After all the chaos and controversy over the past couple weeks with regards to The Interview, Sony has now come out and announced it will indeed release the film in some theaters. It just won’t be getting the wide release it was originally expected to.
Multiple outlets, including The Hollywood Reporter, are sharing a statement from Sony Entertainment chairman and CEO Michael Lynton:
“We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day. At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.”
“I want to thank our talent on The Interview and our employees, who have worked tirelessly through the many challenges we have all faced over the last month. While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.”
According to THR’s sources, Sony is planning to VOD release alongside the limited theatrical release, though the specific platforms are unclear at this point.
This is a pretty big turn around. They’ve quickly gone from pulling the movie’s release altogether to potentially enabling people to watch it in the comfort of their own homes after the President of the United States called pulling the release a mistake.
Meanwhile, some have taken it upon themselves to give the script a live-reading in the name of free speech.
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