The release of the movie The Interview has caused so much friction between North Korea and the United States that it was decided that the movie would not be released at all. Now, Sony Pictures has reportedly changed their minds and the film will be released Christmas day in a select number of theaters.
The conflict began because the comedy, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco, is about assassinating North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
“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,” Sony Entertainment chair and CEO Michael Lynton said in a statement. “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.”
The film will also be released on video-on-demand systems.
Sony snatched the movie from theaters last week (Dec. 17) after five of North America’s biggest movie theater chains received terrorist threatened them with “9/11 style” attacks if they showed the movie.