Google reveals its most-sold film to date
The Interview took the unprecedented route of a digital-only release, after threats from North Korea saw the film pulled from theatrical release
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Your support makes all the difference.Turns out, having a country declare your film an "act of war" might actually be good for business.
Google Play has revealed that The Interview remains its most-sold movie to date (via Variety), two years after the controversy which eventually led the film to be pulled from cinemas and relegated to a digital-only release.
The film outsold the blockbuster likes of Frozen, Deadpool, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Google's digital media store, despite the fact the film was also available on Netflix for close to two years as well.
The Interview stars James Franco and Seth Rogen as a pair of journalists who travel to North Korea after securing an interview with the country's leader, Kim Jong-Un; though they're swiftly recruited by the CIA to assassinate him.
Due to the depiction of Jong-Un's assassination, North Korea's United Nation ambassador Ja Song-nam condemned the film and declared its release "an act of war" and "the most undisguised sponsoring of terrorism".
On November 24, 2014, a group calling themselves the "Guardians of Peace" hacked the servers of Sony Pictures, leaking internal e-mails, employee records, and unreleased films; while further threatening to launch an attack on the film's New York premiere and any cinema which chose to show the film on its theatrical release. The North Korean government denied involvement in the hack.
The threats led to multiple major theatre chains backing out of screening the film, leading to Sony effectively cancelling its theatrical release in December 2014; choosing instead to favour a digital-only release strategy which saw the film sold on Google Play, Netflix, iTunes, XBox Live, and other digital resellers.
Google Play also revealed Adele's 25 and Fifty Shades of Grey were the best-selling album and book respectively.
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