8 ms·
This is a horrible precedent. This was only a digital hack, that unfortunately violated many personal privacy's. But what happens when fundamentalist, a la ISIS
by bobsky 12y ago
This is a horrible precedent. This was only a digital hack, that unfortunately violated many personal privacy's. But what happens when fundamentalist, a la ISIS, decide to do physical harm for any film or song that humours their twisted ideology - will the film studios stop releases then?
Another film set to premier on Dec 25 is Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" (yea I know, a Christmas classic /s) an easy film to misunderstand and sure to rally those oppose to the US coalition in Iraq/Afghanistan, if threats start about this film from fundamentalists will the studios respond?
*cross post from the dead WSJ discussion thread
"Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, Carmike Cinemas and Cineplex Entertainment have all decided against showing the film."
- smackfu 12y agoTheater chains are pretty spineless in general.
- jobu 12y agoMy initial thought was the opposite. There's no way this is a credible threat, but the theater chains can pretend it is and use it as a negotiating tactic against Sony for better terms.
- baddox 12y agoOr they can use it as an excuse for their decision to remove an already controversial film.
- Crito 12y agoControversial with who? American audiences? I doubt it. What little controversy might exist over the film with American audiences is dwarfed by the controversy there was over even mundane family films like Harry Potter. Sure, the North Koreans hate the film, but why do these cinema companies give half a shit? They weren't going to get North Korean ticket sales regardless of the movies content.
- baddox 12y ago> Controversial with who? American audiences? Yes, absolutely.
- HNaTTY 12y agoAs a counterpoint, I'll point you to Chris Rock's opening monologue on SNL last month, wherein he makes 9/11 jokes. Famous comedian, Network TV, IN NYC... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYZLKqGhSZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYZLKqGhSZs It got some comments but there was no lasting controversy about it as far as I'm concerned.
- baddox 12y agoYeah, jokes about terrorism can obviously attract controversy, but that monologue was fairly mild as those go. I wouldn't consider it anywhere near as provocative as The Interview.
- kalleboo 12y agoIf it was a western leader maybe, but North Korea's leaders are comedy punching bags in the US. See: Every late night show monologue ever, Team America: World Police.
- baddox 12y agoI'm not sure if one (or both) of us is majorly filter bubbled, but my impression is that Team America (and pretty much everything from those guys, including South Park) is extremely controversial.
- duaneb 12y agoThe only controversy that exists is in the head of north koreans. You need to be part of a society to enter into its controversy. Do you see any americans protesting this? Of course not, it's a silly comedy. Trying showing a nipple, though....
- baddox 12y agoYes, I have heard Americans say that it is unacceptable to make a comedy film that makes fun of a country where people are currently being oppressed, and other Americans say that it is unacceptable to joke about assassinating a current world leader (even if the leader might deserve it). Not only that, but all films from this gang tend to be rather crude and controversial even without a political angle. I don't share the ideas, but they certainly aren't rare.
- Retra 12y agoI would wager that those Americans don't know what "unacceptable" means in a culture where we have agreed to explicitly _accept_ such things as a measure of protection of free speech.
- eropple 12y agoThere's a crucial difference between "accept" and "tolerate" and there's an even wider difference between "the government must tolerate that speech" and "I must tolerate that speech." I roundly reject the speech of shitty people. (I've switched tabletop game stores because I have no patience for GamerGate partisans, for example.) While I don't agree with the notion that this movie is deserving of rejection, I sympathize and anybody who feels that way is not somehow wrong by refusing to accept and patronize it.
- Retra 12y agoWell that's just equivocating. You accept that they are allowed to say those things. Or you accept that other people are allowed to hear them. The speech is _able_ to be accepted, even if you don't _in particular_ accept it yourself.
- mey 12y agoOr it was going to most likely be a commercial flop anyways http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_interview_2014/ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_interview_2014/
- mynameisvlad 12y agoCritics' reviews can mean jack shit, especially for stupid comedies like this one. Movie critics rarely rate crude and stupid comedies highly. Looking at the audience section, with 27k entries, 96% wanting to see it and a 3.8/5 score pre-release, it's clear that it wouldn't have been a flop.
- Crito 12y agoExactly. For example, the (also Seth Rogan / James Franco) film Pineapple Express: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pineapple_express/ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pineapple_express/ 58% rating from "Top Critics". 73% rating from audiences.
