Regal and other theatres pull "The Interview"

JK_Livin

The Juggler wrote: »

backseatLover12 wrote: »

To provoke a dictator of another country by suggesting assassination, in a society already riddled with world-wide terrorism, through a bad comedy movie obviously is the WRONG move.

This isn't about kidding around, stupid movie antics. Sony movies are messing with a real life dictator and you'd think they'd know that before filming. We don't live in a safe world anymore, we all know that. This just makes America look even more stupid than we already are. They could have been careful… But then, the scene they chose to use for publicity purposes? It was the scene with the woman suggesting to Seth Rogan and the other guy that they "take the leader of N. Korea out". And they respond? "What, we take him out… to dinner?" And so on. Just so stupid on their part.

We live a bubble here in this 1st world country. When we mess with other countries' leaders, even though it's supposed to be in jest, doesn't mean that they take it in jest.

wow.

Assassinated by talk show hosts!!!

badbrains

Brian, I can almost guarantee you that they had a meeting about this (sony) and they came up with this shtick for PR. People get paid HEAVILY to come up with PR ideas and someone just got a HUGE raise in the wallet and a HUGE raise in his pants.

backseatLover12

oftenreading wrote: »

I'm late to this discussion - it's a busy time of year - but I can see bsl12's point. Sometimes it seems to me that this whole idea of "I can say whatever the hell I want and who gives a flying f**k what you think about it!" is a big part of the reason why the world is the way it is. This applies to little issues in our day to day lives and big issues on the world stage. I don't personally care about this movie, and I would think that any offense taken about it would be overblown, but it isn't all about what I think, or what the rest of us on this board think.

Bingo.

Jason P

badbrains wrote: »

Mark my words, this movie WILL BE released and shatter box office records. Sony, what an awesome PR move.

If it was just because of a threat, maybe so. But Sony Pictures is pretty much fucked for the next several years across the board due to the cyber attack. Lots of bridges are already burning and it's just the tip of the iceberg of the amount of material that was stolen.

50 scripts alone were leaked online today.

brianlux

badbrains wrote: »

Brian, I can almost guarantee you that they had a meeting about this (sony) and they came up with this shtick for PR. People get paid HEAVILY to come up with PR ideas and someone just got a HUGE raise in the wallet and a HUGE raise in his pants.

Yeah, it's almost funny. I'd love to see a parody of this with a couple of these Sony reps played by Keith Morris and Henry Rollins, and starring H.R. as Kim screaming and doing crazy shit.

Last-12-Exit

brianlux wrote: »

badbrains wrote: »

Mark my words, this movie WILL BE released and shatter box office records. Sony, what an awesome PR move.

I believe it, bb. Just look at all the attention out there. You couldn't ask for a better marketing scheme.

I would buy that if it was Sony pulling the movie. But the theatres were refusing to play it. Sony can't be in bed with ALL of those companies.

tempo_n_groove

I wonder what world problem story is getting covered up because of this one?

Jason P

tempo_n_groove wrote: »

I wonder what world problem story is getting covered up because of this one?

The collapse of the Russian economy.

backseatLover12

tempo_n_groove wrote: »

I wonder what world problem story is getting covered up because of this one?

Fracking being banned in NYS. But that's not a problem story that's an actual rare solution story being covered up. (and not surprisingly)

backseatLover12

I was reading the latest Rolling Stone last night with Seth Rogan on the cover. He and the other guy (don't remember his name) actually wrote the film, and why? Because he didn't want to just write another stoner comedy, he wanted to write about something involving current events. I hope he's happy with the turnout.

What an idiot.

High Fidelity 2000

As I said yesterday, now that North Korea dictates Hollywood, we can finally lay to rest that whole "Jews Run Hollywood" stereotype!

The cyber-terrorists or whoever it was, their stupid "threat" letter was so poorly worded, just because they said September 11, people freaked out. The terrorists won... yeah they won so a stupid movie won't come out. They also won every time you take off your shoes at the airport and walk through that naked machine.

benjs

backseatLover12 wrote: »

I was reading the latest Rolling Stone last night with Seth Rogan on the cover. He and the other guy (don't remember his name) actually wrote the film, and why? Because he didn't want to just write another stoner comedy, he wanted to write about something involving current events. I hope he's happy with the turnout.

