Where to watch 'The Interview'
A growing list of independent theater operators is planning to show the controversial comedy this week.
After about a week in cinematic limbo, The Interview will finally be shown in theaters on Christmas, New Year’s Day and Jan. 2.Sony Pictures confirmed on Tuesday that the controversial film, a comedy built around a plot to kill North Korea’s leader, will be screened at a number of independent cinemas and chains.
Late Tuesday, Sony said 292 theaters that will show the film on Christmas and another 23 on New Year’s Day. Sixty eight theaters will screen the movie on Jan. 2. See the full list of theaters here.
The numbers are far cry from the around 3,000 theaters originally planned before hackers targeted the film and forced Sony to shelve the release. But it does mark a small victory for the studio, which had been criticized by many – including President Obama, for caving in.
Leading the way is the Texas-based theater chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, which was the first independent theater chain to say that it will show The Interview on Christmas. Tickets are on sales for cinemas in more than a dozen of the company’s cinemas including Texas, Virginia and New York.
Atlanta’s Plaza Theatre also announced its plans to screen the film, while similar announcements from other theaters rolled in throughout the rest of the day. In Delaware, the film will show at Wilmington’s Penn Cinemas Riverfront, Middletown’s Westown Movies and Movies at Midway in Rehoboth Beach. Meanwhile, Regency Theaters, a Southern California-based cinema chain, said The Interview will screen in at least 13 of its 28 theaters.
The Belcourt, a Nashville theater, issued a statement saying that the theater did not originally plan to show The Interview. But, “the dramatic events of recent days have shifted the conversation beyond this specific movie,” the statement reads. “The context is now about audiences’ right to see a film—any film.” The Belcourt was one of several smaller, so-called art-house theaters across the country to join in writing a recent open letter to Sony executives urging the company not to capitulate to threats and release The Interview.
Other theaters across the country planning screenings include Apple Cinemas in Cambridge, Mass.; Cleveland’s Tower City Cinemas; Cable Car Cinema in Providence, R.I.; The Loft Cinema in Tucson, Ariz.; the Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Ohio; the Franklin Theatre in Franklin, Tenn.; Maiden Alley Cinema in Paducah, Ky.; Phoenix’s Valley Art theater; Pittsburgh’s Southside Works Cinema; Jurupa 14 Cinemas in Riverside, Calif.; MX Movies in St. Louis; Charleston, S.C.’s Terrace Theater; the Nickelodeon in Columbia, S.C.; and the State Theater and Cinema Detroit in Michigan.
Of course, if The Interview isn’t playing in your hometown, it is still possible that you will be able to watch the movie in the comfort of your own home. Sony is also looking to release the film through video on demand, according to the Hollywood Reporter, an option Fortune weighed last week.
In a statement Tuesday, Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton did note the company’s ongoing “efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.”
Meanwhile, the nation’s five largest cinema chain operators — Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, Carmike Cinemas, Cinemark and Cineplex Entertainment — stayed quiet about their decision against showing The Interview at the thousands of theaters they operate.
Carmike had no immediate comment, while the other four chains did not respond to Fortune‘s requests for comment.
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