Update: The Interview full movie is now online at YouTube Movies, Google Play and Xbox Video: Here are the links to the full movie , now online on Christmas Eve.
Finally, the news broke on Tuesday that Sony will indeed release The Interview movie in a specific group of an estimated 200 to 300 movie theaters on Christmas Day, with some movie theaters posting The Interview movie showtimes on Twitter , as reported by the Inquisitr . In addition to showing The Interview in movie theaters, Sony has also told theater owners that they will release The Interview as a VOD — or video-on-demand — on Christmas Day as well, reports the Hollywood Reporter . With such a small number of theaters showing The Interview , it seems the VOD (video-on-demand) option will be a lot more lucrative for Sony if they charge a fee for each VOD viewing – especially for those consumers more comfortable with seeing the movie via the VOD option.
The trouble is, Sony hasn’t announced as of this writing which distributor will screen The Interview over VOD. After this reporter went on a quest to find out which movie theaters would show The Interview movie by searching Twitter, Fandango, Yahoo Movies and other sources, it was time to discover any information about The Interview movie’s video-on-demand links. Alas, searching the most common VOD outlets — such as Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, and even less popular options like Crackle — turned up no video-on-demand “coming soon on Christmas Day” links for The Interview .
Despite all the shouts of #victory on Twitter, some major movie theater chains were mad and quiet on Tuesday about Sony’s decision to release The Interview movie via independent movie theaters and on a VOD basis, because the video-on-demand release could cut into their profits, reports the Wrap . The publication also stated that if The Interview makes a strong box-office and VOD showing on Christmas Day, major movie chains might jump back in the fray and release The Interview as early as the day after Christmas.
The CEO of Sony Entertainment, Michael Lynton, did proclaim that The Interview movie would be available on multiple platforms on Christmas Day — in a select group of movie theaters and perhaps via a variety of VOD distributors. Now Sony needs to announce what those video-on-demand websites will be so that users can prepare to buy their tickets to watch The Interview online on Christmas Day.
“We have never given up on releasing ‘ The Interview ‘ and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day.”
[Image credit of The Interview movie: Columbia]