OK, I made this comment in another persons topic, but Im still reading so much hating on Sony, I feel the need to pipe up here. I grew up in the film business; my dad was a writers/director/producer for over 30 years. Ive watched it evolve, from the days when the studios owned theater chains to where they are today, with the chains have the most power they have had in history. Heres the thing: before Sony announced they were pulling The Interview--resulting in a huge blast of negative reaction, they were informed of something critical. Ill get back to that in a second. First, we are not Sony (unless youre an executive, employee, or stockholder) Sony is not The US, or America. So, we are not caving to a terrorism threat. Second, the US government has no business taking a business to task for doing what it thinks best for its stockholders, unless its something that has serious impact on the nation, i.e. the BP spill or price fixing or something else thats has REAL impact. More, Sony Pictures Board of Directors doesnt answer to voters; it answers to their parent Board in Tokyo. Now, the big thing. Before Sony pulled the film, they were informed by 4 theater chains they would not exhibit the film. They happen to be AMC, Regal, Cinemark, and Cineplex. Those happen to be 1,2,3, and 5 on the list of the largest chains in the US. We are talking roughly 19,000 screens out of 24,000 in the nation. All other national and regional chains account for about 22% of the remaining theater screens in the US. In other worlds, Sony was told that roughly 77% of the screens in the US were not available to them. There are regions of the country which wouldnt have had the film within driving distance. So Sony had a lose/lose to deal with. It could pull the film and lose a lot of money, or show it in roughly 22% of the multiplexes in the US and lose a hell of a lot of money. This was their Christmas release. It would open opposite Into The Woods, Unbroken, American Sniper, The Gambler, and Big Eyes. My best guess is it would have maybe placed 4th or 5th, but had Sony gone forward, it would have finished dead last, including 2nd and 3rd week showings of films released since Thanksgiving. So, if you feel the urge to accuse Sony of being unAmerican corporately cowardly, giving in to terrorism, or whatever, consider the above. The only thing Sony Pictures really gave into was the majority of American theater chains saying, we are not going to show your movie. Sony wants to make money on this film, and it will be released in some fashion or another. My best guess is February after things cool off to a massive box office take that will make everyone at Sony feel like this was a horrible dream.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 22:20:24 +0000
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