The Interview, the North Korea-baiting comedy which prompted an unprecedented cyber attack on Sony Pictures, looked destined at one point to never be seen – but now gets its biggest audience yet as it arrives on Netflix in the US this weekend.
The film stars James Franco as a bolshy talk show host and Seth Rogen as his producer, who, once netting an interview with Kim Jong-un, are asked to assassinate him by the CIA. Cue plenty of puerile gags and violence at the expense of North Korea.
It angered a hacker group called Guardians of Peace, who leaked a vast cache of data from Sony Pictures, including entire films, salary details, and excruciatingly embarrassing personal emails between executives. The group then threatened terrorist action against cinemas who screened The Interview, prompting cinemas chains to pull it from schedules, and Sony to eventually cancel the release altogether.
However, Sony crept back, letting the film be shown in a limited release in independent cinemas, and releasing it via on-demand services like Google Play and YouTube Movies. This pattern of release has earned the studio over $45m, going some distance to making back its estimated $75m budget. It has now been rented or purchased online over 5.8m times, Sony reported this week.
