From what I gather they didn't have a huge amount of choice given the amount of places that refused to show it. Noticed the wording also says they haven't scrapped the movie, only decided not to release it when they planned. Hopefully they'll give t a bit then try and release it when its been forgotten about a bit. On the bright side, nothing sells like controversy!
Films get made then shelved for years is pretty standard practice. Sure huge budget movies do get pre timed release date because...well....money. It sucks that cinemas are afraid to release it though. And to be fair, this movie has been in Production for a while. If N.Korea wanted to do something, they would have already.
I saw the preview recently. Film should be shelved because it looked like a dumb film. Caving in to N. Korea I disagree with, but I can't believe someone thought this was a good idea for a film in the first place. It is in poor taste as well as dumb. Let's be honest, if someone made a film about assassinating the leader of our country (wherever we are), most of us would not like it. Sure, they have a right to make it, but I see bad judgments all around this issue.
I can think of a plethora of films and media where the main aim is the assasination of a major world leader.
Saddam Hussein featured in a number of comedy films back in the day. Of course, that's completely irrelevant. Whether or not you think a film is in bad taste or is not entertaining is unimportant. The judgement of the film's production team is for Sony's shareholders to judge.
Ok, well I think using a real life leader in that context is in poor taste, whomever does it. Again, not saying it shouldn't be allowed..........
Let's be honest though. Kim Jong what's his face probably (definitely) deserves to be ridiculed more than most world leaders.
"Naked Gun" had the Queen in it being targetted AND compromised by Frank Drebin! "Death of a President" was an imagining of an assasination against George Bush "The Day of the Jackal" about killing De Gaulle There are lots of others ones..."Team America" springing to mind and as Holyhead pointed out there were ones like "Hot Shots" and "South Park" featuring Hussein
I think it's sad that the entertainment industry (not just Sony like others have said) has buckled to anonymous threats on the Internet.
There was talk of it being viewed via paid streaming. And although, I did think this would be a "Netflix" movie, I wouldn't like to think that this situation would become the "norm". Make a movie, someone somewhere is offended, sends troll message, studio caves. Sony has caved, regardless of what they're saying and also what could the US/FBI/CIA or whatever agency they like to use gonna do? Its not like they have a widely liked working relation with NK and troops won't be happy to go over there over a Rogan/Franco film.
I think this incident has set a worrying precedent which could have far-reaching implications in terms of freedom of speech/expression beyond films, such as journalism and literature.