Controversy over THE INTERVIEW (Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg)

[Chris Knipp]

http://www.chrisknipp.com/newpictures/iv.jpg

Controversy over The Interview (Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg).

The NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/business/media/sony-weighs-terrorism-threat-against-opening-of-the-interview.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0) explains: Sony is in trouble over release of its $44 million comedy starring Seth Rogan and James Franco, THE INTERVIEW, which focuses on a US government plot to assassinate the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. Hackers have attacked the company and its employees and there have been threats mentioning Sept. 11-like retaliation for opening the movie. On the one hand if it pulls back, Sony will lose cred and clients in Hollywood, on the other it could be in legal and moral trouble if there's violence. It also might lose a lot of money: the movie could be a box office winner (and has been hugely promoted). But is the trouble worth it for what early reviews suggest isn't even a very good movie? (The Metacritic rating (http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-interview) currently based on nine reviews is a lousy 54%.) Is North Korean the safest of all nations to mock? Doesn't showing the assassination of a sitting president -- an unprecedentedly undiplomatic gesture -- go too far? (Not of course in college humor, but in a Hollywood comedy, maybe yes.)

The threats to mulitiplexes, where important holiday releases will be playing side-by-side with THE INTERVIEW, are particularly worrying. There could be personal danger and financial loss. See the NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/business/media/sony-weighs-terrorism-threat-against-opening-of-the-interview.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0) for the many ramifications of this story. (Earlier article here (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/15/world/sonys-international-incident-making-kims-head-explode.html?action=click&contentCollection=Media&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article).)

Strongly favorable reviews (and there are some) say this is risk-taking, hammy gold. Sterner writers aren't impressed. "An intensely sophomoric and rampantly uneven comic takedown of an easy but worrisomely unpredictable target," writes Todd McCarthy in Hollywood Reporter. "Considering the controversy and chaos Sony Pictures Studios is undergoing because of it, The Interview fails to live up to the hype, floundering as a rowdy comedy as it grows duller by the minute," writes Claudia Puig of USA Today. And Scott Foundas of Variety says it's "about as funny as a communist food shortage, and just as protracted."

[Chris Knipp]

Later Wed, 17 Dec.: Because of threats and hacks and all the major theater chains pulling out of showing it, Sony Pictures has pulled Christmas Day release of THE INTERVIEW and has "no further release planse" for it. See LA Times (http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Sony-Pictures-cancels-Dec-25-release-of-The-5963774.php) for details.

At least so far, you can watch THE INTERVIEW TRAILER (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frsvWVEHowg) And another longer TRAILER. (http://www.mediaite.com/online/movie-theaters-pulling-the-interview-means-america-is-now-north-korea/)

In the second trailer it emerges that Kim Jong-un turns out to be a really nice guy, so "taking him out" seems not a nice thing to do!

Of course in this Sony has given in to criminal assaults, maybe not a good thing to do. On the other hand making and putting out this picture in which a sitting chief of state's head gets blown up was not only a stupid idea, but in Kim Jong-un's view, not at all unreasonably if humorously, an act of war. In this sense, withdrawing the film is a wise move. In other senses, caving to threats and giving up one's First Amendment rights is a bad precedent.

On Twitter a host of celebs have expressed (http://www.mediaite.com/online/celebs-stand-by-rogen-and-franco-on-twitter-after-the-interview-pulled/)their strong opposition to Sony's caving to pressure. Those linking up include Michael Moore, Donald Trump, Rob Lowe, Judd Apatow, Kevin Smith, Mia Farrow, Piers Morgan, Joshua Malina, Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Maher.

And many more on hashtag #pussynation.

Remember freedom of speech issues often involve stuff we don't really like the ACLU Skokie Nazi case, or the Mel Gibson Jesus movie. The fact that this may be just a silly, tasteless, and/or not very funny movie, does not mean it's okay to cancel it under pressure.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Alamo Drafthouse Theater announced it would show the movie, but in view of the cancellation, plans to screen TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE, a puppet animation film mocking North Korea (but just once 27 Dec.).

[Johann]

To me there is no controversy. Just watch Team America: World Police. Dave Markey on Facebook pointed out that Mattt and Trey got away with the same thing. What's the problem? Because it's Kim Jong-Il's son?

Sony has pulled the movie from release after theatres said they'd refuse to show it.

[Chris Knipp]

I haven't seen TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE so can't comment. But there are evident differences. It's indeed the son, Kim Jong-un, not -il; has been more expensively and successfully promoted; has live people in it instead of just puppets; and most importantly Sony and all associated with showing or watching the movie were threatened with 9/11-like horrors and were majorly hacked with employees' personal data and emails exposed. And not only "theaters" but literally every major theater chain said they would not show the movie. So maybe Sony Pictures has been cowardly, set a very bad precedent, and betrayed freedom of speech, but on the other hand they had a hell of a lot of good reasons to react this way.

