NORTH KOREA-CYBERATTACK/ALAMO THEATER Independent theater house Alamo says no safety threat in screening 'The Interview'

Record ID: 355120

  • Title: NORTH KOREA-CYBERATTACK/ALAMO THEATER Independent theater house Alamo says no safety threat in screening 'The Interview'
  • Date: 24th December 2014
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 24, 2014) (REUTERS VIA SKYPE) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRISTIAN PARKES, CHIEF BRANDING OFFICER FOR ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE, SAYING: "We lobbied Sony. So, Sony pulled the film last week. President Obama made his comments. He was critical of Sony, that was on Friday of last week. So through the weekend, the Art House Convergence, whic
  • Embargoed: 8th January 2015 12:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAMC7B8CXX9BH31NGWX51A6168
  • Story Text: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema said on Wednesday (December 24) that it saw no security threat to moviegoers going to see "The Interview" at their theaters on Christmas Day.
    Independent cinemas normally would not be considered the landing spot for a lowbrow satire starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, leading stars for stoner, gross-out comedy. "The Interview," co-directed by Rogen, depicts a fictional plot to assassinate North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and has incensed the reclusive nation now blamed for a devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures.
    "We've been working really closely with local law enforcement officials, as have all of the other theaters in the Art House Convergence, a networks of independent art house theaters. So we've been taking their feedback into advisement, and we're confident that everything is going to be fine when the film opens on Christmas Day," said Christian Parkes, Chief Branding Officer for Alamo.
    High-brow art house theaters and low-key college town cinemas became the unlikely stars of a Hollywood comeback by convincing the powerful Sony Pictures studio on Tuesday (December 23) to let them screen "The Interview," the film shunned by the multiplexes and corporate chains.
    Parkes said independent cinemas banded together and lobbied Sony to let the film play on.
    "We put out an open letter on Monday morning, and along with that open letter a petition that called upon other theaters and other programmers to support this film, to support Sony. And when Sony realized there was a viable network of distribution for this film, they reached out to us on Monday night. They asked us if we were really serious about taking this film on board. Obviously we said yes. Tuesday they opened it up to other independent theaters. And by the end of business on Tuesday they had over 300 theaters that wanted to screen this film," Parkes told Reuters.
    Sony Corp's reversal came after it faced criticism from the public and President Barack Obama that the Hollywood studio had capitulated to hackers and self-censorship.
    Sony Pictures said the theaters screening the $44 million film as of Christmas Day amount to less than 10 percent of the number of theaters in a typical wide release.
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