And now for the strange and roundabout conclusion of the recent hack of Sony Pictures: the studio will, in fact, be releasing The Interview on Christmas morning, much to the chagrin of North Korea. In a complete 180-degree flip from last week’s decision to pull the film altogether, there are now reports that (after some massive backlash) Sony will be allowing some independent movie theaters across the country to screen The Interview on Thursday as originally planned.
Breaking news: Sony has authorized screenings of THE INTERVIEW on Christmas Day. We are making shows available within the hour. #Victory
— Tim League (@timalamo) December 23, 2014
The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn’t give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) December 23, 2014
If you aren’t near any of the independent theaters showing the notorious Rogen-Franco flick, you’re still in luck, because The Interview will be available Video On Demand starting on December 25 as well. This morning, Sony’s CEO Michael Lynton issued a statement saying that the company never gave up on releasing the film…except for that brief moment last week when they totally did… Read the entire statement below.
We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day. At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience. I want to thank our talent on The Interview and our employees, who have worked tirelessly through the many challenges we have all faced over the last month. While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.
