Earlier today, the hackers who have been gleefully tossing Sony’s private data all over the Internet since November released a statement threatening any movie theaters that choose to show The Interview. The message referenced the 9/11 terrorist attacks and claimed that “the world will be full of fear,” but the Department Of Homeland Security believes that there’s no credible evidence that such an attack will occur. Still, though, the threat was enough for stars Seth Rogen and James Franco to cancel all of their upcoming media appearances.
Now, Sony has officially responded to the threat by announcing that any theaters who would rather not screen The Interview after all of this can feel free to pull it. This comes from Deadline, which quotes someone inside Sony as saying “we’re leaving it up to the discretion of the theater owners and chains and we will support their decision.” At least one theater chain executive told Deadline that his theaters will still show The Interview, but he has already contacted the police and will be giving everyone on his staff security briefings.
However, Georgia-based chain Carmike Cinemas has already announced that it’s not willing to take the risk and will not be showing The Interview. With Carmike already making this move within hours of Sony’s announcement, it seems like a safe bet that other chains will soon be following its lead in the coming days. Deadline says Sony isn’t discussing pulling the movie entirely or dumping it to On Demand services yet, but if more and more theaters do decide not to show it, those could become its only options. Assuming any theaters are still on board, The Interview will premiere on Christmas day.