of it's business over the holiday. The last two release weeks of the year on average are worth about 500-600ish million dollars of domestic gross and are thus very important to the industry and said revenue is generated from a variety of films that other studios have major investments in. Coming off a very disappointing fall release schedule these companies all need the money.

Now onto this scene dump a major PR fiasco concerning a film that has limited appeal (R rated comedies are rarely wild commercial successes but it does happen) during the holiday season from a studio that is now basically dead in the water. Further add the threat, even as highly unrealistic as it may be, that there could potentially be a related physical attack on a theater because of running the film and the resultant public/media scare fest about if it's safe to go to the movies. You know who else doesn't like fear? Retailers. Where are lots of movie theaters located? In shopping centers. Landlords were freaking the fuck out that there would be an adverse effect on their other tenant's business.

Now if you own a theater what are your upsides? I don't see any. I think Sony knew full well they could not now release on that date but lacking the stones to either push or cancel the release beforehand shoved the responsibility onto the theater chains to wield the ax for them.

 

[Ichinisan]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7ct8VcbwXC0

 

[feralkid]

Charlie Chapman is rolling in his grave. "The Great Dictator" was a big F-U to Hitler.

Now look at us now.

Yeah we suck so bad we don't even remember Charlie Chaplin's name.

 

[SSSnail]

Yeah we suck so bad we don't even remember Charlie Chaplin's name.

LOL!

 

[OutHouse]

Was just reading an interesting counter argument to the folks calling Sony cowards.

Theatres were the first to refuse to screen the film after the threats of violence were made. I'm sure a lot of them still have the 2012 Aurora shooting fresh in their minds. That theatre in question was sued for failing to provide adequate security measures for their patrons. Box office sales would have been slow anyway due to scared patrons staying away.

Sony had been prepared to release the film, but the theatre chains backed them into a tight corner. It's hard to premiere a film when nobody will show it.

It's also a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Had Sony released the film, there would have been a sizable number of people taking to social media, "outraged" that greed was taking precedent over the safety of movie goers. In the unlikely event something actually happened, Sony would get blamed and sued up the ass for it. We all know how much Americans LOVE to sue. Sue everyone.

Furthermore, the industry failed to stand by Sony. Not one other studio made a statement in defense of the film.

In the wake of the hack, streaming services don't want to risk putting the film on their servers, as it would make them a target.

Now, this is the 21st century so I'd be very shocked if the film never does see the light of day. I do know that there are review copies out in circulation. All it takes is one person to torrent it. Given the Streisand Effect, it would be very hard for Sony to put that genie back in the bottle.

so in other words everybody is a pussy.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Meh, not much lost here. Movie is probably crap anyways.

I'm sure the surge in controversy will make it a crowning cinematographic achievement.

 

[spacelord]

Release it free on the torrents with some extra footage as a big FU to NK. Good publicity.

 

[BeeBoop]

I hope more emails are leaked. I hate big media companies.

 

[BUTCH1]

Obama needs to come out in plain English with a statement that ANY terrorist attack in NA resulting from this movie showing will result in a fucking rain of cruise missiles and thousands of dead civilians in NK. Not happy with innocents getting killed but hey, this asshole want's to play hard-ball, 'BATTER-UP" motherfucker.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Obama needs to come out in plain English with a statement that ANY terrorist attack in NA resulting from this movie showing will result in a fucking rain of cruise missiles and thousands of dead civilians in NK. Not happy with innocents getting killed but hey, this asshole want's to play hard-ball, 'BATTER-UP" motherfucker.

Of course...what if it really wasn't NK and it was just some kid in their moms basement in Texas?

 

[feralkid]

Meh, not much lost here. Movie is probably crap anyways.

I'm sure the surge in controversy will make it a crowning cinematographic achievement.

Ouch!

Cinematic, please.

 

[Deeko]

This is great news, anything done by Seth Rogan has been painfully awful. Hey, at least we know we can now call in threats (under the NK moniker) for movies we don't like and theaters will now pull it.
Twilight 8? Hunger Games 10? New Seth Rogan movie? /threaten, release pulled

On a more serious note, we are now Great Britain: The Sequel. Only a matter of time before all guns and large kitchen knives are banned.

Agreed. Don't support giving in to terrorists or any of that nonsense but this movie looked so terrible I'm happy its getting this treatment.

Remember when Seth Rogan was a small side character? He was fine in that role. The bigger his involvement, the worse the movie.

 

[SSSnail]

Of course...what if it really wasn't NK and it was just some kid in their moms basement in Texas?

No, it WAS NK, read the FBI release.

 

[rsbennett00]

Agreed. Don't support giving in to terrorists or any of that nonsense but this movie looked so terrible I'm happy its getting this treatment.

Remember when Seth Rogan was a small side character? He was fine in that role. The bigger his involvement, the worse the movie.

Exactly. Freedom of speech should only be protected if the speech is popular.

 

[ImpulsE69]

They have backtracked and said that they will release it, just not sure when or where.

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/576672/20141220/interview.htm#.VJZDRv8DDnc

 

[Deeko]

Exactly. Freedom of speech should only be protected if the speech is popular.

Settle down little fella.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Obama needs to come out in plain English with a statement that ANY terrorist attack in NA resulting from this movie showing will result in a fucking rain of cruise missiles and thousands of dead civilians in NK. Not happy with innocents getting killed but hey, this asshole want's to play hard-ball, 'BATTER-UP" motherfucker.

On one hand we have PC nuts opposing the film at all costs because of the "right" of not be offended and on the other bleeding hearts will bleed because some criminals might die with collateral damage as retaliation because they decided to bomb us.

It's retardedness on a societal level, lol.

 

[AudiophileGeek]

They said they will release it soon...

 

[CZroe]

Rogen and Franco should capitulate... fully. They should do a complete 180 and release something tongue-in-cheek like "The Great and Powerful Kim" with entirely unrealistic, yet flattering, over-the-top depictions of Kim Jong Un's greatness. It doesn't need a wide release but I'm sure a few artsy-fartsy theaters will play it.

When it is released on home media, throw in "The Interview" as so-called bonus material which supposedly inspired the feature.

It'll sell.

Edit: they should skip it in as a "deleted scene!"