Sony says it will release ‘The Interview’ after threats

An official from Sony Pictures Entertainment said Sunday that the movie “The Interview” would be distributed in some form, after the studio pulled the film under threat of terrorist attack by hackers.

“Sony only delayed this,” said company lawyer David Boies on NBC’s Meet the Press. “Sony has been fighting to get this picture distributed, it will be distributed. How it will be distributed, I don’t think anyone knows quite yet.”

Boies also said Sony had a responsibility to protect its employees and moviegoers.

“The Interview” is a comedy about a TV host (James Franco) and producer (Seth Rogen) tasked by the CIA to assassinate North Korea leader Kim Jong-un (played by Randall Park).

Last Wednesday, Sony announced the unprecedented step of canceling the December 25 release of the movie, a startling blow to the Hollywood studio that has been shaken by hacker leaks and intimidations over the last several weeks by an anonymous group calling itself Guardians of Peace.

Sony had said it was canceling the release “in light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film.” The studio said it respected and shared in the exhibitors’ concerns.

“We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public,” read the statement. “We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.”

The FBI is investigating the identity of the hackers, but suspicion has centered on North Korea, which previously issued warnings over “The Interview.”

Sony had offered theaters the option of bowing out, and when so many of them did  it left Sony little choice for the release of “The Interview.”

Last Tuesday, the hacking group threatened violence at theaters showing “The Interview.” The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday there was “no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters,” but noted it was still analyzing messages from the group. The warning did prompt law enforcement in New York and Los Angeles to address measures to ramp up security.

With a modest budget of about $40 million, “The Interview” was predicted to earn around $30 million in its opening weekend before Tuesday’s threats and the cancellation of its release. Should the film not be released theatrically, Sony would also lose tens of millions in marketing costs already incurred.

Sony’s cancellation announcement had been met with widespread distress across Hollywood and throughout many other realms that followed what amounted to one of the most significant hacking attacks on a corporation.

A former senior national security official in the George W. Bush administration said Sony made the wrong decision.

“When you are confronted with a bully the idea is not to cave but to punch him in the nose,” Fran Townsend, Bush’s homeland security adviser, said Wednesday during a previously scheduled appearance in Washington. “This is a horrible, I think, horrible precedent.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.