Sony pulls Interview after hackers threaten theaters

An employee removes a poster for The Interview at a Carmike Cinemas theater Wednesday in Atlanta. The Carmike chain was the first to cancel showings of the comedy set for a Christmas Day release.
An employee removes a poster for The Interview at a Carmike Cinemas theater Wednesday in Atlanta. The Carmike chain was the first to cancel showings of the comedy set for a Christmas Day release.

NEW YORK -- The fallout from the theft of computer data from Sony Pictures Entertainment that began four weeks ago expanded this week after the shadowy group calling itself Guardians of Peace escalated its attack beyond corporate espionage and threatened moviegoers with violence.

photo

AP

James Franco (left) and Seth Rogen act in this scene from The Interview, a comedy about a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that has been a focus of the hackers’ mission to take down Sony Pictures.

Tonight's New York premiere of the Sony movie The Interview was canceled Wednesday, hours before Sony announced it won't release the film at all.

The Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy about a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been a focus of the hackers' mission to topple Sony.

"Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time," the hackers wrote in a reference to theaters set to show the film. "(If your house is nearby, you'd better leave.)"

The Department of Homeland Security said there is "no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters," but police in New York and Los Angeles worked to strengthen security.

The FBI said it is aware of the threats and "continues to work collaboratively with our partners to investigate this matter."

American intelligence officials have concluded that the North Korean government was "centrally involved" in the recent attacks on Sony Pictures' computers, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

FBI Director James Comey said last week that investigators were still trying to determine who is responsible for the computer data theft.

Several people briefed on Sony's internal discussions said the studio had told theater owners earlier this week that it would not object if they canceled or avoided booking The Interview. Those people spoke on condition of anonymity. Theater owners had been particularly pressed by the operators of malls and stores within them to avoid the film, two of those people said.

Carmike Cinemas, which operates 247 theaters across the country, was the first to cancel its planned showings of the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film was to hit theaters nationwide Christmas Day. It premiered in Los Angeles last week.

"We have decided not to move forward with the planned Dec. 25 theatrical release," Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Culver City, Calif.-based unit of Sony Corp., said in an emailed statement. "We respect and understand our [theater] partners' decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theater-goers."

Regal Cinemas, AMC and Cinemark had all decided not to show the movie. In a statement Wednesday, Regal said it would delay showings of The Interview because of "the ambiguous nature of any real or perceived security threats."

B. Riley analyst Eric Wold estimates that if box office and attendance revenue is completely lost for Carmike for The Interview, that could cost the chain 1.5 percent to 1.9 percent of fourth-quarter revenue -- not a major loss.

"There's no reason for the exhibitors to show this movie," Wold said. "There was nothing to gain from it. If you show the movie and something happens, you've got a huge legal risk."

An executive for one of the theater chains, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, called the invocation of the 9/11 terror attacks by hackers "a game-changer." The executive last week dismissed the notion that theater owners might shy away from The Interview over earlier, more general threats by North Korean officials and pressure from the hackers. Nobody yet knows the hackers' true identity.

The hackers Tuesday also released a trove of data files including 32,000 emails to and from Sony Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Michael Lynton in what it called the beginning of a "Christmas gift."

And two former Sony film production workers filed lawsuits Wednesday alleging the company waited too long to notify nearly 50,000 employees that data such as Social Security numbers, salaries and medical records had been stolen.

The filing follows another lawsuit this week from two other former Sony employees accusing the studio of being negligent by not bolstering its defenses against hackers before the attack. It claims emails and other leaked information show that Sony's information-technology department and its top lawyer believed its security system was vulnerable to attack, but the company did not act on those warnings.

Speculation about a North Korean link to the Sony hacking has centered on that country's angry denunciation of the film. This summer, North Korea warned that the film's release would be an "act of war that we will never tolerate." It said the U.S. will face "merciless" retaliation.

The movie, which isn't being released in Asia, was scheduled to debut in Australia on Jan. 22 and New Zealand a week later. The film was to have been released in more than 60 countries, according to its website.

On Tuesday, Rogen and Franco pulled out of all media appearances, and Rogen's planned guest spot tonight on Late Night With Seth Meyers was canceled. A representative for Rogen said he had no comment. A spokesman for Franco didn't respond to queries.

The National Association of Theatre Owners had no comment. Neither Sony nor representatives from individual theater chains, including Carmike, responded to requests for comment.

Since the hack surfaced late last month, everything from financial figures to salacious emails between top Sony executives has been dumped online.

The nearly 32,000 emails to and from Lynton leaked Tuesday include information about casting decisions and total costs for forthcoming films, release schedules for Sony films through 2018 and corporate financial records, such as royalties from iTunes, Spotify and Pandora music services.

The emails include information about new electronics devices such as DVD players and cellphones. They also include budget figures for the Motion Picture Association of America, of which Sony is a member, and at least one email about a senior Sony executive who left the company. The emails also include banal messages about public appearances, tennis matches, home repairs, dinner invitations and business introductions.

Information for this article was contributed by Bernard Condon, Eric Tucker, Lindsey Bahr, Jake Coyle, Tom Hays, Mae Anderson and Elaine Ganley of The Associated Press; by Anousha Sakoui and Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg News; and by Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes of The New York Times.

A Section on 12/18/2014

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