What an idiot.

You want to criticize a guy who wants to move past his typecasting and write a satirical commentary on a serious issue? I 100% disagree with you on this one, and admire him for doing something bold, as well as Sony for taking a gamble on something some clearly see as controversial.

This is hardly the first satirical document on a public figurehead with a known history of violence - South Park does it all the time. And I'd never call Matt Stone and Trey Parker idiots for it.

backseatLover12

And since when did freedom of speech include making threats to assassinate world leaders? Why isn't that considered terrorism but the other party giving their response is?

Imagine if someone made a comedy in some other country where Obama is threatened with assassination. I'm sure many american's jimmies would be rustled. And call that racism and terrorism.

benjs

backseatLover12 wrote: »

And since when did freedom of speech include making threats to assassinate world leaders? Why isn't that considered terrorism but the other party giving their response is?

Imagine if someone made a comedy in some other country where Obama is threatened with assassination. I'm sure many american's jimmies would be rustled. And call that racism and terrorism.

Key word: COMEDY. Since when did a fictional movie that's recognized as satire by all involved in its production have any bearing on reality?

rustyrails

A PR move? That's insane.

Remember when a crazy nutjob killed 12 people in a Colorado theater?... do you think the Batman movie would have been released if the production company had any prior knowledge of that guy?

Now a nutjob world leader is threatening to blow up a theater and has already successfully hacked a major company... and you think Sony is just using that to their advantage to sell more? Wow

badbrains

Ya i do rusty rails. We're talking about Hollywood here. They don't have morals or anything. It's all about the almighty $$$$. You'll see, they'll release this and it'll make a shitload of $$$$.

backseatLover12

benjs wrote: »

backseatLover12 wrote: »

And since when did freedom of speech include making threats to assassinate world leaders? Why isn't that considered terrorism but the other party giving their response is?

Imagine if someone made a comedy in some other country where Obama is threatened with assassination. I'm sure many american's jimmies would be rustled. And call that racism and terrorism.

Key word: COMEDY. Since when did a fictional movie that's recognized as satire by all involved in its production have any bearing on reality?

Since the object of the movie's premise has no clue what a satire is. Really, I'm beside myself that just because this country knows it's a joke, everyone in the world should, particularly the guy who's supposedly getting assassinated in the movie. We live in a bubble and they were playing with fire from the get-go of production. We KNOW that Kim Jong-un is a dangerous man, so why taunt him?

rustyrails

Well count me as one of the people who thinks that it is a legitimate threat... that some idiot whether they are from North Korea or elsewhere would try to pull something. Sony has already lost their asses because of the hack and they'll barely recover any money once it's released on DVD.

badbrains

How Do We Know that Iraq Tried to Assassinate President George H.W. Bush?



1 0 0

by FBI Study
This is an excerpt from Part II of Section D of the report 'The FBI Laboratory: An Investigation into Laboratory Practices and Alleged Misconduct in Explosives-Related and Other Cases', published by the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice, in April, 1997.

Former President George Bush visited Kuwait between April 14 and April 16, 1993, to commemorate the allied victory in the Persian Gulf War. Accompanying Bush were his wife, two of his sons, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, former Chief of Staff John Sununu, and former Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady.
In late-April 1993, the United States learned that terrorists had attempted to assassinate Bush during his visit to Kuwait. The Kuwaiti authorities arrested 17 persons suspected in the plot to kill Bush using explosives hidden in a Toyota Landcruiser. The Kuwaitis recovered the Landcruiser, which contained between 80 and 90 kilograms of plastic explosives connected to a detonator ( the Bush device or Bush explosive device ). The Kuwaitis also recovered ten cube-shaped plastic explosive devices with detonators (the cube-bombs ) from the Landcruiser. Some of the suspects reportedly confessed that the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS ) was behind the assassination attempt.

On April 29, 1993, CIA bomb technicians compared the Bush explosive device to two known Iraqi explosive devices found in different Middle-Eastern countries in 1990 and 1991 (the Middle-East devices ) . The technicians reported that the remote control firing mechanism in the Bush device was identical to those in the Middle-East devices. Additionally, the technicians reported that blasting caps from the Bush device appeared to be identical to those found in one of the Middle-East devices. The technicians later concluded that the circuit board from the Bush device also closely resembled circuit boards from the Middle-East devices.

