The North Koreans saw it too, apparently, and per report they disliked it and feared its release so much that they engaged in massive cyber-hacking and threatening of SONY and some SONY employees.
SONY pulled the movie from scheduled release in response.
Wow, this is unique and unprecedented.
I agree with Obama on this one: "Do not get into a pattern in which you're intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks. That's not who we are, that's not what America's about."
Then again, it's the Japanese who kow-towed to their long time hated enemy, the Koreans, on this one, not the Americans, so his opinion wasn't sought on the matter.
A massive "loss of face" for the Japanese.
But everything is OK now, the Sony Exec met with the good Rev Al yesterday to understand how racist she is and what she needs to do to be better in the future. Then he will decide if she needs to quit or not.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-sharpton-stops-short-of-calling-on-sony-executive-to-resign-2014-12
Who the hell made him the judge and jury of white people? He is a total piece of sh*t. (I'll gladdly serve my suspension if Al is a member here)
I'll serve it for you.Quote: BozHe is a total piece of sh*t. (I'll gladdly serve my suspension if Al is a member here)
Ya wanna watch it, buy the DVD or secure D-L. This aims not to be 2005. In fact this incident in general hammers another nail into the coffin that is movie theaters. THERE lies the reason for pulling the movie, theaters can become a bad place to be when a PO'ed indiividual with a S-A.W. walks in. The privacy of ones' home tends to be a bit safer.
Quote: vendman1Well I guess the cyber terrorist win this round. I smell Lawyers here. Sony didn't want to be on the hook if god forbid there was an attack in a theater that was showing the film. The best PR move would have been for Sony to convince theater operators to show the movie half price, and donate the proceeds to charity.
That is a sad analysis, and one I hadn't considered (but I don't disagree with it). So it isn't really the terrorists that frightened Sony, but the lawyers. So Sony eats $40M, but maybe that pales in comparison to the potential for lawsuits in the event of an attack.
Quote: AxelWolfThey must have thought the threats were credible because this is a first.
An alternate probability to Sony caved, is Sony being advised (for some reason) to say they are not releasing the movie.
Hey, it happens in other situations. You hire someone to kill someone, and the FBI sometimes ask that the crime appear to be carried out. They want to get more evidence, or money exchanging hands.
I seen it on the TV crime shows, you know.
To make light of the situation in North Korea did not sit well with me
Now, of course, it's even worse, with Sony bucking under
http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/12/19/off-duty-stl-police-officer-shot/20665643/
get into lots of fights on the public buses, I
saw it all the time. They hate each other with
a passion seldom seen between two nations.
Long history of atrocities on both sides. You
want to die, mistake a Korean for a Jap, or
the other pay around.
With more the 60 publicly tallied visits to the White House, it is clear that the national leadership regards quite highly an activist whose rally last week called for more dead police officers. And the camaraderie strengthens:Quote: BozEverything is OK now, the Sony Exec met with the good Rev Al yesterday to understand how racist she is and what she needs to do to be better in the future. Then he will decide if she needs to quit or not. Who the hell made him the judge and jury of white people?
“Revved Up: How Al Sharpton became Obama’s go-to man on race,” by Glenn Thrush for Politico Magazine: “[T]the White House, as the crisis following Brown’s death seemed to flare out of control, worked extensively behind the scenes to maximize The Rev’s doing what he does, using him as both a source of information and a go-between. After huddling with Brown’s family and local community leaders, Sharpton connected directly with White House adviser and First Friend Valerie Jarrett, vacationing in her condo in the exclusive Oak Bluffs section of Martha’s Vineyard, not far from where President Obama and his family were staying. Obama was ‘horrified’ by the images he was seeing on TV, Jarrett told Sharpton, and proceeded to pepper him with questions as she collected information for the president …
“What brought them together, according to numerous sources I’ve spoken with about this over the years, is a shared commitment to racial justice, and a hardheaded pragmatism that has fueled their success. ‘He realized I wasn’t as irrational or as crazy as people thought,’ Sharpton told me in an interview this week, and indeed Sharpton not only visits the White House frequently, he often texts or emails with senior Obama officials such as Jarrett and Attorney General Eric Holder, the first African American to hold that job and who, like Sharpton, views the Ferguson crisis as a pivotal one in Obama’s presidency.” politico
"The result of investigation by FBI is so excellent that you might have seen what we were doing with your own eyes," the message posted on the file-sharing website Pastebin by a group calling itself GOP (Guardians of Peace)"
video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5BX4vFNyco
So, apparently N. Korea is a giant Internet troll about 10 years old.
Someone needs to rickroll them.
~
Quote: BozThen again, Sony is exactly Obama's favorite company after the Emails that were released between Execs there discussing Obama's favorite movies.
