"The Interview" will be released online
22 Dec – Following Sony's decision to not screen "The Interview", which was originally slated for release in North American cinemas on 25 December, many have taken to online social networking platforms to either agree or disagree with Sony's choice.
While some commend the studio's wisdom to not take the hackers' latest threat lightly, a threat which promises a second 9/11 should the film be screened in cinemas, others are demanding Sony to practice the freedom of speech and release the film anyway.
However, Sony, it seems, is still in the game. Mashable reports that Sony's lawyer, David Boies, told "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd: "It will be distributed. How it's going to be distributed, I don't think anybody knows quite yet. But it's going to be distributed."
Sony is currently looking for ways to distribute the film online and is reportedly considering YouTube as an option. According to TechCrunch, BitTorrent has offered to distribute the film on its platform, which does not operate illegally as the files on it can be shared and downloaded legally. However, the studio has yet to reply to the offer.
The whole "The Interview" issue is slowly turning into a bigger political agenda as leaders of strong nations start giving their two cents on it, including President Barack Obama himself.
The President of the United States called Sony's move to cancel the release "a mistake", saying, "We cannot have a society where some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States."
Meanwhile North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is accusing the U.S government of being directly involved in the production of the film, which tells the story of a celebrity journalist and his producer who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong Un himself.
China seems to side with North Korea, The Verge reports, as it calls out to the U.S. that "a movie like "The Interview", which makes fun of the leader of an enemy of the US, is nothing to be proud of for Hollywood and US society."
The attack on Sony started on 24 November and has since spiralled out of control as the hackers threatened not only the staff of Sony's but even their families, leaked Sony's unreleased movies and confidential data online, and lastly, demanded the abolition of "The Interview".
(Main photo credit: Eric Charbonneau / Invision / AP / Associated Press)
