Sony Entertainment decided to go ahead with the premiere of their controversial comedy film "The Interview" with a limited release to hundreds of theaters across the country and to select online platforms, The Guardian reported.
"The Interview," which tells the story of the planned assassination of the dictator of North Korea, has been shadowed by controversy after threats have been made of theaters being bombed by unknown parties should the film be released. Sony initially canceled its theatrical run, but eventually conceded to make the film available for moviegoers and interested parties come Christmas Eve on over a hundred cinemas.
Sony released a list of all the theaters that will be showing "The Interview," according to Gizmodo.
The film was shown on Christmas Day, in several theaters on states such as Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, and more.
It is also set to open on New Year's Day in cinemas in California, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri and New York; and then on Jan. 2 in Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Nebraska, Rhode Island and more.
Sony also set up a website where interested viewers can stream the film for $5.99 or purchase it for $14.99.
"The Interview" has also been made available online on YouTube Movies, Google Play, and Xbox Video as announced on their official blog by Google's Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer of Google David Drummond.
According to the post, Sony contacted several companies to inquire if they were willing to make the film available on their online platform. Google stated they "were eager to help," though they also cited the security implications needed.
"Sony and Google agreed that we could not sit on the sidelines and allow a handful of people to determine the limits of free speech in another country (however silly the content might be)," they added.
"The Interview" is also available for torrent in websites such as TorrentFreak, the recently-resurrected Pirate Bay, BitTorrent and more, according to Gizmodo. As much as 750,000 people have illegally downloaded the film, with popular torrents garnering 60,000 seeds each.
The film's star, co-director and co-writer Seth Rogen, along with co-director and co-writer Evan Goldberg, also showed their support for the film's showing by making a surprise appearance on Christmas Day at the Cinefamily theater in Los Angeles, according to Time.
The pair thanked the crowd for coming and Rogen said, "The fact that you guys came out is super f*cking exciting."
The theatrical release followed numerous criticisms on Sony's decision to cave to such threats, according to The Guardian. Even the president of the United States Barack Obama made mention of the decision, saying, "We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship in the United States."
