“The Interview” — the controversial film about the CIA using two bumbling journalists to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un — has racked up more than $40 million from 5.8 million digital downloads, Sony announced Tuesday.
The Seth Rogen-James Franco film was at the center of the hacking scandal late last year that released to the public scads of employee information and embarrassing emails between top Hollywood execs. Hackers from what the U.S. government says are from North Korea threatened to attack theaters Christmas, the movie’s scheduled release date, prompting Sony to drop plans for a wide theater release and later deciding to make it available digitally.
That seemed to have worked out pretty well.
Michael Lynton, chief executive of Sony Corp’s entertainment arm, called the $40 million mark “a significant milestone” for a movie released on the Internet and pay television. It was made made available on platforms like as Google Play, iTunes and Time Warner Cable, according to Reuters.
Oh, “The Interview” has also made another $6 million from limited release in mostly independent theaters.
“The Interview” cost $44 million to make, with Sony spending “tens of millions” to promote it, according to Reuters. But, considering reviews were generally lukewarm (or worse), Sony may be heaving a big sigh of relief.
Tony Hicks writes celebrity commentary for the Bay Area News Group. Contact him at Facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.TonyHicks or Twitter.com/tonyhicks67
