It wasn’t until theaters were threatened by the now inappropriately named Guardians of Peace hacker group that The Interview started getting pulled. After the major US theater groups decided not to show the movie, Sony announced the decision to cancel the release. At that point, any chance of a successful theatrical launch had been destroyed, and the movie wouldn’t be able to launch in theaters until the situation with the GoP is resolved.
While it exists more as a tired meme than an actual statement of fact, the “terrorists” have won in this situation.The reason “we don’t give in to terrorists” is a common phrase is the notion that a precedent is set once you’ve demonstrated that you’re willing to give in to demands. For nations, events like this often have terrible and lasting consequences. For for-profit organizations, events like this are more often than not an attempt at walking the fine line between giving the customers what they want and appealing to their own ability to make money. Sony is in a tough spot, because while they couldn’t ask for more free press for a movie that tons of people would likely go watch now just to spite North Korea, there’s no way those people would offset the huge assembly of theaters that pulled the movie.
Sony’s biggest challenge in the immediate future is making sure the damage caused by the GoP leak doesn’t cause more problems than it already has. The company is already being sued by two people whose social security number and prior addresses have been leaked, and apparently the GoP has a database filled with many, many more people. That information being publicly revealed will be disastrous to the victims, and Sony is liable should anything happen to those people as a result.
As it stands right now, Sony had one way to stop that from happening: pull the movie. Since theaters have taken it upon themselves to pull the movie, Sony canceling the release shouldn’t be such a grand gesture.
On the surface, it looks like the GoP can basically tell Sony to do anything and hold this data over the heads of those in charge to ensure it happens. Furthermore, should anyone with deep enough pockets also want their agenda pushed on Sony, a donation to the GoP would ensure that message is sent. These are the deepest fears of those who believe that “the terrorists have won,” and there’s certainly a possibility that something along those lines could happen.
Sony doesn’t have any other particularly offensive films in their lineup at the moment, though, so unless the GoP is going to hold onto that information indefinitely, there’s something of a standstill between these two groups. It seems way more likely that the GoP will just release the information and keep themselves in the news, and that’s something Sony will have to deal with. After that happens, however, there’s nothing stopping Sony from both releasing The Interview and returning to business as usual.
We know from the information that has been released so far that Sony was warned well in advance that their system security was inadequate, and we know that the Department of Homeland Security said there’s no evidence of an active threat against theaters in the US. While no one wants to see Christmas Day violence of any kind, the reaction to the GoP so far has been extreme. Current problems aside, when Sony does eventually release The Interview, it’s going to be celebrated in ways that it never would have prior to this hack. Instead of claiming that the terrorists have won or viewing the events as an end to free speech, it’s probably best to imagine what the safest path for a giant company would be in this situation, and understand that Sony did exactly that.