- chrischen 12y ago21 Jump Street has high reviews.
- mynameisvlad 12y agoYes, and? That says nothing about the general case, which is that crude humour is often hated by critics.
- chrischen 12y agoYea but that original statement is also not backed by data (yet).
- Crito 12y agoMovies do not get their theatrical releases cancelled for 50% critic ratings. Particularly not well-publicized stoner movies with big-name actors and fervent fans. That just isn't something that happens. Even Dude, Where's My Car? got its theatrical release. The idea that Sony is using the DPRK as an excuse to shitcan this movie because of mediocre critic ratings is flat out absurd.
- btilly 12y agoThere's no way this is a credible threat... The physical threat? No. But there is a credible threat here. No theater wants to go through what Sony is going through right now. And no sensible one believes that they are going to be able to protect themselves from it.
- HNaTTY 12y agoAnd once the first domino (theater) falls, the pressure on remaining theaters increases tremendously.
- VLM 12y ago"This is a horrible precedent." There is more than one horrible precedent, in that the plot of the movie from what I've read, is the an assassination of a contemporary country leader by specific name. AFAIK that barrier of good taste has never been crossed by Hollywood before. Close, but advocating assassination of a current world leader by name? Of course, two wrongs not making a right, and all that. My gut level guess is the whole thing is being orchestrated for PR, lets call it the "snakes on a plane part 2" marketing plan. Hoping for the netflix revenue.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago>> "advocating assassination of a current world leader by name" It's a movie. It's make believe. There were two movies last year depicting the White House getting attacked. Were they advocating attacking the White House?
- heinrich5991 12y agoOTOH what represents the white house won in the end. Does the same thing happen in this movie?
- GolfyMcG 12y agoFrom what I've heard, North Korea would be less than happy with the end.
- cryingfowl 12y agoThere was a 2006 British mockumentary, Death of a President, which depicted the death of President George Bush (in a much tamer fashion that the explosions in The Interview). The film was criticized by both Republicans and Democrats. Two U.S. cinema chains refused to screen it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_President_(2006_film)#Response http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_President_(2006_film...
- waps 12y agoThere has been a long evolution by international organisations to pressure global culture into "respecting" their ideology. Islam is best known for this [1][2], but Russia, China and half of Africa and South America are on the side of the "global censorship"-cabal. Depending on whether it applies to religion (e.g. islam), political ideology (e.g. socialism/communism) or people (dictatorships, or royal family or ...) it refers to "defamation of religion" laws or ... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation_of_religion_and_the_United_Nations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation_of_religion_and_the_... [2] Don't feel I have to include links, they'd detract from the discussion, but we all know the massive international protests and even murders against cartoons, films, books, ... that muslims keep throwing every 5 years or so. (yes, it's called defamation of religions, but it covers a hell of a lot more than just religions. Mostly mentioning islam here because it's the driver behind these horrible laws) But here's the thing Americans don't seem to understand. Number of people in favor of real freedom of expression* : 60% of the US, 5% of the rest of the world. * irrespective of the subject, which excludes most of Europe. Europe is only in favor of freedom of expression where it doesn't interfere with religion, (some) policies, a few families, ...
- gdulli 12y agoI assure you, if this happens again with a better movie more likely to make money, it will get shown. This is a business decision.
- grimtrigger 12y agoThis has essentially happened already. Comedy central censors South Park in a direct response to threats made against them regarding depictions of Mohammed.
- jweir 12y agoThe South Park episode you speak of still aired. But the depiction of Mohammed was "censored." http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/201_%28South_Park%29 http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/201_%28South_Park%29
- wldcordeiro 12y agoIncidentally this episode aired nine years earlier with no controversy over showing Mohammed. Though after 201 aired they did take down Super Best Friends. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Best_Friends http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Best_Friends
- butwhy 12y agoThis South Park speech sums up the current situation pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka3nKBR2mIU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka3nKBR2mIU
- notjackma 12y agoVery funny and true... and it looks like fear (of getting emails hacked) has executives in Hollywood panicking now. "Steve Carell’s North Korea Movie ‘Pyongyang’ Canceled in Wake of Sony Hack" http://www.thewrap.com/steve-carells-north-korea-movie-pyongyang-cancelled-in-wake-of-sony-hack/ http://www.thewrap.com/steve-carells-north-korea-movie-pyong...
