My guess is this has very little to do with the movie itself, but more to do with the fact that the suits at Sony are probably just scared shitless at what other dirty little secrets could come out of their compromised emails if they were to stand their ground.
@9 Why? Ever hear of the Aurora theater shootings?
All it would take was one lone nut and an entire Theater chain would be sued into bankruptcy because they had "foreknowledge" of the threats.
Sony brought this on themselves. They green lighted a project they knew was going to spark international controversy and hoped to profit off the kerfuffle and free PR.
Sony could've said to theater chains "hey, we'll cover your asses if there is some attack and following litigation against you."
But of course the hacks revealed them to be scum bags and opened them up to law suits of their own. So they don't have the balls. They are profit whores above all else.
I don't think this is some sort of publicity stunt cooked up by Sony.
It might not be your type of movie, but both Franco and Rogen are popular bankable stars with a history of successful comedies. This movie has cash machine written all over it, regardless of whatever reviews it gets. It didn't need some weird tinfoil hat stunt to try to publicize it.
More to the point of this post, I'm not surprised Sony Pictures wimped out. From a purely economic perspective, they were facing lost business for ALL films screening at every theater that would have shown this movie, because undoubtedly some filmgoers would be spooked by the threats, even if they were empty (which I believe they were). But obviously there were much worse losses in store if something actually happened.
After the major theater chains all pulled out, it probably bece untenable to release the movie. It would probably lose even more money if they found minor chains and indie theaters willing to screen it. Better just to pull it now and cut their losses.
@12- No, definitely not. Far too much actually damaging data was released for this to be purely a PR stunt. Sony is now being sued by it's own employees for having shite network security & having SSNs and health & pay-scale records stolen. I mean seriously, a .doc file called "Passwords" with actual key passwords in it? Even two-bit network admins know that is insane. Encrypt encrypt encrypt.
Allegedly "Homeland Security" says they have no credible threats on their radar, so the threat against the theaters is just noise, not backed up by anything real.
But still, as tkc@10 points out, it would only take one nutcase off his meds to make it a reality. I wouldn't take the chance & show the film, personally.
More proof this isn't a PR stunt: MPAA looking to issue takedown notices to the DNS system.
Pretty major news that Sony would definitely not like to be public. All to promote a shitty movie? No way.
Oh gawd, what more can be said. Lots of great comments in this thread and ideas to chew on (except seatackled @20, as usual, the retard of the bunch). But more importantly to me, I'm halfway psyched for the Oso/Darrington movie mentioned in The Morning News thread. Too bad PBS constantly begging for donations puts pooh in my eyes whenever I watch that channel. Besides @14, popular bankable successful comedians don't hold a candle to the subtle absurd daily laughs I have with people.
@22 - you mean: when some third rate dictatorship actively wipes data and damages hundreds of computers and also steals 100TB of data (being released in smaller chunks) which seriously compromises the identity-security of thousands of employees, Sony's corporate reputation & ability to operate, as well as loads of actual intellectual property.
This is the largest corporate hack ever perpetrated, a major attack, not an idle threat from some tin-pot nutcase.
The "remember 9/11" threat showed up on Sony's internal computer screens this week, meaning that the Norks still have access to Sony's network.
@10 You say that is if this is the first movie to ever portray North Korea in a negative light or poke fun at them. "Team America" was ruthless on North Korea and Kim Jong Il. No outcry. The "Red Dawn" remake was digitally altered to make the antagonists North Korean (instead of Chinese). No outcry.
Now, all of a sudden, North Korea has a problem with Hollywood scripts? Seems random.
I don't imagine there's much news about this in North Korea, but I wonder how much the leadership knows about it. I'm no expert on North Korea, but I suppose that if we want think about what's different, maybe it's that this is the first high profile film that directly mocks Kim Jong-Un. Remember, he had his uncle and ex-girlfriend killed. (Also, I'm reading that the film actually has him getting killed--did Team America: World Police go that far with Kim Jong Il?)
