Sony Gives In To Hackers

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Now that Sony has given in to the hackers, we can expect a lot more of this in the future. :(

With theater chains defecting en masse, Sony Pictures Entertainment has pulled the planned Christmas release of “The Interview.” In announcing the decision to cancel the holiday debut, Sony hit back at the hackers who threatened movie theaters and moviegoers and who have terrorized the studio and its employees for weeks.
 
release it for free on bittorrent and claim it the work of more hackers
 
sony could just be using this, because an eventual release will be even bigger now
 
Sony has officially become a laughing stock. Get their shit hacked? Gold. Get their shit hacked despite being warned, not to mention practically in plain sight? Golden. Cave in to threats from goddamn North Korea? Comedy platinum gold.
 
Sony has officially become a laughing stock. Get their shit hacked? Gold. Get their shit hacked despite being warned, not to mention practically in plain sight? Golden. Cave in to threats from goddamn North Korea? Comedy platinum gold.

You realize Sony had no control over individual theaters not wanting to show the movie right?

Sony had no choice but to cancel since no theater was going to show it anyway. At least now they can test a legitimate VOD option that may very well end the (sometimes awful) theater experience or at least provide an alternative to it.
 
Think of all the money this movie is going to lose to piracy now.

Not sure if joking or serious. But I do think that 1) this movie would have done much better in the theater due to all the attention and 2) pulling it's plug will actually make people pirate it and yes, this is probably one of the rare cases where they WILL lose a lot of money to piracy.

Doesn't happen often, but there it is.

What they SHOULD do is offer a DRM free download of the movie for $5. I bet people would buy it and check it out.
 
Gawker already posted the scene everyone wanted to see of Kim getting blown up so the "money shot" is out there.

Common sense should have told them there'd be backlash from this sort of thing, I'm amazed they actually made the movie really.
 
Business has always been more susceptible to terrorism ... they just generally get to do it quietly ... business will often pay ransoms to get their people released ... I think if the movie in question were better then Sony would be braver ... this probably says even more about their opinion of the film than it does about the fortitude of their backbones ;)
 
Us members of [H] know how easy it is to pirate but the general population doesn't.

If Sony is smart enough to offer a digital version ready to buy (or rent) on Christmas day they will probably make all their money back and then a shitload more.

I hope they do and I hope it shatters all kinds of records. I hate to say it but this is just the kind of push that a studio needed to test a legit alternative to going to the theaters.

I just hope they don't charge and arm and a leg for it.
 
Not sure if joking or serious.
Thank you for validating my efforts.

But I do think that 1) this movie would have done much better in the theater due to all the attention and 2) pulling it's plug will actually make people pirate it and yes, this is probably one of the rare cases where they WILL lose a lot of money to piracy.
If they don't provide a legal avenue to pay for viewing the film, what money is lost?
 
It sucks that the "terrorists have won", but the theaters and Sony are businesses - I don't expect them to stand up to anything that could open up a big-ass can of liabilities if something went down.
 
Thank you for validating my efforts.

If they don't provide a legal avenue to pay for viewing the film, what money is lost?

Fair enough. They really should provide a non theater legal way to watch this movie online. If they hold the movie back too long, I believe there are a large number of willing-to-pay potential customers who will instead resort to piracy. I think that counts as a lost sale - but the ball is also in Sony's court here to collect :)
 
I want to see it just from all of the hoopla. But you know these threats will just start up again when they try to re-release it. So either A) straight to DVD or B) they push it until a non-holiday weekend is available. Theaters are more likely to show it then, as they're afraid of losing the huge holiday audience for other films.

Doing a VOD release will be risky as that company hosting the video will come under attack.

Piracy won't be an issue I don't think because the movie wasn't leaked as far as I know. No cams because there's no theater playing it.
 
Piracy won't be an issue I don't think because the movie wasn't leaked as far as I know. No cams because there's no theater playing it.

Oh really? That changes everything. I thought it was out there. Makes sense - why would they release what they are trying to stop lol. They released other movies though right (tell me I'm not losing my mind 100%)
 
.. And the fourth option. Not out of possibility with Sony. They reedit the film. Remove North Korea and put in a fake country. Actors would rerecord audio dialogue, flags would be digitally altered. Some scenes reshot.

There's been a few movies that have done that type of post filming complete reworking.
 
Oh really? That changes everything. I thought it was out there. Makes sense - why would they release what they are trying to stop lol. They released other movies though right (tell me I'm not losing my mind 100%)

Yes, all of their holiday movies and some in theaters. Except The Interview. I'm sure they deleted that one.
 
Didn't even know what this film was previous to this.

