Well SOMEBODY sure had a great Christmas.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

For a movie that wasn't even coming out at the beginning of the week, The Interview is ending it in style. 

 The Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy at the heart of the controversy involving Sony hackers racked up nearly $1 million on Christmas Day in 300 independent movie theaters around the country, according to Variety. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain, one of the staunchest supporters of screening the film, sold out all of its Christmas screenings in its 17 locations. 

It's a decent haul for a movie that, due to threats of terrorism, was pulled by major theater chains such as AMC and Regal. 

The Interview has also done well on video-on-demand platforms since its Wednesday release. While none of the sites has disclosed download or streaming numbers, Variety reports The Interview is the best-selling film on Google Play and YouTube Movies. And according to CNN, there were also 750,000 illegal downloads of the film on Thursday. 

"The audience reaction was fantastic — the limited release, in under 10% of the amount of theaters originally planned, featured numerous sell-outs and a first-day gross over $1 million," said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony, in a statement to CNN.

You know every once in awhile you recognize that you are in the middle of a pivotal moment in history. 

And we have had a lot of them recently. The first black president. The Affordable Care Act. The Climate Change agreement with China. The reopening of diplomatic relations with Cuba. The newly released Senate torture report. I could go on.

And this is another one.

It is the first time that we have seen hackers impact a major studio, or ANY large corporation, in such a dramatic fashion.

Even yesterday there was still disagreement over who exactly hacked Sony, and there was yet another hack on online gaming platforms yesterday as well.

So while The Interview may have ultimately benefited from all of the attention and goodwill that resulted from the Sony hack, it is unlikely that this is the last time this is going to happen.

I have no idea what this ultimately means going forward, but I am willing to bet that it will result in increased security and less internet freedom down the road.

The Interview is coming to Alaska!

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

In the wake of controversy surrounding "The Interview," a comedy about the assassination of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, the Bear Tooth Theatrepub in Anchorage has announced it will begin screening the film Jan. 2. 

The independent, second-run theater will not publicize show times for the film until Monday evening, according to Rand Thornsley, film buyer for the Bear Tooth. Tickets will go on sale the following day, he said. 

“This was the only opportunity for (Sony Pictures) to have an opening in Anchorage theatrically, so they are allowing the Bear Tooth to run the film within our normal programming,” Thornsley said. 

Thornsley said he confirmed Tuesday evening that “The Interview” would play on the Bear Tooth's single screen. 

He said theater managers expected to arrange “extra security measures” for its showings, though he did not have specifics. 

“Since we don’t have the issue with having a multiplex, we will only be running ‘The Interview’ at one particular time,” Thornsley said. “That makes it a little bit easier. People can make their choice, whether or not they want to see it. It won’t be hurting other films.”

Somehow I doubt that Alaskans will be terribly intimidated by any threats from hackers or North Koreans. 

After all we survived Sarah Palin. What could Kim Jong Un do to us that was worse than that?

By the way the movie might also be coming to Netflix a few days after Christmas and that is most likely how I will end up watching it. 

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!

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.

President Obama on Sony's decision to pull "The Interview" from its Christmas release: "Yes, I think they made a mistake." Update!

Courtesy of NBC News:  

President Barack Obama said Friday that Sony Pictures Entertainment "made a mistake" by nixing the release of a comedic film after the company was hacked and received cyber threats. 

"Sony's a corporation. It suffered significant damage. There were threats against some of its employees," he said "I am sympathetic to the concerns that they faced. Having said all that, yes, I think they made a mistake." 

In a year-end press conference, Obama said that he wishes Sony had spoken to him before deciding to back down on the film "The Interview," which depicted a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "I would have told them 'Do not get into a pattern in which you're intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks,'" he said. "That's not who we are," he said. 

"That's not what America's about."

I agree with the President's remarks 100%.

Just like I did with George Clooney yesterday. 

By the way the Sony executives are none too thrilled that the President talked about them yesterday.

It must be noted that George R. R. Martin, author of the incredible Game of Thrones books, has offered to show The Interview in his own theater in Sante Fe, Mexico.

He also had this to say: 

"The level of corporate cowardice here astonishes me. It's a good thing these guys weren't around when Charlie Chaplin made THE GREAT DICTATOR. If Kim Jong-Un scares them, Adolf Hitler would have had them shitting in their smallclothes."

Well stated.

Update: It looks like Sony is rethinking their position in response to the President's remarks: 

Sony Pictures Entertainment has said it still wants to release its film The Interview which mocks the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and it is considering alternative platforms. 

The remarks come after President Obama said the film company made a mistake by cancelling the movie's release.

That is somewhat different than what they were saying before. 

Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler magazine, is also jumping into the fray with a porn parody of The Interview: 

“If Kim Jong-un and his henchmen were upset before, wait till they see the movie we’re going to make,” Flynt said. “I’ve spent a lifetime fighting for the First Amendment, and no foreign dictator is going to take away my right to free speech.”

I guess when you've already taken a bullet, a little hacking seems quaint by comparison. 

