In spite of numerous threats to the producer and distributors to not show the controversial film, "The Interview," it seemed that Sony Pictures is determined not to let anyone prevent them from releasing the movie. Word is now out that the film is now top of the charts in both Google Play and YouTube, after it has been made available for streaming.
A post from Google's Official Blog made the announcement that it would make the movie available to its owned sites, Google Play and YouTube Movies, on Christmas Day. This was after Sony approached them for help in distributing the film, which has been the target of many attacks because of its political content. The company gave its support to freedom in speech as its rationale for releasing the film. It stated, "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)."
The political comedy movie, which is about an assassination plan for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has been the center of many "hacking attacks" from the group who called themselves, "Guardians of Peace" since middle of this year. According to BBC, the said group has been behind many other cyber-attacks, which made the FBI believe that North Korea is behind the "terrorist" move as a response to the scheduled release of the movie. While the communist state denied any involvement, it lauded the act and called it a "righteous deed." As the scheduled film release drew near, numerous terrorist threats with mentions of 9/11 were made to cinemas, which plan to show the movie, prompting them to cancel. Sony has since then "decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release."
The movie could be purchased at $14.99 or rented at $5.99 on YouTube Movies, Google Play, Xbox and seetheinterview.com as reported by Time. Since being made available on Microsoft-owned site Xbox Live, numerous hacking attacks have been made, which left PlayStation Network not accessible to online users of PlayStation games and devices, reported Deadline. On the other hand, those unwilling to go through the process of downloading the film from Google Play or waiting for the YouTube buffering to end could proceed to 300 select theaters nationwide. A report by Daily Mail said that many theaters who agreed to show the film has pledged to take extra precaution in light of the debate hanging around the film. President and Co-owner of Laemmle art house chain, Greg Laemlee stated, "When a film attracts this kind of hype, there has to be concerns." He added, "As long as we're not being irresponsible in terms of addressing patron safety, we really need to support freedom of artistic expression."
