The Interview is still coming to select theaters on Christmas Day, but it’s also now going to be available to stream starting today, December 24, through a variety of online services. In addition to Sony Pictures’ own website for the VOD release, seetheinterview.com, viewers will also be able to check out the movie via YouTube, Google Play, and Microsoft’s Xbox Video Store (via re/code).
The cost (on Sony’s site, at least) is $6 to rent and $15 to buy.
“It has always been Sony’s intention to have a national platform on which to release this film,” Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton said in a statement. He noted that Sony started making alternative release plans for The Interview last Wednesday, the same day Sony canceled the release of the comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco.
The cancellation came after the Guardians of Peace hacker group threatened action — a vague threat, but one that referenced 9/11 specifically — against any theaters that chose to screen the film, which was originally due to arrive on Christmas Day. This is the same group that claimed responsibility for the recent Sony hack that resulted in the leaking of multiple unreleased films and reams of employee data and emails.
The FBI has stated that Guardians of Peace is connected to or operating on behalf of North Korea. In The Interview, Rogen and Franco play entertainers who head to North Korea on a secret CIA mission to assassinate the nation’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
We’ve yet to hear from Sony directly with any details, but CNN’s Brian Stelter notes that the VOD offering should be available starting at 1 p.m. ET on December 24.
