RUSSIA BACKS NORTH KOREA
Russia on Thursday offered sympathy to North Korea amid the Sony hacking scandal, saying the movie that sparked the dispute was so scandalous that Pyongyang’s anger was “quite understandable.” Washington failed to offer any proof to back its claims of Pyongyang’s involvement in the hacking, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a briefing, adding that the U.S. threats of retaliation were “counterproductive.” The U.S. has blamed Pyongyang for the recent cyberattack on Sony Pictures, which produced “The Interview,” a comedy depicting the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang has denied a role in the hacking, but also praised it as a “righteous deed.”
— Associated Press
Hundreds of theaters Thursday, from The Edge 8 in Greenville, Ala. to Michael Moore’s Bijou by the Bay in Traverse City, Mich., made special holiday arrangements for the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy depicting the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Sony Pictures had initially called off the release after major theater chains dropped the movie that was to have opened on as many as 3,000 screens.
But with President Obama among others criticizing the decision, Sony officials changed their minds. “The Interview” became available on a variety of digital platforms Wednesday afternoon, including Google Play, YouTube Movies, Microsoft’s Xbox Video and a separate Sony website. Meanwhile, Sony and independent theaters agreed to release it in over 300 venues on Christmas.
“We are taking a stand for freedom,” said theater manager Lee Peterson of the Cinema Village East in Manhattan, where most of Thursday’s seven screenings had sold out by early afternoon. “We want to show the world that Americans will not be told what we can or cannot watch. Personally, I am not afraid.”
At Atlanta’s Plaza Theater, a sell-out crowd Thursday hailed the film’s release, washing down popcorn with beer and cocktails and uniting for a boisterous sing-along of “God Bless America” before the opening credits.
“This is way more fun than it would have been,” said Jim Kelley of Atlanta, who waited outside with his daughter, Shannon. The elder Kelley added, with mocking sarcasm, “This is almost dangerous, like we’re living life on the edge.”
Security was light at many theaters, with the occasional police officer on hand, amking it clear that the movie industry took the possibility of violence more seriously than government officials. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement saying that there were no credible threats.
Kim Song, a North Korean diplomat to the United Nations, condemned the release Wednesday, calling the movie an “unpardonable mockery of our sovereignty and dignity of our supreme leader.” But Kim said North Korea will likely limit its response to condemnation, with no “physical reaction.”
Decisions to show the movie through the Internet could open up companies to hacking. Xbox and PlayStation’s online gaming services were down Thursday afternoon but the cause was unclear. Meanwhile, YouTube and other Google products experienced no disruptions. A Microsoft spokesman confirmed the Xbox outage but declined to comment further. Sony PlayStation representatives did not immediately respond to inquiries.
In Little Rock, members of an Arkansas family who said they otherwise would have never seen “The Interview” were among the first patrons at the Riverdale 10 theater. Kay Trice and her husband drove an hour from Stuttgart to see the movie with their daughter and appreciated “the freedom to see it.”
“It should be shown in this country and somebody in North Korea should not have the right to scare us out of seeing this,” Trice said.
A few dozen people lined up early outside the Valley Art theater in Tempe, Ariz. where tickets for all five showings Thursday had sold out.
“There are a lot of people going crazy over (the controversy). It’s bigger than the movie,” said Omar Khiel, 20.
At the Cinema Village theater in Manhattan, the 10 a.m. screening was near capacity. Derek Karpel, a 34-year-old attorney, said that “as many people as possible should go see it. In fact, the government should subsidize tickets to make that possible.”
But he wasn’t about to call “The Interview” a national treasure.
“No one should go into expecting it to be a serious commentary on politics,” he said. “But it’s fun. People should go.”
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