Sony Pictures has cancelled the release of a comedy on the fictional assassination of North Korea’s leader, in what appears to be an unprecedented victory for Pyongyang and its abilities to wage cyber-warfare.
Hackers who said they were incensed by the film attacked Sony Corporation last month, leaking documents that drew global headlines and distributing unreleased films on the Internet.
The $44mn raunchy comedy, The Interview, had been set to debut on December 25, Christmas Day, on thousands of screens.
“Sony has no further release plans for the film,” a Sony spokeswoman said on Wednesday when asked whether the movie would be released later in theatres or as video on demand.
Earlier in the day, Sony cancelled next week’s theatrical release, citing decisions by several theatre chains to hold off showing the film.
The hacker group that broke into Sony’s computer systems had threatened attacks on theatres that planned to show it.
North Korea has denied it was behind the hacking, but security experts in Washington said it was an open secret Pyongyang was responsible.
“The North Koreans are probably tickled pink,” said Jim Lewis, a senior fellow with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. “Nobody has ever done anything this blatant in terms of political manipulation. This is a new high.”
Sony came under immediate criticism for the decision to pull the movie.
“With the Sony collapse, America has lost its first cyberwar. This is a very, very dangerous precedent,” said former Republican House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich in a Twitter post.
However, Sony’s shares closed 4.8% higher in Tokyo yesterday, outperforming the 2.3% gain on the Nikkei benchmark index, as investors said there was hope the movie’s cancellation would help bring an end to the crisis.
“By not releasing the movie, they won’t be hacked again. Investors think that from here on, further damage probably won’t be done,” said Makoto Kikuchi, chief executive of Myojo Asset Management. “Whether that justifies a 5% jump in Sony’s stock, I’m not so sure.”
Macquarie analyst Damian Thong estimated last week, before the cancellation of The Interview, that losses from the hacking including online leaks of other movies such as Fury and Annie, would likely be around ¥10bn ($84.41mn).
The worst case scenario, he said, would be an impairment of ¥25bn.
The film industry showed support for the film in various ways.
Hollywood filmmakers and actors, many of them friends of The Interview stars Seth Rogen and James Franco, also criticised the decision made by theatres and Sony.
Texas cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse said its Dallas-Fort Worth theatre would show the puppet-comedy Team America: World Police in which a US paramilitary force try to foil a terrorist plot by late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
The White House National Security Council said the United States was investigating the Sony breach and would provide an update about who did it at the appropriate time.
“The US government is working tirelessly to bring the perpetrators of this attack to justice, and we are considering a range of options in weighing a potential response,” NSC spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said, adding that the government was not involved with Sony’s decision to pull the film.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned theatres and other businesses associated with The Interview on Tuesday that they could be targeted in cyber-attacks, according a copy of the document reviewed by Reuters.
Still, several US national security officials told Reuters that the government had no credible evidence of a physical threat to moviegoers.
Sony said it was “deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company”.
The studio said it stood by the film makers of The Interview.
