Theaters Face Criticism for Dropping Film Due to Terrorist Threats

With the group claiming responsibility for the Sony Pictures Entertainment cyberattack issuing a vague threat against theaters showing “The Interview,” some cinema chains decided today they would not be showing the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy.

The move brought swift criticism from filmmakers and celebrities such as Judd Apatow and Jimmy Kimmel.

The film, focused on an assassination attempt of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has been the center of speculation about motives behind the sweeping cyberattack on Sony. North Korea has denied any involvement in the attack.

Georgia-based Carmike Cinemas announced Tuesday it would not show the film, and East Coast theater chain Bow Tie Cinemas posted a message on its website saying it also would not show it.

The entertainment trade publications The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap reported that AMC, Regal, Cinemark and Cineplex theaters had all also decided not to show the film.

The news comes one day after a group calling itself Guardians of Peace posted a threat online warning of possible attacks of theaters showing the movie.

“We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places ‘The Interview’ be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to,” the posting stated. “Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001.”

The threat went on to warn potential moviegoers to “keep yourself distant from the places at that time. If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.”

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday that “extra precautions” will be taken at theaters showing the movie -- which is scheduled for release on Christmas.

“We take those threats very seriously and we will take extra precautions during the holidays and at theaters,” Beck said. “We’re very aware of the controversy surrounding Sony studios so we’ll take that into account. I won’t get into the details of all of that, but suffice it to say we’re aware of it and we’ll take appropriate action.”

Writer-director Judd Apatow, who was not involved in the making of “The Interview,” took to Twitter to blast the decision by theater chains to drop the film.

“Will they pull any movie that gets an anonymous threat now?” he asked. “What if an anonymous person got offended by something an executive at Coke said. Will we all have to stop drinking Coke? We also don’t know that it isn’t a disgruntled employee or a hacker. Do we think North Korea has troops on the ground in the U.S.? Ridiculous.

“This only guarantees that this movie will be seen by more people on Earth than it would have before,” he wrote. “Legally or illegally all will see it.”

Talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel responded to Apatow on Twitter, saying he agrees with his sentiments “wholeheartedly.”

“An un-American act of cowardice that validates terrorist actions and sets a terrifying precedent,” Kimmel wrote.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS: IS IT COWARDICE OR PRUDENT TO CANCEL THE FILM SHOWINGS?

-City News Service

Photo Credit: Youtube Screengrab from “The Interview” Trailer