But everything is OK now, the Sony Exec met with the good Rev Al yesterday to understand how racist she is and what she needs to do to be better in the future. Then he will decide if she needs to quit or not.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-sharpton-stops-short-of-calling-on-sony-executive-to-resign-2014-12
Who the hell made him the judge and jury of white people? He is a total piece of sh*t. (I'll gladdly serve my suspension if Al is a member here)
Whether he calls for her resignation or not will depend on how much she donates to his coffers, er, causes.
Quote: freddieWhat next ? A COMEDY about the JFK assassination.
freddie seems familiar. He must have seemed familiar to the mods too.
Quote: DJTeddyBearYa gotta wonder if this whole thing would have been an issue at all if Sony Pictures had made the target a fake leader of a fake country.
Of course not. North Korea is just furious that it paints them in a bad light.
They tried to get Die Another Day (2002). Bond film banned as well because of North Koreas depiction In it (even though it was about a rogue NK colonel, and in a way made the actual government look decent or at least reasonable). Luckily that was before Sony owned MGM so they were not successful.
But NK Is the best example of no free speech. Nobody is allowed to be even slightly critical of them even in a comedy.
This high profile incident will trigger a lot of investment in cyber security in the US and accross the world.
Hacking has been in the past an issue of the lone Hacker.
It has progressed to Organised Crime.
And now the possibility of cyber warfare from other countries and terrorists is becoming an issue.
Such possibility has been until recently seen only in the sphere of movies.
I am pretty sure all of the major countries (say US, China, Russia, Germany etc) hack each other and all the rest but now they just do it to collect information.
It is not a far fetched scenario that cyber warfare could come into play, say for example in an escalation of the Ukraine crisis.
And of course such countries could much better hide their activities, so it will be nearly impossible to say who was behind a cyber attack.
Quote: AceTwoThis high profile incident will trigger a lot of investment in cyber security in the US and accross the world.
Probably for another thread, but sometimes I wonder why it is so hard to prevent. Like I set up my digital camera to take video of my HDTv and nothing passes between them that is dangerous. AFAIK.
Yet no one can figure out a protection system that has a successful "moat" as it were.
I enjoyed the old South Park episodes involving Satan's unhappy love triangle with his abusive boyfriend, His Excellency the Exalted Ruler and President of the sovereign nation of Iraq, otherwise known as Saddam Hussein.Quote: ThatDonGuy
http://southpark.wikia.com/wiki/Saddam_Hussein
EDIT: Ooops, Iraq is not Persian. They hate each other.
Quote: AceTwoI think the real story here is that if North Korea has that kind of capability in cyber-warfare, imagine what China, Russia and the US can do.
Not much ... just turn back the clocks to pre internet days in North Korea
Hey where did my internet go?
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/22/world/asia/north-korea-internet/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Good.
F*** those No. Koreans!
Quote: MrVI just saw that SONY has reconsidered their position and will release "The Interview" in theaters on xmas day.
!
In a few theaters, not many.
Quote: EvenBobIn a few theaters, not many.
Just as long as one of them is in Los Angeles County, so it is eligible for this year's Oscars. I wouldn't be surprised if they find a way to at least nominate it in one of the "why is this category on the Oscars if the broadcast takes too long?" categories as a political message.
A Norse rep appearing on NBC News this evening with David Muir said the Sony attack was from within and traced to an emloyee he called 'Lina' who left Sony in May.
It remains to be seen whether NK had anything at all to do with the attack.
For what it's worth: GotNews
This is a link to the Norse Corp. real time cyber attack map. (Try Firefox if you can't see it): Map
This is a video of the map in action:
There are really hardly any independent art house in the valley to speak of.Quote: djatcOn imdb.com its got a 9.9 rating. Now I can't wait to see it. Looks likes its not showing in Nevada however.
I have a feeling it will be successful purely because of the controversy, but it's not worth watching as a comedy. The only reason it's worth watching is out of curiosity, to see what the controversy is about.
It would not suprises me if SONY played into the threats in order to draw publicity since they knew it would be not so great, but that's just my conspiracy theory.
-it might be worth adding, I don't really like comedies (and have a very high standard for jokes), so others may feel differently than me.
Quote: GandlerJust watched the interview. It was pretty OK at best. Not very funny or clever to be honest.
I have a feeling it will be successful purely because of the controversy, but it's not worth watching as a comedy. The only reason it's worth watching is out of curiosity, to see what the controversy is about.
It would not suprises me if SONY played into the threats in order to draw publicity since they knew it would be not so great, but that's just my conspiracy theory.
-it might be worth adding, I don't really like comedies (and have a very high standard for jokes), so others may feel differently than me.
The reviews leading up to the banning were mediocre at best. I think they would have been lucky to make their money back until all this happened, and now I bet they make 200M or more on the release, including downloads. But who knows.