@23 has an interesting point about the personal data of Sony employees being compromised. Romney can bravely encourage Sony to release the film for free on the web, but he's still hiding his tax returns, isn't he? (And what's with the ebola hashtag there?)
@27, 31: They shoot him but then his head opens up and an alien cockroach zooms off into space in its tiny little ship. I think. It's been a little while.
First off: You clearly don't even know what that means. Though I'm sure you'll come up with some retrofit and hammer that into this issue.
At best this would be voluntary self-censorship in reaction to an extortion plot. But the US government didn't tell Sony they had to withdraw their film and the NK government had no power to censor Sony.
Second: At this point you're just grasping at straws(men) and making shit up. At no point did I endorse anything close to censorship.
So it's not censorship when a powerful individual or small group leverages that power to get a major movie studio to shitcan a completed film? You must be one of those silly people who believe only government action can be censorship. (Which North Korea is...)
This could be a disaster for the movie theater chains if this premium VOD release goes well. Who needs 'em?
All it would take was one lone nut and an entire Theater chain would be sued into bankruptcy because they had "foreknowledge" of the threats.
Sony brought this on themselves. They green lighted a project they knew was going to spark international controversy and hoped to profit off the kerfuffle and free PR.
Sony could've said to theater chains "hey, we'll cover your asses if there is some attack and following litigation against you."
But of course the hacks revealed them to be scum bags and opened them up to law suits of their own. So they don't have the balls. They are profit whores above all else.
It might not be your type of movie, but both Franco and Rogen are popular bankable stars with a history of successful comedies. This movie has cash machine written all over it, regardless of whatever reviews it gets. It didn't need some weird tinfoil hat stunt to try to publicize it.
After the major theater chains all pulled out, it probably bece untenable to release the movie. It would probably lose even more money if they found minor chains and indie theaters willing to screen it. Better just to pull it now and cut their losses.
Aw. That poor multi-billion dollar corporate media conglomerate.
Won't somebody please think of them!
HAHAHAHA.
Allegedly "Homeland Security" says they have no credible threats on their radar, so the threat against the theaters is just noise, not backed up by anything real.
But still, as tkc@10 points out, it would only take one nutcase off his meds to make it a reality. I wouldn't take the chance & show the film, personally.
Pretty major news that Sony would definitely not like to be public. All to promote a shitty movie? No way.
This is the largest corporate hack ever perpetrated, a major attack, not an idle threat from some tin-pot nutcase.
The "remember 9/11" threat showed up on Sony's internal computer screens this week, meaning that the Norks still have access to Sony's network.
And fuck you @21, Seatackled @20 is right.
Now, all of a sudden, North Korea has a problem with Hollywood scripts? Seems random.
Appreciate that. Thanks!
I don't imagine there's much news about this in North Korea, but I wonder how much the leadership knows about it. I'm no expert on North Korea, but I suppose that if we want think about what's different, maybe it's that this is the first high profile film that directly mocks Kim Jong-Un. Remember, he had his uncle and ex-girlfriend killed. (Also, I'm reading that the film actually has him getting killed--did Team America: World Police go that far with Kim Jong Il?)
https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/54…
@23 has an interesting point about the personal data of Sony employees being compromised. Romney can bravely encourage Sony to release the film for free on the web, but he's still hiding his tax returns, isn't he? (And what's with the ebola hashtag there?)
Well, maybe unlike Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il could take a joke.
First off: You clearly don't even know what that means. Though I'm sure you'll come up with some retrofit and hammer that into this issue.
At best this would be voluntary self-censorship in reaction to an extortion plot. But the US government didn't tell Sony they had to withdraw their film and the NK government had no power to censor Sony.
Second: At this point you're just grasping at straws(men) and making shit up. At no point did I endorse anything close to censorship.
Good god. You are desperate for attention.