Hackers may have stopped the Christmas release of "The Interview" but human rights activists are going to make sure that North Koreans still get a chance to see it. Using balloons even.

Courtesy The Hollywood Reporter:

 Whether or not North Korea is behind the Sony hack, Kim Jong Un better brace himself because The Interview is headed to his country. Human rights activists are planning to airlift DVDs of the Seth Rogen comedy into the country via hydrogen balloons. 

Fighters for a Free North Korea, run by Park Sang Hak, a former government propagandist who escaped to South Korea, has for years used balloons to get transistor radios, DVDs and other items into North Korea — not to entertain the deprived masses, but to introduce them to the outside world.

Of course at this point there is no telling when the DVD will be released, but I have a feeling that once it has been that this will be the most popular item on the North Koreans "gifts from the sky" wish list.

Today cable news, newspapers, and websites are all over this news about the Sony hack and the decision to pull The Interview from theaters. In fact it has even knocked the Senate torture report off of the front pages.

I personally do not think this is quite as important, but it IS very important and potentially problematic moving forward.

The idea that a bunch of hackers sitting on their couch eating Cheetos can frighten a wealthy movie studio into stopping the release of a major motion picture  should give all of us pause.

And whether you thought the movie should have been made or not, or that it went too far, is really beside the point. After all how many world leaders, and racial stereotypes, have we killed in American movies over the years.

In the James Bod film "Die Another Day" the bad guys were North Koreans, The same is true for the remake of "Red Dawn," Angelina Jolie's "Salt," and "Olympus Has Fallen."

In that last film by the way the filmmakers also shot the White House full of holes.

Hell in "Independence Day" the filmmakers blew up the White House altogether, as well as most of the rest of the world, and (Spoiler alert.) even killed the President's wife. (There even exists a "fakeumentary" about the killing of George W. Bush, made in 2006.)

If a movie goes too far, or is in bad taste, that should be reflected in poor sales and bad reviews. And it should not result in threats of terrorist attack or the hacking computers and releasing private information to the public.

Bowing to this kind of pressure is setting a very, very dangerous precedent.

For those who have wondered what all of the fuss is about, here is the scene where Kim Jong-Un is killed.

Sony caves to cyber attacks, pulls "The Interview" from its Christmas release.

Courtesy of Variety:  

With theater chains defecting en masse, Sony Pictures Entertainment has pulled the planned Christmas Day release of “The Interview.” 

In announcing the decision to cancel the holiday debut, Sony hit back at the hackers who threatened movie theaters and moviegoers and who have terrorized the studio and its employees for weeks. 

“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,” the statement reads. 

“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,” it continues. “We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.” 

The studio did not say it would never release the picture theatrically. Insiders tell Variety Sony is exploring all options, including offering the picture on premium video-on-demand as a way to recoup at least some of its investment.

You know when I first saw the trailer for this movie I thought it sounded stupid.

But after seeing more footage, and hearing about how North Korea was losing its shit, I  put it on my "must see' list.

And now thanks to the fact that North Korea is the Scientology of nation states, essentially willing to destroy anybody who dares to criticize them or point out that they are full of shit, I don't get to.

Fuck North Korea!

You know what? I think in response to this that EVERY movie studio should make a movie where either Kim Jong Un is assassinated or North Korea is obliterated. 

I can see it now.

He could be the villain in the next James Bond movie, "Code Name: Fluffy Toddler."

Mike Myers could make another Austin Powers movies where Fat Bastard challenges Kim Jong Un to a sumo wrestling match and then crushes him into a fine Asian powder. Which they then sell in China as an aphrodisiac.

In the next "A giant comet is hurtling toward earth" movie they determine that it will only hit North Korea and everybody just relaxes and goes back to what they were doing before hearing the news.

And in the next Avengers movie North Korea develops doomsday device and they send Hulk to deal with it. I think we all know what happens then.

After all they can't hack everybody!

And let's face it North Korea is not even a real country, and allowing them, or whoever they may have hired to do this on their behalf, to have any impact on anything that happens in America is just bullshit.

What kind of a message does that send to other countries who hate us, hate our culture, and are jealous of James Franco's talent? It will be open season on America, you just wait and see.

P.S. By the way there are some who are not convinced this hacking of Sony is the work of North Korea. However American intelligence officials say yes it most definitely was.

P.P.S. Here is the Sony hack timeline.

China proposed a dialogue to resolve the Korean crisis

Korean crisis

China says dialogue and cooperation is the only way to relieve tension on the Korean peninsula.
 
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Jiang Yu, said the responsibility for maintaining peace in the region should be borne by all parties in the region. China, North Korea's closest ally, urged the United States and other countries to persuade North Korea to stop provocations.

North Korea asked to improve relations with the South

Improve relations with the South

United States, Japan and South Korea declared North Korea must improve relations with South Korea before the start of negotiations about their nuclear program.
The statement was issued after the meeting between U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and partners from South Korea and Japan in Washington on Monday (6 / 12).