Sony to Distribute “The Interview” Online Through YouTube, Google Play
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Sony/Columbia(LOS ANGELES) — Sony announced on Wednesday that The Interview will be available online Wednesday via Google Play, YouTube Movies, Microsoft’s Xbox Video and www.seetheinterview.com for $5.99.
The streaming will start at 10 a.m. PT.
“It has always been Sony’s intention to have a national platform on which to release this film,” said Sony CEO Michael Lynton in a release to ABC News. “With that in mind, we reached out to Google, Microsoft and other partners last Wednesday, December 17th, when it became clear our initial release plans were not possible. We are pleased we can now join with our partners to offer the film nation-wide today.”
Lynton said his company never stopped “pursuing as wide a release as possible” for the film that looked like it was dead as of last week when all the big move chains like AMC and Regal had backed out of showing the film due to hacker threats.
“Especially given the assault upon our business and our employees by those who wanted to stop free speech. We chose the path of digital distribution first so as to reach as many people as possible on opening day, and we continue to seek other partners and platforms to further expand the release,” he continued.
Lynton thanked Google and Microsoft for their commitment to “free speech.”
“While we couldn’t have predicted the road this movie traveled to get to this moment, I’m proud our fight was not for nothing and that cyber criminals were not able to silence us,” he added.
The release closed by stating that in addition to online, “The Interview is also being released in more than 300 United States theaters on Dec. 25.”
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