First the New York city premier of Seth Rogen and James Franco’s highly anticipated film, The Interview (2014) was cancelled. Now Sony confirms that the movie has been pulled from overall release, thanks to a threat of terror upon cinema goers from the hackers responsible for a cyber attack on Sony Pictures.

People are talking about how outrageous it is that Sony would bow down to threats of terror and what all this means for freedom of expression. It isn’t great, but the overall answer seems simple to me. I personally doubt that Sony had any plans to cancel release. that is until the top three cinema chains in the U.S. pulled out of showing the film at all.

Without the necessary distribution network in place, there isn’t really any choice. Maybe things would have been different if Sony had their own chain of cinemas.

As a massive movie fan and an advocate of the comedic work of Rogen and Franco, I’m certainly hugely disappointed. Somehow though, I get the feeling that this is not the end of The Interview. As Judd Apatow put it:

“This only guarantees that this movie will be seen by more people on earth than it would have before. Legally or illegally all will see it.”

And with that note…

Happy Film Loving

G

Updates: Sony will release The Interview online

More detail on the decision for non-release BBC Entertainment & Arts News.