We've talked about the hacks. We've talked about the threats. We've talked about the lawsuits. And now, what we have, are a lot of people abandoning ship. Tuesday night, SONY said that because of the threats from the hackers, there will be some sort of violent retribution; they would not object if theaters pulled the movie. And the theaters responded with "Err, I don't know, I mean, we're kind of on the... yeah, we'll definitely not show that movie."
Carmike Cinemas which is in 41 states said they're not going to show it.
The premiere in New York City has been cancelled.
Out there in California, we have ArcLight Cinemas. They have said that they would like to not show it.
Neither will Bow Tie Cinemas.
And it really wouldn't shock me if more and more cinemas join this list.
The big thing to note though, is the movie is still scheduled for December 25th, so, on Christmas, people will be able to go see it if there's a theater in the area that has decided not to remove it.
And from a business standpoint, I get it. If you get a threat, whether it is credible or not, because this is so high-profile, even if you don't believe that the hackers would do something; if anyone went out on their own to a theater that did show this movie and something happened, a lot of people — rather than just blaming the people that orchestrated the attack — would blame SONY, and more specifically the theater because they were warned. They give it as 'victim blaming' on a corporate level.
Also, the decision's probably made easier for theaters because the movie's getting beaten up in reviews, so it's not like they're withholding this piece of art.
So, theaters may just count their chips and go "There's a lot of new movies coming out near and on Christmas, so maybe we just stay away from this."
But, with the theaters doing this, you can also see this is a victory for fear. It's a comedy now that had no real political message so they just thought it'd be funny to make people angry.
But what's the next thing? There's so many people angry at SONY for not protecting themselves. People seem to forget that they were broken into and that other people released this information. Not to mention that even if these hackers had no intention to do anything, they've given any crazy person that wants to do anything whatsoever, a grand scale to do something on.
Carmike Cinemas which is in 41 states said they're not going to show it.
The premiere in New York City has been cancelled.
Out there in California, we have ArcLight Cinemas. They have said that they would like to not show it.
Neither will Bow Tie Cinemas.
And it really wouldn't shock me if more and more cinemas join this list.
The big thing to note though, is the movie is still scheduled for December 25th, so, on Christmas, people will be able to go see it if there's a theater in the area that has decided not to remove it.
And from a business standpoint, I get it. If you get a threat, whether it is credible or not, because this is so high-profile, even if you don't believe that the hackers would do something; if anyone went out on their own to a theater that did show this movie and something happened, a lot of people — rather than just blaming the people that orchestrated the attack — would blame SONY, and more specifically the theater because they were warned. They give it as 'victim blaming' on a corporate level.
Also, the decision's probably made easier for theaters because the movie's getting beaten up in reviews, so it's not like they're withholding this piece of art.
So, theaters may just count their chips and go "There's a lot of new movies coming out near and on Christmas, so maybe we just stay away from this."
But, with the theaters doing this, you can also see this is a victory for fear. It's a comedy now that had no real political message so they just thought it'd be funny to make people angry.
But what's the next thing? There's so many people angry at SONY for not protecting themselves. People seem to forget that they were broken into and that other people released this information. Not to mention that even if these hackers had no intention to do anything, they've given any crazy person that wants to do anything whatsoever, a grand scale to do something on.
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