Weeks before the Christmas release of The Interview, a group known as the Guardians of Peace claimed responsibility for hacking into Sony’s digital warehouses, destroying data, releasing sensitive materials, and making public threats for more of the same. These threats included violence against theatres and attendees who showed or watched the now infamous satirical movie. Despite these threats and after the urging of U.S. President Obama a limited number of theatres released the movie on Christmas Day and a variety of online sources made the movie available for rent or purchase.
On December 24th Google Play and YouTube launched the movie and on December 28th the Apple iTunes Store made it available to consumers. Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said of the iTunes release, “We’re pleased to offer ‘The Interview’ for rental or purchase on the iTunes Store.” Rentals cost $5.99 and purchases cost $14.99.
This unprecedented digital launch of a major movie has proven so far to be successful, with 2 million legal downloads of the movie in just the first days of release. Sony will need to at least triple the opening receipts in order to recoup the $44 million the film cost to make – not to mention marketing and legal complication-related costs from the hacking. Either way, it seems that iTunes and other major digital platforms are ready to take the plunge on mass marketing of major motion pictures.
Category : News
Tag : Apple , iTunes , iTunes Store , movie , The Interview
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