ABOVE: The controversial comedy The Interview will be getting a limited release on Christmas Day. Danielle Nottingham reports.
TORONTO — Sony Pictures announced Tuesday it is giving the controversial comedy The Interview a limited theatrical release on Christmas Day.
“We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theatres on Christmas Day,” said Sony Entertainment chair and CEO Michael Lynton, in a statement.
“At the same time, we are continuing out efforts to secure more platforms and more theatres so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.”
No one is happier about the news than the movie’s stars Seth Rogen and James Franco The Interview. They tweeted:
Franco also posted a photo of a three-way kiss between he, Rogen and Nick Kroll on Instagram (taken from their appearance on PubLIZity) with the message: “CELEBRATING!”
Also tweeting his delight was Rogen’s friend and co-director (and fellow Vancouver native) Evan Goldberg.
Actor Randall Park, who plays Kim Jong-un in the movie, tweeted, too.
Several U.S. theatres said Tuesday they will show The Interview.
“Sony has authorized screenings of THE INTERVIEW on Christmas Day,” read a tweet from Tim League of The Alamo Drafthouse. “We are making shows available within the hour.”
Another cinema, the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta, said via Facebook it will show The Interview on two screens.
READ MORE: Hollywood reacts to Sony decision to cancel ‘The Interview’ release
Sony has said The Interview will not be released in Canada on Christmas Day.
Calls to Cineplex Entertainment were not returned but a spokesman for Magic Lantern Theatres told Global News the chain would run The Interview if Sony made it available.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio intends to offer the movie via video-on-demand services.
The Interview was pulled by Sony after threats from North Korea convinced major theatre chains in the U.S. and Canada not to show the film.
Last week, U.S. president Barack Obama called the decision to cancel the release of the movie “a mistake.”
California-based Sony Pictures was the victim of a cyber attack that U.S. authorities blamed on the North Korean government, which has been criticizing The Interview for close to a year. After the studio cancelled the film’s release, hackers reportedly warned not to release the film “in any form.”
READ MORE: How the Sony Pictures hacking scandal unfolded
In The Interview — which was made entirely in Canada — Rogen and Franco are enlisted to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public,” Sony’s Lynton said in Tuesday’s statement, “and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.”
BELOW: Watch the trailer for The Interview.
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