Sony Still Plans To Release ‘The Interview,’ Refutes Crackle Rumor
When Sony pulled the planned December 25 release ofThe Interviewlast week, there was no certain plan about whether or not the film would ever see the light of day. A follow-up message from the hacker group that has plagued Sony for weeks warned the studio against releasing the film in any form, including “DVD or piracy.” Today one of the company’s primary attorneys said there is definitely a plan to release the film.
When and where will the film show up? There are conflicting reports. Oneanonymously-sourced report says Sony will dropThe Interviewon Crackle, for free. But official studio sources say that report is incorrect, backing up Boies' comments, noting that a decision is still being made.
Sony attorney David Boies spoke up this morning onMeet the Press, with transcribed comments coming viaTHR.
Sony only delayed this. Sony has been fighting to get this picture distributed. It will be distributed. How it’s going to be distributed, I don’t think anybody knows quite yet. But it’s going to be distributed.
That echoes comments from Sony CEO Michael Lynton, who told CNN last week,
We have always had every desire to have the American public see this movie. There has not been one major VOD — video on demand distributor — one major e-commerce site that has stepped forward and said they are willing to distribute this movie for us. Again, we don’t have that direct interface with the American public so we need to go through an intermediary to do that.
The New York Postclaims that Sony will distributeThe Interviewfor free on Crackle, the ad-supported portal similar to Hulu which is owned by the studio. But that report comes with no direct sourcing, and stands in contradiction to Boies' comments. He could be purposely vague on the idea of how Sony will distribute the movie, of course, and that is even to be expected given the circumstances here.re/code, meanwhile, passes word fromSony spokeswoman Lauren Condoluci of Rubenstein Communications, who said the Post is not correct, adding that “Sony is still exploring options for distribution.”
