News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Citing Threats. Parent comment

Re:Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Ci... by downandout on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @07:51PM (#8765438)
> But what happens when fundamentalist, a la ISIS, decide to do physical harm for any film or song that humours their twisted ideology - will the film studios stop releases then?

I agree with you, they shouldn't be caving to threats. But they can't possibly believe that this is a credible threat. We don't have a whole lot of North Koreans emigrating here. TMZ has a slightly more likely theory [1]. Rather than genuine fear of attacks from North Korea, they contend that Sony simply wanted to bury the movie without looking weak.

"We're told the execs are actually viewing the latest threat as having a silver lining ... the threat of a 9/11-type attack will make so many theaters pull the flick themselves -- and Sony won't have to do it....Sony execs want the bleeding to stop"

[1] http://www.tmz.com/2014/12/17/theaters-cancelling-the-interv...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Ci... by carleverett on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @08:44PM (#8765604)
This is not a realistic theory. Nearly all of the costs associated with making and marketing the movie have already been spent. Even if the movie was a complete dud next week, it would still be making revenue in the theaters that would be going towards paying off these costs (and hopefully more).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Ci... by downandout on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @09:02PM (#8765657)
It is realistic if they've had enough of the nonsense and don't want further bad stuff to happen after the release of the film.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Ci... by zaroth on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @09:38PM (#8765730)
Because capitulating is the sure-fire way to get the hackers and terrorists to stop? Fuck if we don't just congratulate them on a job well done, and help write the playbook for the next decade of cyber-terrorism.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Ci... by downandout on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @11:33PM (#8765980)
It's clear in this case that their motive was to stop the release of the film. Sony decided to let them win this one. They are choosing their battles and this appears to be one they don't believe they can win or that is not worth winning. It's not what I would have done but it appears that it's what Sony wants, and it's their movie.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Ci... by srj on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @08:03PM (#8765473)
I also don't see how this could be taken as a realistic threat, but what are Sony's financial incentives to theaters pulling it? Weren't their costs in creating the movie?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Ci... by downandout on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @08:09PM (#8765500)
According to Variety [1], the budget was $42 million, and they have "tens of millions" more into advertising and promotion. But I think they want this whole incident to go away, and they know that even without a theatrical release, they can make money on DVD/blu-ray and PPV.

[1] https://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony-weighing-premium-vod...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Ci... by waterlesscloud on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @08:21PM (#8765534)
Sony is now saying they have no plans to release it at all, in any format. Buried.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Ci... by roywiggins on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @08:29PM (#8765561)
I wonder if the hackers will release whatever draft the movie they grabbed just to spite Sony now.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Theater Chains Decline to Show Sony’s ‘The Interview,’ Ci... by millzlane on Wednesday December 17, 2014 @08:47PM (#8765617)
This is the only reason I may suspect anyone that just normal black hats. Why wasn't this movie released with the rest of them. It wouldn't be the first time we've seen an unfinished movie released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5AsOEk-ZJU
[ Parent | on HN ]