Sony Hackers now control Hollywood

[JasonEvans]

So, in case you have not heard, basically every movie theater chain in the country is now refusing to show The Interview after the Sony hackers threatened a "9-11 style attack" on theaters that showed the movie. While I guess the theaters were afraid of legal action if something happened at a showing of the film, I am disgusted at the cowardice being shown here. Homeland Security says there is no credible threat to theaters and they know of no plots to attack movie theaters. This is just the hackers (who have revealed themselves as NKoreans) trying to squash this film with an empty threat.

I am angry and disgusted that Hollywood is allowing this threat to control their business. The Interview is a $44 million film that Sony had probably already spent $30+ million more on marketing and the such and it is probably going to go direct to video or something like that because some hackers made an empty threat. So cowardly!

--Jason "I did get a kick out of one tweet that said, 'Now that North Korea is controlling film release dates, do you think they can get Star Wars to come out a few months sooner?'" Evans

[CameronBornAndBred]

While I guess the theaters were afraid of legal action if something happened at a showing of the film.

No...they were justifiably worried about the effect that showing the movie would have on their other releases shown in the same theater. You are talking about people that just freaked out about one hospital in Texas infecting the entire country with Ebola; those people would have not gone and seen the Hobbit knowing that The Interview was showing in on the screen next door. We have our poll going because this is a prime time movie going season, theaters don't want their overall receipts knocked down due to one movie.

[BD80]

...
--Jason "I did get a kick out of one tweet that said, 'Now that North Korea is controlling film release dates, do you think they can get Star Wars to come out a few months sooner?'" Evans

With North Korea controlling the film industry, will the Dark Side win in all remaining Star Wars films?

[Duvall]

Theatrical release cancelled.

Chalk one up for terrorism.

[YmoBeThere]

I had no interest in seeing the movie, so I can't really criticize, but this is kinda pathetic. How is that for kinda criticizing?

[DukieInKansas]

I had no interest in going to see this film but this whole threat/cancel showings makes me want to see it. If it is verified that the little banty rooster in North Korea is behind it, it makes me want to thumb my nose at him and go see the movie.

[cspan37421]

Talk about the Streisand effect. This movie might well end up the top-grossing direct-to-video movie of all time. Kind of like the Crash Davis of Hollywood movies.

[JasonEvans]

Theatrical release cancelled.

Chalk one up for terrorism.

Not completely cancelled, just delayed. My bet is that Sony releases it in mid-Feb or something like that. They may also try something many in the industry have talked about where they do a "super premium" on demand release where they charge like $15 or $20 for VOD of the movie.

-Jason "This is shameful... I understand it, but the terrorists/NKorea really won this time" Evans

[A-Tex Devil]

Sony has pulled the release. Theaters have refused to screen it. Other film execs outside of Sony are worried about (1) losing box office for their other movies at these theaters, and (2) more emails getting released that they happen to be on as well as a result of communications with Sony.

Gets me to thinking that there is some collusion in all of this to try to save face for not only Sony, but the industry. I get that. It's a business decision that trumps the principled one.

... BUT! The movie is in the can. It has had its world premiere (no incident, mind you). Even if Sony cooperates, it should assume that all of the hacked data will eventually be dumped on to bittorrent at some point. So what is the solution? Get all the stakeholders in the movie together at the table to agree and say "F" it, and release it for free on the web, or even for $10 a pop with some portion of that going to a relevant charity to help North Korean refugees or something like that. This movie needs to be distributed immediately to the masses. Make it *EASIER* for people to see it. Is DPRK worried about Sony making money or people seeing it? If the former, they've won. If the latter, the game isn't over yet.

I hate the slippery slope argument usually, but this is the type of move that really gets one started. I mean, if they are going to cave to pressure here, what happens when Sony receives even more threats against it if it tries to release Mall Cop: Blart 2?

