The Interview is a comedy about talk show host and producer finding out that their show is a favorite of Kim Jong-un of North Korea. Once they land a live interview with him, the CIA recruits them to take him out.
Although the movie is mediocre to say the least (movie critics panned it), it got an unexpected boost from an unexpected source - hackers! They hacked Sony (the producer of The Interview) demanding to stop the release and threatened with violence if their demand was not met.
Needless to say, this put Sony in an awkward position. The movie studio decided to pull the release. MoviestarClooney and President Obama reacted, crying wolf.
In the end, Sony decided to release the movie online, with great success. The Interview is a bestseller on YouTube and Google Play. With more than 2M downloads, it generated $15M before Christmas 2014. The movie was also made available on Xbox Live and PlayStation.
According to the latest reports, the hackers do not hail from North Korea. It seems that it was an inside job.
No matter where the hackers are located, they did the movie a huge favor. They gave The Interview some serious marketing and PR that is worth its weight in gold!
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