The Interview grosses more than $1mn

Moviegoers lining up for the opening day showings of the Sony Pictures movie The Interview at the historic Plaza Theatre on Christmas Day in Atlanta.

Reuters

Los Angeles

Sony Pictures comedy The Interview grossed more than $1mn in limited release at the US box office on December 25, the studio said yesterday.

The $44mn film was pulled from wide release after major US movie chains balked at showing the movie owing to security concerns, and it was instead shown at some 320 smaller theaters in the US, less than 10% of its planned wide release.

“Considering the incredibly challenging circumstances, we are extremely grateful to the people all over the country who came out to experience The Interview on the first day of its unconventional release,” Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures president of distribution, said in a statement.

Sony Pictures had suffered a crippling cyber attack blamed on North Korea because of the movie, a raunchy comedy by Seth Rogen that depicts the fictional assassination of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.

The Interview was expected to gross at least $20mn over the long holiday weekend if in wide release, according to Boxoffice.com.

The studio pulled the film from theaters last week after the biggest US and Canada cinema chains said they would not screen the film owing to unspecified threats made by hackers.

Sony Pictures on Tuesday gave in to public criticism that it had caved into hackers and said that it would distribute the film in limited release in independent theaters.

On Wednesday, the studio released the film online via Google Inc’s YouTube and Google Play, Microsoft Corp’s Xbox gaming console and Sony’s own dedicated website.