December 2014
Featured in this insight: IT & telecommunications, Media & publishing
The interview: Sony Pictures’ most successful online film: Despite a large scale corporate hack, and outrage over censorship, The Interview has fast become Sony Pictures’ most successful online film, since its release on Christmas Eve.
The Interview, which became available to download and stream on December, 24th (2014) through company websites such as: Sony, Google and Microsoft, boasted sales of $15 million in the initial four days following its release, Sony Pictures have announced.
The plot of the controversial action-comedy, features actor and producer, Dave Skylark (Seth Rogen) and colleague, Aaron Rapoport (James Franco), travel to North Korea to interview, Kim Jong-un, who is a fan of their fictional, popular celebrity TV programme, “Skylark Tonight”. The film sees the pair become unlikely hit-men when they are asked by the CIA to assassinate the North Korean premier.
Within the four days following The Interview’s release, the film was rented or purchased online 2 million times.
To rent or buy The Interview, it currently costs $5.99 and $14.99, respectively.
As well as selected cinemas across America choosing to release the film on Christmas Day, Apple made the film available on iTunes on the following Sunday.
The cinemas which chose to screen The Interview reportedly grossed some $3 million. However, Sony Pictures have yet to breakeven, with film industry magazine, Variety, reporting the film’s production and marketing costs at $75 million.
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