- enupten 12y agoYou think that's bad? India took Comedy central off the air because of that!
- notjackma 12y agoSeth Rogen is a bit of a coward. He picked an easy target in Kim given that North Korea is isolated and has no ability to do any real harm to him. Easy to mock somebody who can't get back at you. Would he have dared to make a comedy mocking Mohammed the warlord turned prophet and 72 virgins in heaven? I guess he was smart enough to figure out that life under police protection would have cramped his partying. Oh, and Seth is a total prima-donna, witness his recent tirade against Cathay Pacific because they wouldn't allow his wife's dog onto the plane due to the breed being more susceptible to death during flight.
- downandout 12y ago> But what happens when fundamentalist, a la ISIS, decide to do physical harm for any film or song that humours their twisted ideology - will the film studios stop releases then? I agree with you, they shouldn't be caving to threats. But they can't possibly believe that this is a credible threat. We don't have a whole lot of North Koreans emigrating here. TMZ has a slightly more likely theory [1]. Rather than genuine fear of attacks from North Korea, they contend that Sony simply wanted to bury the movie without looking weak. "We're told the execs are actually viewing the latest threat as having a silver lining ... the threat of a 9/11-type attack will make so many theaters pull the flick themselves -- and Sony won't have to do it....Sony execs want the bleeding to stop" [1] http://www.tmz.com/2014/12/17/theaters-cancelling-the-interview-sony-hack/ http://www.tmz.com/2014/12/17/theaters-cancelling-the-interv...
- srj 12y agoI also don't see how this could be taken as a realistic threat, but what are Sony's financial incentives to theaters pulling it? Weren't their costs in creating the movie?
- downandout 12y agoAccording to Variety [1], the budget was $42 million, and they have "tens of millions" more into advertising and promotion. But I think they want this whole incident to go away, and they know that even without a theatrical release, they can make money on DVD/blu-ray and PPV. [1] https://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony-weighing-premium-vod-release-for-the-interview-exclusive-1201381920/ https://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony-weighing-premium-vod...
- waterlesscloud 12y agoSony is now saying they have no plans to release it at all, in any format. Buried.
- roywiggins 12y ago
- blantonl 12y agoAre you kidding us? The entire world will now want to watch this film. One wonders if this isn't a hail mary pass by Sony.... With demand now through the roof to watch this film, I'd bet we'll see some innovative work by Sony to release this film that satisfies that demand in a legal way. Or maybe not....
- downandout 12y agoThe early reviews are that the movie isn't awesome [1]. Even a Sony exec said it's just not that good of a movie. They probably will do a PPV release though. [1] http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_interview_2014/ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_interview_2014/
- EpicEng 12y agoHard to imagine it's much different than pineapple express and this is then end, both of which have similar RT critic scores at the moment. If you liked those you'll probably like this one.
- icpmacdo 12y agohttp://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/this_is_the_end/ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/this_is_the_end/ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pineapple_express/ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pineapple_express/ Not really.
- at-fates-hands 12y agoIt doesn't matter if the movie sucks. With this much publicity surrounding the movie, people are going to want to find out what the bug deal is. Trust me, the first weeks of release the numbers will be through the roof. After that, I'm sure they'll fall off a cliff. This is already a cult classic and it hasn't even been released.
- notjackma 12y agoIt might never be released. Sony has pulled it from theatrical release and said there are no plans for video-on-demand or DVD release. http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony-cancels-theatrical-release-for-the-interview-on-christmas-1201382032/ http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony-cancels-theatrical-re...
- mgulaid 12y agoI think theaters are afraid of cyber attack and not a terrorist attack (physical)..... I guess pretty soon a cyber attack will be classified as a terrorist attack, legally speaking.
- antidamage 12y agoSurely protecting the rest of the world from bad hollywood trash is more "good" than "evil"?
- lotsofmangos 12y agoThis hack was probably organized by a shadowy cabal of film critics, driven mad by an endless flood of banal previews. edit - I wonder if I should try and pitch that to someone.
- axemanoli 12y agoSomeone most probably already has...