Sony Pictures is facing some major backlash over the new James Franco and Seth Rogen film, The Interview. The company has been torn upside down after a massive hacker attack. The group taking responsibility for the hack, the “Guardians of Peace,” have threatened a 9/11 style attack on theaters showing the film, causing Franco and Rogen to stop their press tour, and some theaters to pull the movie. Sony has given theaters the option to drop the film, but is the threat of terror real? After the 2012 Aurora Dark Knight Rises shooting, some places aren’t taking the chance.
The hacker group, "Guardians of Peace," that some believe to be agents of North Korea, recently released a threat to moviegoers, menacing:
“Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made.The world will be full of fear.Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.) Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment. All the world will denounce the SONY.”
This has naturally caused quite the uproar with theater owners, fearing backlash. MKM Partners exhibition industry analyst, Eric Handler, recently spoke to Variety about the threat:
“It ultimately comes down to security. If there are concerns about actual terrorist acts than you have to think about pulling it…but there is no evidence that this cyber attack will escalate to anything above or beyond that.”
Even if the threats don’t have teeth, that doesn’t stop theaters from suffering a loss of revenue from fearful moviegoers.
What do you make of the threats? Do you think Sony should pull the film? Would you rather it moved to in home On Demand showings? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