In early-May 1993, the FBI sent personnel to Kuwait to interview the suspects and examine the physical evidence. FBI Special Agents, along with representatives of the Secret Service and State Department, interviewed 16 suspects, some more than once. Two of the suspects, Wali 'Abd Al-Hadi 'Abd Al-Hasan Al-Ghazali ( Al-Ghazali ) and Ra'd 'Abd Al-Amir 'Abbud Al-Asadi ( Al-Asadi ), admitted during the FBI interviews that they had participated in the plot at the direction of the IIS.

Explosives examiner Jordan also traveled to Kuwait in May 1993 to examine the Bush device. Jordan examined the main charge, which was hidden in three panels in the Landcruiser and was capable of being detonated by remote control, a timing device, or a push-pull suicide switch. Jordan compared the Bush device to photographs of the Middle-East devices, as well as other devices, and concluded that the same person or persons manufactured the Bush device and one of the Middle-East devices, and that a connection existed between persons responsible for the Bush device and several other devices, including the other Middle-East device. Jordan reported these conclusions in a May 11, 1993 Laboratory report.

Jordan then returned to Washington, D.C., and delivered samples of the explosives from the Bush device to Whitehurst. Whitehurst analyzed the explosive from the main charge and concluded that the substance was approximately 96% RDX, 3% polyvinyl-isobutyl ether binder, and 1% hydrocarbon oil. As for samples from the cube-bombs, Whitehurst concluded that the explosive was consistent with an explosive containing RDX bound with a cross-linked phenoxy or epoxy binder containing Sudan I dye. Whitehurst reported these findings in his June 7, 1993, dictation.

Shortly thereafter, Jordan returned to the Middle-East to conduct further examinations of the Bush device and the Middle-East devices. Based on these examinations, Jordan reported significant consistencies in the selection of individual components and alterations to manufactured items in all of the devices. Jordan concluded that the similarities represented signature characteristics. He further reported that the same person or persons of close association constructed the remote control fuzing systems and electronic timing mechanisms used in all of these devices. Jordan also reported that a second person or persons of close association were responsible for adding wiring and components to the Bush device and one of the Middle-East devices, enabling those devices to be incorporated in vehicles. Jordan reported these conclusions in his June 18, 1993, Laboratory report, in which he also summarized parts of Whitehurst's June 7, 1993, dictation.

On June 2, 1993, representatives of the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and others in the Department of Justice (DOJ) discussed the results of their investigations with representatives of the Clinton Administration. Three weeks later, the DOJ and CIA reported their conclusions. The DOJ and CIA reported that it was highly likely that the Iraqi Government originated the plot and more than likely that Bush was the target. Additionally, based on past Iraqi methods and other sources of intelligence, the CIA independently reported that there was a strong case that Saddam Hussein directed the plot against Bush.

On June 26, 1993, the United States launched a cruise missile attack against a building housing the IIS in Baghdad in retaliation for the assassination attempt on former President Bush. According to news reports, the attack killed between six and eight persons and injured approximately 12 others. On June 27, 1993, Madeleine Albright, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, addressed an emergency session of the Security Council and provided evidence to support the attack on the IIS facility.
- See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1000#sthash.JC3Z5gOy.dpuf

benjs

badbrains wrote: »

Ya i do rusty rails. We're talking about Hollywood here. They don't have morals or anything. It's all about the almighty $$$$. You'll see, they'll release this and it'll make a shitload of $$$$.

I don't think they'll release this in theatres, for the simple reason that it was the distribution channels (i.e. cinema companies) that have halted their showings, not Sony. If most cinemas aren't willing to show the film, Sony would have to release it as 'limited showings'. If that were the case, the average dollars earned per film for the year would inevitably be lower (further skewed by the controversy surrounding the situation), and that would look worse when they're discussing this at a shareholder meeting when compared to scrapping it outright, and calling it an unforeseen expense.

So Nart, I believe you're right that it's all about the almighty dollar, but I don't think there's a theatrical release pending for this. I could see straight-to-DVD/Blu-Ray for this one very easily though.