UPDATE: ‘The Interview’ opens today in SD
Sony and YouTube announced that “The Interview” will be streamed online beginning today. The movie will be available at 10 a.m. PST through Google Play, YouTube Movies, Microsoft’s Xbox Video and a dedicated Sony-built website, Seetheinterview.com.
The film will cost $5.99 to stream.
On Tuesday, several hours after Sony Pictures Entertainment said the controversial film would have a limited Christmas Day release, Digital Gym Cinema in North Park announced it would screen the film, which was pulled from release a week ago after sparking an international incident with North Korea.
The film is set to open in more than 200 theaters Thursday, the day it was originally set for wide release. Digital Gym Cinema, part of the Media Arts Center San Diego at 2921 El Cajon Blvd., is the only San Diego theater known to be showing the film. It will screen “The Interview” five times on Christmas Day, at noon, 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The Christmas Day showings already have sold out, but Digital Gym has several screenings a day scheduled through the first weekend in January.
In a statement released Tuesday evening, Ethan van Thillo, founder and executive director of Media Arts Center San Diego, said, “Although this film may not be typical of the films we generally screen, we made a decision to do so from a philosophical standpoint – that of artistic freedom, creative license and defense against censorship.”
To help with security, “we are having detectives from the San Diego Police Department visit today and check everything out,” said Phillip Lorenzo, exhibitions director at Media Arts Center San Diego, the organization that runs Digital Gym. “The detectives will look over the site and tell us what we need to watch out for. Most of the concern is about cyber attacks, but we have a Firewall and we’re such a small theater that a cyber attack on us would be pretty silly.”
As far as security for Christmas day screening, Lorenzo said they will have extra staff and volunteers on alert in case of any protests and for crowd control.
Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton said Tuesday that Seth Rogen’s North Korea farce “will be in a number of theaters” beginning Thursday. He said Sony also is continuing its efforts to release the film on more platforms and in more theaters.
“We have never given up on releasing ‘The Interview,’” Lynton said in a statement. “While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.”
