With the group claiming responsibility for the Sony Pictures Entertainment cyberattack issuing a vague threat against theaters showing “The Interview,” some cinema chains decided Wednesday they would not be showing the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy.
The film, focused on an assassination attempt of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has been the center of speculation about motives behind the sweeping cyberattack on Sony. North Korea has denied any involvement in the attack.
Georgia-based Carmike Cinemas announced Tuesday it would not show the film, and East Coast theater chain Bow Tie Cinemas posted a message on its website saying it also would not show it.
The entertainment trade publications The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap reported that AMC, Regal, Cinemark and Cineplex theaters had all also decided not to show the film.
The news comes one day after a group calling itself Guardians of Peace posted a threat online warning of possible attacks of theaters showing the movie.
“We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places ‘The Interview’ be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to,” the posting stated. “Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001.”
The threat went on to warn potential moviegoers to “keep yourself distant from the places at that time. If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.”
