Critics' reviews can mean jack shit, especially for stupid comedies like this one. Movie critics rarely rate crude and stupid comedies highly.

Looking at the audience section, with 27k entries, 96% wanting to see it and a 3.8/5 score pre-release, it's clear that it wouldn't have been a flop.

Exactly.

For example, the (also Seth Rogan / James Franco) film Pineapple Express: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pineapple_express/

58% rating from "Top Critics". 73% rating from audiences.

21 Jump Street has high reviews.

Yes, and? That says nothing about the general case, which is that crude humour is often hated by critics.

Yea but that original statement is also not backed by data (yet).

Movies do not get their theatrical releases cancelled for 50% critic ratings. Particularly not well-publicized stoner movies with big-name actors and fervent fans. That just isn't something that happens. Even Dude, Where's My Car? got its theatrical release.

The idea that Sony is using the DPRK as an excuse to shitcan this movie because of mediocre critic ratings is flat out absurd.

The Green Hornet, 43% on RT, box office of 100M.

Step Brothers, 55% on RT, box office of 100M.

Shrek the Third, 40%, 320M.

Anchorman got 66%, 84M at the office and a major cult following.

Hell, You Me and Dupree had an atrocious 21% and had 75M.

That's just looking at Seth Rogen's filmography. There's a million more examples of comedies with low ratings that either resulted in high box office results or a major cult following.

Those are just extended anecdotes.

Lots of movies that have bad reviews still have a pretty big following. Comedies generally have worse reviews than other movies anyways. In 2014, I hear people talk about how much they loved Step Brothers all the time. Its rated about 55% on rotten tomatoes.

People don't watch comedies to see oscar-winning performances, they watch comedies to laugh. 50% isn't that bad.

Critic reviews for movies like this mean almost nothing. Audience reviews do, but it's not out yet of course.

Ignoring the limited predictive value of critics, the massive publicity this movie has gotten makes it hard to believe that it would not be worth showing.