[-jk]

I think Sony should put it up on the Interwebs for free. Let the whole world see it - or at least those without censors.

-jk

[Duvall]

Sony: No further plans to release the film in any form.

[cato]

I had no interest in seeing the movie, so I can't really criticize, but this is kinda pathetic. How is that for kinda criticizing?

I had no interest either . . . until now. Release it on demand, and I'll rent it tonight!

[duke74]

I hate the slippery slope argument usually, but this is the type of move that really gets one started. I mean, if they are going to cave to pressure here, what happens when Sony receives even more threats against it if it tries to release Mall Cop: Blart 2?

Not to venture into the PPB, but what threat source will silence our freedom of speech next? ISIS? Iran? This is a slippery slope indeed and Sony is already at the bottom of the hill.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Not to venture into the PPB, but what threat source will silence our freedom of speech next? ISIS? Iran? This is a slippery slope indeed and Sony is already at the bottom of the hill.

Essentially, both did long ago. I'm an artist. I paint naked women and make money off of those paintings. It upsets me when I can't share those paintings due to censorship rules. It upsets me knowing that other artists can't share their creativity without the threat of repercussions. Unfortunately, when someone wants to take censorship to an extreme level, they can.
Ask Salman Rushdie.
Even worse...draw Mohammed. I dare you.
At least those threats, as disturbing as they are, are deeply rooted in an established religion.
This threat is different. It is another political state exerting their will, successfully, against one of the foundations our country was built upon.
As I stated above, theater owners (pressured by other studios, I am sure) caved not due to a threat of violence, but due to a threat of finances. Want to hit America where it hurts the most, you hit pocketbooks and wallets.
Somehow, though, this is a threat we can and will fight against. I think JK will see his wish come to fruition. You can't protest against Islam extremism by posting cartoons of Mohammed, but you sure as hell can protest against a foreign power by giving away for free what they want nobody to pay for.

[BD80]

... -Jason "This is shameful... I understand it, but the terrorists/NKorea really won this time" Evans

Why couldn't they have done this with any (or all) of Adam Sandler's last 5 or so films?

[rfaison]

Why couldn't they have done this with any (or all) of Adam Sandler's last 5 or so films?

"Like" ... .

[A-Tex Devil]

I hate the slippery slope argument usually, but this is the type of move that really gets one started. I mean, if they are going to cave to pressure here, what happens when Sony receives even more threats against it if it tries to release Mall Cop: Blart 2?

Not to venture into the PPB, but what threat source will silence our freedom of speech next? ISIS? Iran? This is a slippery slope indeed and Sony is already at the bottom of the hill.

In fairness, it's *not* a freedom of speech issue, it's a business decision, but otherwise, I probably agree the precedent has been set.

[CameronBornAndBred]

P.S. With all dueish respect to the mods, I love that this thread is about I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.ing censorship.

[snowdenscold]

Sony... the same company that completely and needlessly blocked our ability to watch Netflix on our TV for about a week last year. We had bought a "smart" Blu-ray player of theirs that had Wi-fi and could do Netflix, Pandora, etc., only to find out that it didn't really connect you directly to those services.
Instead it sent you through Sony's "provisioning" servers first as a proxy, which serve no other purpose than for them to track what you're watching... watching on independent services completely outside of Sony that you're paying for (e.g., Netflix).

Well, when their "provisioning servers" (by which I mean "needless man-in-the-middle data collectors") died for a week (!), we were SOL on that front. Had to get the laptops out. (We've since bought a new TV that came w/ a Roku stick). Of course, they gave absolutely no indication that a) they even used this setup b) there was something wrong on their end - I had to piece it together from a bunch of googling.

Anyway, that experience turned me off from considering Sony electronic products for the foreseeable future.

/rant

[mr shadow 008]

http://m.ign.com/articles/2014/12/17...wing-sony-hack
The Sony hack and subsequent threats have now caused another movie to be shelved indefinitely.