In the wake of controversy surrounding "The Interview," a comedy about the assassination of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, the Bear Tooth Theatrepub in Anchorage has announced it will begin screening the film Jan. 2.
The independent, second-run theater will not publicize show times for the film until Monday evening, according to Rand Thornsley, film buyer for the Bear Tooth. Tickets will go on sale the following day, he said.
“This was the only opportunity for (Sony Pictures) to have an opening in Anchorage theatrically, so they are allowing the Bear Tooth to run the film within our normal programming,” Thornsley said.
Thornsley said he confirmed Tuesday evening that “The Interview” would play on the Bear Tooth's single screen.
He said theater managers expected to arrange “extra security measures” for its showings, though he did not have specifics.
“Since we don’t have the issue with having a multiplex, we will only be running ‘The Interview’ at one particular time,” Thornsley said. “That makes it a little bit easier. People can make their choice, whether or not they want to see it. It won’t be hurting other films.”
Somehow I doubt that Alaskans will be terribly intimidated by any threats from hackers or North Koreans.
After all we survived Sarah Palin. What could Kim Jong Un do to us that was worse than that?
By the way the movie might also be coming to Netflix a few days after Christmas and that is most likely how I will end up watching it.
How dare liberal Hollywood make a movie that dramatizes the death of our friend and neighbor Kim Jong Un.
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin
Yeah, I watched it last night. The best thing that happened for this piece of junk cinema is all the controversy. It really was a whole lot of drek. Toilet humor, sophomoric jokes, empty content. Really a big meh. I didn't have any expectations, and so I won't say I was disappointed, but it sure was underwhelming. Sony should THANK those hackers, because it was the best marketing that money couldn't buy.
ReplyDeleteSo, what's all the fuss about? I rented "The Interview" on Google Play and watched the whole thing. Here's my quick take:
DeleteFirst of all, the movie is terrible. I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, but for a guy as funny as Seth Rogen, it's pretty bad. Lots of fart jokes and gratuitous swearing. You shouldn't feel some sort of nationalistic obligation to watch "The Interview." It's that bad.
But it's also easy to see why GOP and North Korea went to war against this movie. It paints Kim Jong Un as a childish playboy. He listens to Katy Perry. He dances with strippers. He's obsessed with margaritas and American culture.
He poops in his pants.
There are also a bunch of American celebrity cameos, which comes off as a tacit endorsement of the film's message by some of the most famous people in the US. Brian Williams. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Eminem. Rob Lowe. Bill Maher. And more.
Here's a breakdown of what I saw watching the movie. There are obviously a few spoilers, but I mostly stuck to the plot points that likely angered the GOP and North Korea.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-interview-live-blog-2014-12
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-youtubes-release-of-the-interview-a-chance-to-show-off-paid-video-chops-2014-12
http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korean-defector-jang-se-yul-trained-with-hackers-2014-12
http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-says-north-koreas-anger-over-the-interview-is-quite-understandable-2014-12
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-skeptics-dont-understand-about-north-koreas-attack-on-sony-2014-12
There is a rumor out there that Sony concocted this whole thing to drive sales. I won't go see it-I don't like silly movies. I just hope our President wasn't scammed by this too.
DeleteI'm with SallyinMI. I think Sony PAID NK to hack them.
Delete1) Sony, according to my hippie older brother, has been a nasty, sneaky, rip-off company for many years.
2) their security has been bare-bones and ineffectual (almost as if on purpose) for years.
3) they probably had the smarts to know they had a real dog on their hands with The Interview....and James Franco being the only A-list star, probably wanted his money.
The execs at Sony were worried about this film from the git go and I betcha dollars to donuts, the whole thing regarding this stupid film is nothing more than a PR stunt thought up by the crew for the movie. I bet Sony was going to shit can it anyway and now it will make some bank because people will eat up the PR BS and watch it.
ReplyDeleteHere Are All The Theaters Showing 'The Interview' Christmas Day
ReplyDeletehttp://www.businessinsider.com/the-interview-theaters-2014-12
http://www.businessinsider.com/christmas-day-movies-2014-12
You survived Parnell, the worst Gov to date.
ReplyDeleteIm back to thinking this was ALL PR related. Though the China angle still intrigues me
RAND Corporation report says the Iraq War was George Bush’s biggest blunder
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/rand-corporation-report-says-the-iraq-war-was-george-bushs-biggest-blunder/
MERRY FESTIVUS TO ALL!
ReplyDeleteO/T
Rescued scientists bring back a warning from the Antarctic
The icebound crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy made headlines but, a year on, the fruits of their expedition are revealed
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/25/rescued-scientists-warning-from-antarctica
Data collected by TorrentFreak shows that The Interview was downloaded more than 200.000 times though BitTorrent during the first 10 hours it was available, and this number is still growing rapidly.
ReplyDeleteBrowsing through the commentary on various torrent sites we see that restricted availability is a common topic.
“Just signed up to say Thanks, since it was not released outside of US when it should be all at the same time. Will now be finally able to watch this,” one downloader told his peers.
Considering the unique situation, it’s a real shame that Sony didn’t seize this opportunity to try a worldwide debut. It would have certainly brought in extra revenue.
Yes, of course, those who pirate the movie are breaking the law in most countries. But honestly, is it really a surprise that so many people outside the U.S. are prepared to cross the line to see a movie tied to one of the biggest news stories of the year?
http://torrentfreak.com/the-interview-is-a-pirate-hit-with-200k-downloads-141225/
200,000 free downloads worldwide and someone is trying to call this a hit? Really?
DeleteSpeaking of watching videos that upset mentally ill people, remember to check this out and make your baby Jesus holiday all the merrier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrzXLYA_e6E
ReplyDeleteIn all this hullabaloo, I can't help but wonder what the reaction would be to a comedy about the assassination of any other actual world leader, such as the current US president or the current Pope, or even a failed reality personality such as Palin. Philosophically, does the subject of the assassination matter?
ReplyDeleteOff topic, am I"m the only one getting strange symbols above the browser? it off and on for about a week, Verizon says nothing to worry about but I'm concern
ReplyDeleteWhat browser are you using? Phone, tablet or computer? What symbols?
Deletecomputer, too embarrass to say what the symbols look like, might just be my imagination, I use Mozilla Firefox for my browser, but when Verizon had me to go into Internet Explorer the symbols are not there
DeleteI'm surprised the Bear Tooth Theatrepub in Anchorage is showing the movie Interview especially since North Korea's number one ally lives in Wasilla. Sarah Palin must be upset.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Sarah is so upset she didn't attend any church services for Christmas. There's no record of what stopped the other Palins.
DeleteWatched it last night with my son home for the holidays (we have an annual christmas tradition of watching violent movies on Christmas-sigh, that's just us-but decided this was appropriate ). It was stupid (as we figured it would be) but we enjoyed it. Love, GA, USA
ReplyDeleteDie Hard is Christmas favorite-but we've also watched BLade, Near Dark "Katherine Biglelow!, Fraility (goddamn awesome movie-Mathew Matthew McConaughey,, Bill Paxton, Powers Booth -so damn great you need to watch it), From Dusk to dawn (Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino and Geroge CLoony, for gods sake). Single mom wince his dad died then he was three. He is moving to Northern Virgain in a month to take a job with a major cypber security company. I am proud. Lie is good.
ReplyDeleteDid you post this from your cellphone, beth0214? Geez...
DeleteWe watched it online last night - a complete waste of our time. Maybe one or two good laughs. Too bad, because there was potential. I wouldn't encourage these guys to make any more lame movies - save your money.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine even their target audience (teenage boys) putting up with so much stupidity.