WATCH ABOVE: Sony Pictures is throwing in the towel. The Hollywood movie studio is cancelling the release of the controversial new comedy, “The Interview”. CBS News has learned the federal government will officially implicate the North Korean government for the cyber attack. Don Champion reports.
TORONTO – Sony has cancelled the Dec. 25 release of The Interview in the wake of Cineplex, as well as several American theatre chains, pulling the movie from theatres.
In a statement, Sony said it was cancelling the December release of the movie ”in light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film.”
Cineplex said in a written statement released Wednesday afternoon they are postponing showings of the film “after careful consideration of this unprecedented and complex situation.”
“Cineplex takes seriously its commitment to the freedom of artistic expression, but we want to reassure our guests and staff that their safety and security is our number one priority. We look forward to a time when this situation is resolved and those responsible are apprehended,” Pat Marshall, Cineplex vice president of communications and investor relations, said in the statement.
WATCH ABOVE: North Korea has long history of cyber-attacks]
The move comes after numerous threats to moviegoers and cinemas in the United States by a hacker group dubbed the Guardians of Peace.
In a statement posted to an anonymous information sharing website, the group said they would “clearly show it to you at the very time and places The Interview be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to.”
“Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear,” the statement continued.
Seth Rogen and James Franco star in the film as journalists enlisted by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during an interview.
Theatres in the United States have also pulled the movie due to ongoing threats from the hacker group. A report in the Hollywood Reporter said some of the biggest movie theatre chains in the United States have decided to not run the film, including Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, and Carmike Cinemas.
Judd Apatow, a director who worked with Rogen on Knocked Up and The 40-year-old Virgin, took to Twitter to express his distaste with North American theatres for no longer showing The Interview.
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