Following the monumental Sony Pictures hack, the company has finally announced their painful decision to have their upcoming “The Interview” movie shelved. This is coming after the “Guardians of Peace” hackers, believe to be from North Korea, made references to 9/11 and threatened to movie theatres should Sony Pictures have gone ahead with the “The Interview” release.
To be honest, they might as well because most major theatre chains have earlier announced that they would not display the film given the threatening circumstances. Upon the decision, Sony Pictures release an official statement.
Source: Newsweek
The statement is as follows:
In light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film The Interview, we have decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release. We respect and understand our partners’ decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theatre-goers. Sony Pictures has been the victim of an unprecedented criminal assault against our employees, our customers, and our business. Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale – all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like. We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public. We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.
In case you didn’t hear, “The Interview” is a film is about a fictional plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
On 8th Dec, a “Guardians of Peace” hackers group which claimed to have hacked Sony’s servers demanded that its movie studio pull the movie, which led people to believe that North Korea was behind the unlawful intrusion. But on Sunday (7th Dec), North Korea denied involvement in the brazen cyber attack on Sony Pictures. They did, however, praise it as a “righteous deed” potentially orchestrated by supporters furious.
Watch the trailer for “The Interview” here:
The massive hack also led to embarrassing Sony Pictures “intellectual property” leaks, ranging from stolen scripts to unleashing of celebrities’ private files into the waiting arms of media outlets around the world – to say the least.
Until now, the US government is still considering a “range of options” on how to respond to the attack.