With the movie that was previously assumed to not be released to the public after the controversial plotline was released, the talk of The Interview is hot as ever. Originally deemed as inactive after North Korea hackers set out to block the movie from being released, Sony and Google decided to move on with the movie, claiming that a group of hackers shouldn’t be able to take away freedom of speech.
Despite the controversy, the blockbuster was released to the public for the first time in South Florida on Christmas night of 2014 and has since become one of the most talked about movies of the 2015 year so far.
Raking in an estimated $1 million in theaters on its first day was a weak pull compared to the one and a half million online downloads that took place in the first few days after its release. In addition to the staggering attention from the media and multiple foreign countries, Sony’s YouTube subscribers nearly tripled upon the release. Nearly a month later, the flock of movie-goers is gradually slowing as The Interview’s screen life increases in days, and digital downloads are going in a downward slope.
Based around a talk-show host and his producer/best friend whose missions are to assassinate their #1 fan, who also happens to be the dictator of North Korea, The Interview’s plot definitely is not lacking in its originality—or crude humor. However, the characters were quite bland and riddled with stereotypes. But what else could you expect from a film such as this?
Some say that this satirical comedy is getting way more credit than it truly deserves; it is, after all, just a low-grade laughing stock with the ambition to entertain, not a full-fledged threat to one of America’s greatest sources of conflict.
What kind of backlash will the United States receive from this offensively hilarious movie? Only time will tell.