There were tons of stories written and discussed about Sony Pictures’ controversial release of ‘The Interview’. Looks like all this free publicity has given Sony a good reason to celebrate. Earlier, there was fuss about Sony releasing The Interview online before it hit theatres as no one was sure how it will turn out.
Now the company has announced that The Interview made $15 million from online sales and rentals since its Christmas Eve release online. The film also made $2.8 million in theaters over the long Christmas weekend.
The Hollywood blockbuster, which follows a hapless TV host tasked with the assassinating Kim Jong-un, was originally intended to be released on roughly 3,000 screens on Christmas Day. It was expected to generate $20 million during its opening.
The studio said on Sunday the film had been purchased or rented online more than 2 million times on the four days through to Saturday, making it Sony Pictures’ No 1 online movie of all time. The comedy was at the center of a crippling security breach at Sony Pictures in November that resulted in an embarrassing spill of company secrets.
The announcement came few hours after ‘The Interview’ finally made its debut on Apple’s iTunes. The movie has been available since Wednesday on YouTube Movies, Google Play, Xbox and a dedicated Sony-built website, Seetheinterview.com. PlayStation Network and XBox Live also experienced some glitches in their server on Christmas Eve, after they started offering online streaming of the film.
Seth Rogen and James Franco’s new comedy about the assassination of Kim Jong-un was the most prominent piece of geopolitical news of the past month. A group of hackers had wreaked havoc on Sony Pictures; they threatened a 9/11 style attack if the movie was allowed to release. Heeding to concerns raised by several theatre chains, the company said that it won’t object if the chains choose not to screen the movie. That move brought in comments from all sides of the spectrum, from severe criticism for being anti-free speech to support for ensuring the safety of moviegoers. After many hassles, Sony has finally released the movie on multiple platforms.
We trace out the bizarre course of events that finally led to the film’s release.
The Interview shows two American journalists assassinating North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
On June 11: the first trailer of The Interview releases online. Following this, on June 25, North Korea issues a tough response to the trailer calling it “an act of war” and said there will be a “merciless response”, if the movie was allowed to release.
November 24: the employees of Sony Pictures, across the country, received a shock in the morning when they saw all their computers were compromised. There was just one message on the screen that said that the system was hacked by Guardians of Peace or #GOP. They said they have taken all the data hostage and would release it if their demands were not met; it wasn’t sure at the time what the demands were. They claimed to have stolen up to 100 terabytes of data. Sony calls it an IT issue and says the company is looking into it.
A week after the attack, the first wave of release started to show up. The hackers release four movies online before the release dates. These films soon found their way on torrent sites. Soon after this, hackers released the salaries and social security details of former and current employees.
Coming to the start of December, the story takes a nasty turn when the hackers start releasing stolen emails. It takes a teenage gossip mode when details of various conversations between Sony executives and others start leaking out. The leak that Sony Pictures Chief Amy Pascal called Angelina Jolie “a spoilt brat” lead to an awkward moment when they met. Amy’s emails also saw racially tainted discussion about the American president.
There were awkward moments between Stars and Sony following the revelations by the hackers
December 4: We get news that North Korea might be one of the suspects in the case. The hermit kingdom denies any involvement. But its involvement seems to get more evident when the hackers call for a stop on the release of The Interview, calling it a movie of terrorism. This further strengthened the idea of North Korea’s involvement.
December 6: The incident starts taking the shape of terrorism when multiple employees of Sony Pictures start receiving threatening emails. Some days later the hackers comment saying that they are about to offer a Christmas gift for the people, which consists of more leaked data.
The hackers leaked scripts and details of future movies including the next James bond movie.
December 15: The frustration starts to grow in the entertainment industry against the leak. This follows the release of the draft of the new James Bond Movie ‘Spectre’. Academy Award winning writer Aaron Sorkin scolds the media in an op-ed in the New York Times for reporting using stolen data. Brad Pitt also joins to condemn the media calling it an assault on privacy and comments saying that they are profiting by colluding with terrorists.
December 16: the most inflammatory threat comes from the group. They threaten a 9/11-style attack on cinemagoers if The Interview is allowed to release; this spooks a lot of cinema chains in the country. Sony also gets slapped with a class action suit by former employees who blame the company for not being vigilant with their data.