Now I know and I still don't even remotely care about it.

The world either needs to stop paying attention on any level to NK or just turn it into a glass parking lot and be done with it. They are like the midget bully running around on the playground with a pointy stick until someone realizes the easy solution is to punt them over the fence.
 
I don't know who greenlit this script but they should be fired for being idiotic. I think it looks like a tasteless comedy in which I wouldn't have given a second look from the get go.
 
Was it....Team America F*ck yea
The one with Kim Jong il? That movie was golden to watch
 
The movie looks friggin' awful but that's beside the point.

The moral of the story is: Cyberterrorism works. This sets a ghastly precedent.
 
I don't know who greenlit this script but they should be fired for being idiotic. I think it looks like a tasteless comedy in which I wouldn't have given a second look from the get go.

Yes because we should totally worry about being tasteful when making movies mocking foreign tyrannical dictators.
 
Yes because we should totally worry about being tasteful when making movies mocking foreign tyrannical dictators.

sony green-lit it its a comedic snuff film about a leader of a nation that is still in power any nation would flip their collective shit over it. im surprised sony pictures would be this careless and keep their cyber infrastructure so shitty especially after what happened to psn.. all companies need to focus more resources on internal network security
 
sony green-lit it its a comedic snuff film about a leader of a nation that is still in power any nation would flip their collective shit over it. im surprised sony pictures would be this careless and keep their cyber infrastructure so shitty especially after what happened to psn.. all companies need to focus more resources on internal network security

That hack for all intents and purposes has pretty much nothing to do with the movies release cancellation. With or without the hack NK would still have known

- The studio involved
- The planned release date
- The premise of the movie
- The chains planning to show movie
- The people who wrote, directed and star in the movie

The hack just made them look extra scary but the threat would have been made all the same.

Lest we forget that Team America was literally about Kim Jon Il trying to take over the world and subsequently being killed by a group of Americans. NK is no more threatening now than it was then.
 
Us members of [H] know how easy it is to pirate but the general population doesn't.

If Sony is smart enough to offer a digital version ready to buy (or rent) on Christmas day they will probably make all their money back and then a shitload more.

I hope they do and I hope it shatters all kinds of records. I hate to say it but this is just the kind of push that a studio needed to test a legit alternative to going to the theaters.

I just hope they don't charge and arm and a leg for it.

Actually I think most people know how to get illegal copies of movies.

I want to see it just from all of the hoopla. But you know these threats will just start up again when they try to re-release it. So either A) straight to DVD or B) they push it until a non-holiday weekend is available. Theaters are more likely to show it then, as they're afraid of losing the huge holiday audience for other films.

Doing a VOD release will be risky as that company hosting the video will come under attack.

Piracy won't be an issue I don't think because the movie wasn't leaked as far as I know. No cams because there's no theater playing it.

Some copies of movies that make their way onto the internet make it there from somebody in the editing process. Company is hired to do audio editing or something, guy there rips a copy for himself while at it. Theatres also might actually already have the copy, which if so somebody that works there might have "tested" it and put up a copy of it.

Going digital copy on Christmas would be a great fuck you, however they won't do it. That would make sense and that isn't allowed in that area.
 
I'm going to gander that there's some serious dirt on the executives, like molestation of child actors or some other crazy shit.
 
The most disturbing detail of this entire story is a free society yielding to a terrorist.
 
Now Sony can produce a movie about a terrible company that gets hacked repeatedly despite warnings, and winds up canceling a film as a concession to the bad guys.
 
The movie looks friggin' awful but that's beside the point.

The moral of the story is: Cyberterrorism works. This sets a ghastly precedent.

No, no, Gamergate set that precedent. North Korea was just more successful in its implementation.
 
If NK can do this to a huge corporation like Sony then our financial institutions, infrastructure and power grid are dangerously at risk too. This attack should be taken more seriously, it's an act of war IMHO and it won't be till after we experience a widespread and debilitating attack that anything will be done.
 
Yes because we should totally worry about being tasteful when making movies mocking foreign tyrannical dictators.

If it isn't even funny or satirical, Why even make the damned thing. It's clearly in poor taste and poor political posture. Sure they are the little brat storming around, threatening everyone but you don't have to go and egg them on.

I would reference hot shots, but that was actually funny unlike this.

what the heck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQxvSsVQkoU
 
Was it....Team America F*ck yea
The one with Kim Jong il? That movie was golden to watch

Thanks for finally mentioning this movie, same shit as the interview, different years.

Now all of a sudden they're upset over a movie making fun of north korea? pffffft. Excuses...There is more to this than sony is telling us.
 
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