Well guess what Kim Jong Un is getting for Christmas. A big middle finger from Sony.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

After a month of leaks, embarrassment, and terrorist threats — not to mention an admonishment from President Obama himself — Sony has reversed course and will release The Interview on Christmas Day in a limited number of theaters. 

The Alamo Drafthouse, an independent theater chain based in Austin, confirmed to Yahoo Movies that it will screen the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy about assassinating North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The Plaza theater chain in Georgia also tweeted that it would be showing the film. 

According to The Wrap, Sony will also release the film on video on demand systems. 

"We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas day,” Sony Entertainment chair and CEO Michael Lynton said in a statement. “At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience. I want to thank our talent on The Interview and our employees, who have worked tirelessly through the many challenges we have all faced over the last month. While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.”

Here is a tweet from Seth Rogen after learning the news.

 Of course this has to happen.

I mean it is one thing to be a little bitch and cave in to threats, but it is altogether different to be Kim Jong Un's little bitch.

I mean come on!

Sony decides to release "The Interview" after all. Online.

Courtesy of The New York Post: 

Sony’s current plan for “The Interview’’ is to release the controversial comedy for free on Crackle, the streaming service it owns, sources said Sunday. 

Following Sony’s decision to pull the James Franco-Seth Rogan movie after hackers working for North Korean threatened violence, President Obama criticized the studio for being “intimidated by these kind of criminal attacks.’’

I have to admit that I had no idea that Crackle even existed since I really don't like to watch movies on my computer.  (It actually has quite a lot of content. And it's all free.)

However I feel that at this point it is almost my patriotic duty to watch this film which might explain why Reince Priebus, Chairman of the RNC, has been pushing for its release as well.

As for whether or not this movie is even worth watching, well as least one film critic thinks that it is:'

He also is bewildered as to what the North Koreans found so objectionable:

As Skylark's (James Franco) interview nears, their assassination attempts fail and ethical quandaries mount. Skylark and Kim ("a cool guy," pleads Skylark) become fast friends, palling around together and shooting off tanks. If anything, the film, written by Dan Sterling from the story by Goldberg and Rogen (their second time directing after the better "This Is the End"), verges on making Kim too likable. 

And while the movie leads to a fiery end and a slow reveal of the famine Kim inflicts on his people, most who see "The Interview" will say to themselves: THIS is what prompted an international incident? There's nothing scandalous about "The Interview," unless you happen to believe Kim is a god who rides around on unicorns.

Sounds potentially entertaining,  I for one am going to watch it.

So just in case the North Koreans are planning to hack the computer of every single person who watches the film online, I have placed all my nude selfies and scandalous e-mails in a folder on my desktop entitled "Kim Jong Un lease don't look in here."

What can I say, I like to be neat and tidy.

North Korea claims they had nothing to do with Sony hack. Offer to participate in joint investigation.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

North Korea said U.S. accusations that it was involved in a cyberattack on Sony Pictures were "groundless slander" and that it was wanted a joint investigation into the incident with the United States. 

An unnamed spokesman of the North's foreign ministry said there would be "grave consequences" if Washington refused to agree to the joint probe and continued to accuse Pyongyang, the official KCNA news agency reported on Saturday. 

On Friday, President Barack Obama blamed North Korea for the devastating cyberattack, which led to the Hollywood studio canceling "The Interview," a comedy on the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

In its first substantive response to the accusation, the isolated North Korea said it could prove it had nothing to do with the massive hacking attack. 

"We propose to conduct a joint investigation with the U.S. in response to groundless slander being perpetrated by the U.S. by mobilizing public opinion," the North Korean spokesman said. 

"If the U.S. refuses to accept our proposal for a joint investigation and continues to talk about some kind of response by dragging us into the case, it must remember there will be grave consequences," the spokesman said.

Just a suggestion, but if you want to convince America you were not involved in a cyber terrorist attack you might want to avoid making any further threats. 

Okay well now I don't know WHAT to think.

I mean it does not seem likely that the President would go on national television accusing this country of being behind the hack if he were not 100% sure of that. However this response from North Korea is completely unprecedented.

You know the more I think about this story the more I imagine Seth Rogen and James Franco high as shit sitting in a room several years ago saying "Let's make a movie that will attract all kinds of bad attention from a country that hates us and see how that goes."

One of the things to keep in mind is that in this day and age something like this was always going to happen at some point. In a way Rogen and Franco were simply in the right place at the right time.