December 17: Other studios start claiming that the GOP attack and subsequent threats might deter other moviegoers from coming to the theatre thereby dampening the profit making holiday season for everyone.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”Barack Obama” author_title=”President, United States of America”]
We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship in the United States.
[/quote]
December 18: The Federal Bureau of Investigation says that it is ready to link North Korea with the attack. Sony finally pulls the plug on The Interview, which also leads Seth Rogen and James Franco to cancel further promotional events for the movie. Sony also cancels DVD and VOD of the movie. This results in widespread criticism of the company, many saying that it has bowed down to terrorists subsequently encouraging them and defeating the bedrock of democracy.
December 19: US authority officially links North Korea with the attack. President Obama says Sony “made a mistake” in pulling back the movie saying, “We will respond proportionately and in a space, time and manner that we choose.” He also added, “We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship in the United States.”
December 24: Google and Microsoft get in talks with Sony to release the movie on their platform. Independent theatre owners too join in the release, but the big chains still stay a safe distance away.
The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn’t give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!
December 25: The movie is released on Google Play and YouTube movies. Seth Rogen tweets saying “…Freedom has prevailed!…” As soon as the movie hits the internet ,it is on the torrent sites and is downloaded massively. But the reviews for the movie are mixed.
It is a bit unsettling though that one of the biggest movie studios in the world was brought to its knees after this attack. It has been said that the company would need millions of dollars and may take years to recover from this attack. One thing is true though that this was an act of terror and if Sony did back down, as it was planning to, it could have set a precedent for other criminals to follow. It took the reassurance of the President of the United States to get the movie out to the public.
This incident has forced other major institutions to strengthen the security of their digital infrastructure. This hack has shown that in our present world, information is power, and your own data can be used against you. The technology sector should now put more focus on prevention of cyber-attacks and there is a need for training more professionals in cyber security. It’s time for the nerds to lead the war.
A few days back, Sony Pictures faced an unprecedented cyber attack where all the computers connected to its servers got hacked. All the computers of this major studio were rendered inaccessible. The hackers warned that if their demands weren’t met, they would release sensitive data. They had released .zip files that showed all the data that they had acquired by their contemptible doxxing of the company’s systems. The hackers have now released many upcoming and recently leaked movies from the production house online, along with other important documents. The hacker group, which calls itself Guardians of Peace or #GOP, is now linked to the hermit kingdom of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) or as they are better known, North Korea.
The country had previously threatened US of ‘merciless retaliation’ if a movie by Seth Rogen and James Franco was released. The movie called ‘The Interview’ shows the Hollywood duo in characters of a reporter and producer going to North Korea to assassinate Kim Jong-Un, the hereditary tyrannical leader of the secluded country. The country said that the release of the movie would be perceived as an act of war. The country’s diplomat though denies any role of Pyongyang in the high-level hack.
Right now, FBI is working with the studio to track down the culprits who purported the hack. It was Re/code that first reported on the possibility of North Korea’s involvement in the hack. After this even a former top US expert on North Korea said that circumstantial evidence including the extremely vocal denouncement of the movie points the arrow towards the country.
North Korea had taken serious offense against the movie and threatened merciless retaliation.
DPRK had previously taken serious offense against another movie called ‘Team America’ that parodied its previous ruler Kim Jong-Il. The country is also blamed for several hack attacks including an attack last year in which more than 30,000 PCs at South Korean banks and broadcasting companies were hit. Cyber-security experts at Kaspersky Labs claimed to have found technical links between attacks on Sony and other cyber-attacks that occurred in the Middle-East and South Korea. The experts are also considering an internal hand in hack amongst other possibilities.
Well, the identities of the hackers are still shrouded in mystery, but they have managed to cause major damage. The hackers have released four films from the studio into the wild that are getting downloaded actively. These include – Mr. Turner, To Write Love on Her Arms, a reboot of Annie produced by Jay-Z and Still Alice, along with the recently released Brad Pitt movie called Fury. They also leaked a 210-page document which allegedly contains the budget of ‘The Interview’ and salaries of Seth Rogen and James Franco.
The story is still in the making, and we’ll keep our eyes on it. This is the new genre of terrorism in the internet-based information age; seems like cyberspace is where the next generation wars will be fought. So it’s finally the time for the nerds of the world to be the soldiers instead of just being technical support. So if you consider yourself a hacker with skills and want to make tons of cash, both sides of the war will now be open for you.
