Sony Drops "The Interview" after North Korean hack, threats

[Gahars]

This falls out of the realm of normal video game discussion, sure, but Sony is involved, and I think this is big enough to warrant discussion here.

To put it simply, North Korea has been railing against Sony's upcoming film "The Interview," which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as two media types sent into the despotic regime to assassinate Kim Jong-Un (with wacky hijinks presumably ensuing). As retaliation, North Korea paid for a hack of Sony Pictures' database, leaking sensitive information such as private emails, employee's personal information, etc. Thing have only escalated from there when the hackers threatened to bomb theaters airing the film.

The studio has officially scrapped its release plans [for The Interview]. Sony had little choice here, after the major theater chains announced earlier today they would not display the film given the threatening circumstances.

Deadline

There's no telling exactly what the studio will do now. According to Wikipedia, the film cost $44 million (not including marketing, of course), and features performers ranging from James Franco and Seth Rogen to Eminem and Kanye West. It'd be almost unthinkable to imagine the company eating the costs and shelving it for good, but is VoD a viable option if theaters have refused to touch it?

We're already seeing aftershocks in the rest of the film industry. After the news, Fox quickly cancelled an upcoming project from Gore Verbinski and Steve Carrell set in North Korea. One has to wonder if this will spread to other mediums, from television to video games. There are plenty of games featuring the country in some fashion or another, like EA's upcoming Homeland 2, where North Korea is the enemy.

I don't know what to say here, really. Maybe that's because South Park already covered it years ago.

 

[gamefan5]

Heard about it. Damn.. $44 million at least going down the drain... Wooow

 

[Sicklyboy]

Ironic choice of post image, because...

http://drafthouse.com/movies/quote-alongs_team_america/dfw

 

[jefffisher]

what am i going to do on christmas now =[
terrorism has won again.

 

[Joe88]

I guess it was to be expected after threatening a terrorist attack on a 9/11 scale

enjoy his death seen from the now scraped movie

 

[grossaffe]

First off, what a bunch of cowards. Secondly, that movie looked dumb.

 

[the_randomizer]

Threatened by pussy North Korean keyboard warriors. Ugh...

 

[gamefan5]

But I can see why they did it... I mean, a risk of an attack of mass killing like that. It could have been fake, but would you risk it? Because if it did happen, Sony would be shunned by all of America forever.

 

[Costello]

I'd like to see this escalate to the point where North Korea gets liberated by a military operation.
I still have to wonder whether North Korea is really behind this (why would they give a shit? and do they really have the financial and technical means to carry an attack and threats like these?)
However I really hope North Korean people can be freed from this horrible and ridiculous dictature.

 

[frogboy]

Coming from someone who doesn't see many movies, did the people behind this movie not expect to see any sort of backlash whatsoever? None at all?

 

[Nathan Drake]

I wanted to see this movie too. A shame. It's hard to imagine anybody would attack Sony Pictures this hard just for shits and giggles though. Either North Korea has the resources to hack Sony Pictures on this level, or they outsourced the project to somebody who had the resources (read: just about any other country with a thoroughly set up internet network). Regardless, this goes beyond what the average hacking group does for funsies. The attack was meant to damage the company on a deep level, as well as all of those associated with it, whether they be employees or hired actors.

Really though, North Korea just needs to be completely liberated. They are by far the worst country on this planet, and I'm almost ashamed that anybody would actually feel threatened by a country that barely even has functional nuclear facilities, and that we could effectively remove from the Earth in a few hours.

 

[VashTS]

Listen America....SHHHHHHHHH...play the movie but just STFU about it, don't let those fascist pieces of garbage know we are showing the movie and let us all enjoy it.

Then once they feel like they won, SURPRISE we actually all watched it and Kim Jong-Un sucks.

 

[cdoty]

Coming from someone who doesn't see many movies, did the people behind this movie not expect to see any sort of backlash whatsoever? None at all?

There's been tons on movies about the Soviet Union (and Russia), and they didn't threaten any types of attacks. I'm sure there were plenty of Soviet movies where the US is destroyed or attacked. Imagine if a group of activists had threatened MGM over Rocky IV.
It's not like people in North Korea will ever see the film. And, it's a comedy.. no one's going to take it seriously.

 

[Xzi]

This is complete horseshit. For a number of reasons. Just to start, it shows that theater chains have the choice to not carry a movie made easy for them for any reason, and subsequently censor said movie throughout nearly the entire US. The only reason Sony pulled it was because nobody was going to show it. And by nobody, I mean the grand total of THREE (3) theater chains. As an aside: why the fuck isn't there more competition for everything in this future year of 2014? Goddamn.

Anyway, this also sucks because any threat North Korea makes is the most impotent and childish thing ever. China won't even support that annoying all-bark-no-bite dog on anything they say. Honestly, if we're stuck with no way to watch The Interview for a long period of time after the supposed-to be release, American hackers should just hack the database of stolen Sony info and release it to everybody on the internet. If nothing else, to show that America won't take cyber-attacks lightly. Gogo gadget Anonymous?

North Korea does this shit almost every year at some random time or another. But it's just the leadership peacocking for its people. They want to be heard because they know nobody is listening nor cares.

 

[RevPokemon]

Honestly I'm kinda scared they will stop the wedding ringer movie as Hart had to cancel an event dye to the hacking.

 

[Foxi4]

I'd like to see this escalate to the point where North Korea gets liberated by a military operation. I still have to wonder whether North Korea is really behind this (why would they give a shit? and do they really have the financial and technical means to carry an attack and threats like these?) However I really hope North Korean people can be freed from this horrible and ridiculous dictature.

The North Korean dictature really is somewhere between ridiculous and scary, some of the executions performed there are just crossing the line. What happens in North Korea used to stay in North Korea, but now that their reign of terror makes an impact on the western world, I really do hope that something is finally done about it. I sympathize with those people, it must be a nightmare to live under a despot who executes people for "watching South Park" or other ridiculous reasons.

 

[grossaffe]

This feels appropriate.

 

[aiat_gamer]

The only reason Sony pulled it was because nobody was going to show it. And by nobody, I mean the grand total of THREE (3) theater chains. As an aside: why the fuck isn't there more competition for everything in this future year of 2014? Goddamn.

.

That is capitalism for ya, enjoy!
And yes, the story is ridiculous, especially when we know this is not the first time hollywood has made fun of North Korea. But, the movie sucks anyways so I for one do not care the slightest.

 

[bailli]

As retaliation, North Korea paid for a hack of Sony Pictures' database, leaking sensitive information such as private emails, employee's personal information, etc.

Maybe a more objective overview might be better suited for a front page post? I have yet to find any article which proves some kind of connection between North Korea and GOP.

EDIT: Hm, just read some more... now they (ie. Washington Post) claim the hackers worked for North Korea... I am pretty sure at the beginning of this FBI(?) said there is no connection...

 

[modrobert]

Hackers spoofing as North Korea tactic worked it seems.

Considering the "objective" argument; where are the movies in which the US president is killed and the protagonist is a hero? The commercial product range looks a bit one-sided to me.