4 ms·
> 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 s
by 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 agoI wonder if the hackers will release whatever draft the movie they grabbed just to spite Sony now.
- millzlane 12y agoThis is the only reason I may suspect anyone that just normal black hats. Why wasn't this movie released with the rest of them. It wouldn't be the first time we've seen an unfinished movie released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5AsOEk-ZJU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5AsOEk-ZJU
- carleverett 12y agoThis is not a realistic theory. Nearly all of the costs associated with making and marketing the movie have already been spent. Even if the movie was a complete dud next week, it would still be making revenue in the theaters that would be going towards paying off these costs (and hopefully more).
- downandout 12y agoIt is realistic if they've had enough of the nonsense and don't want further bad stuff to happen after the release of the film.
- zaroth 12y agoBecause capitulating is the sure-fire way to get the hackers and terrorists to stop? Fuck if we don't just congratulate them on a job well done, and help write the playbook for the next decade of cyber-terrorism.
- downandout 12y agoIt's clear in this case that their motive was to stop the release of the film. Sony decided to let them win this one. They are choosing their battles and this appears to be one they don't believe they can win or that is not worth winning. It's not what I would have done but it appears that it's what Sony wants, and it's their movie.