[Chris Knipp]

Michael Moore has tweeted that there were threats and warnings not to release FAHRENHEIT 911, but that didn't stop them from releasing it.


Michael Moore @MMFlint · 2h 2 hours ago
Received numerous threats before release of Fahrenheit9/11. We were warned not to show it. This deterred none of us from releasing it. #cave

But that's a gross simplification. Moore is completely ignoring the complicated story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_9/11) of Weinstein's battle with Disney for Miamax to make and distribute his movie. He went way out on a limb eventually to get it out. Read the Wikipedia (Financing, pre-release, and distribution) article -- it's very interesting.

If Weinstein fought for INTERVIEW things would be different. But who would fight for INTERVIEW as they would for FAHRENHEIT 911?

[Chris Knipp]

Some details about Seth Rogan's reactions to the hacking of Sony and blocking of THE INTERVIEW are found in an article in The Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2878564/I-think-s-really-funny-Seth-Rogen-insists-no-regrets-Interview-chat-given-crippling-attack-Sony.html) with several short videos. The US government confirmed on Wednesday that North Korea was behind the massive hack attack. I would love to have one of these posters, which have been taken down. They'll become collector's items.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/newpictures/iv1.jpg

[Johann]

Yes, that poster is now an instant collector's item. The movie has already made history. That poster is designed by Shepard Fairey, the man who just recently did the cover for The Doors Record Store Day vinyl release, has done the DVD cover & set design of The Henry Rollins Show,and many other worthy causes. His art style should be familiar to all I think...

You're right- Team America was just puppets. But this one sounds funny- I mean, they realize Kim Jong-Un is a cool guy? So they can't go ahead with their plan? This is "an act of War?" It's Hollywood. And I thought Kim Jong-un loved movies. I read somewhere that he loves movies. And yes, Michael Moore is being simplistic. He's seizing the topical moment.

[Chris Knipp]

I didn't know the artist, thanks for all the info about him. Will have to know more.

In THE INTERVIEW they, Franco's and Rogan's characters, meet Kim Jong-un and find he's a nice, friendly guy, but the CIA tells them they have to off him anyway and they do. At least the stories say his head is blown off. It was the real Kim Jong-un's father Jong-il who was a movie maniac. He owned 20,000 videos and DVD's. The Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2878789/The-films-Kim-Jong-DOES-approve-revealed-want-watch-Urban-Girl-Comes-Married-Sea-Blood.html) has a story with a lot of pictures on North Korea's film industry (nothing but propaganda).

[Chris Knipp]

Now Paramount has "pulled the plug" on any screenings of the alternative film, the stop-motion marionette satire TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE, a newspaper article says (http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2014/12/team_america_world_police_scre.html). It seems that after the hacking of Sony Pictures, Hollywood is not feeling very brave and strong.

[Chris Knipp]

Johann, are you sure Shepard Fairey designed the poster for The Interview? Where do you see that info? Maybe after all the trouble over the Obama image, he doesn't want to be associated with another controversy.

[Johann]

Fairey doesn't shy away from controversy. It's obvious that he designed it- Look At It! If he didn't design that poster, then he should sue for plagiarism.

[Chris Knipp]

You may be right but it seems you're just guessing. Actually Fairey's work is itself highly derivative, mainly from the graphic art of early 20th century Europe and Russia and the Bauhaus school, as one can see in this catalog (http://www.graffitiprints.com/artist/obey-shepard-fairy/)of his poster images. I don't find Fairey's work all that interesting or good, frankly. In one respect the INTERVIEW poster does look like his: the reliance on symmetry, which isn't particularly characteristic of the styles he mimics otherwise. But unless Fairey says it's his poster, you don't really know it's his.

See this article (http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/) about Fairey's "plagiarism." The story about the biker skull logo that Fairey "referenced" (i.e. copied) that then Walmart stole and then turned out to be a Nazi SS symbol so the T shirts were pulled off the shelves in response to customer protests is interesting. So is Fairey's stealing of the "guns and roses" images for a poster. And he apparently directly stole an image from the poster of a particular Viennese "Art Nouveau" artist(perhaps not the right term -- or the Viennese artist may have been stealing from French Art Nouveau!).

See this Google page (https://www.google.com/search?q=bauhaus+posters&espv=2&biw=1024&bih=506&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=XbeVVNCwFsSwogSel4GYDg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ) of Bauhaus posters to see how much richer and more beautiful than Fairey's this style can be. And not that they rely a great deal on diagonals and tend to eschew symmetry. (I'm personally a great fan of the Bauhaus and the Russian Avant Garde styles and Suprematism, whose leader was Malevich, which influenced my later work a lot.)

See this Google age of Soviet propaganda posters (https://www.google.com/search?q=soviet+posters&espv=2&biw=1024&bih=506&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=F7mVVOedKozUoATTqIGIDw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ). This is the style the INTERVIEW poster is designed to evoke; perhaps also Chinese posters of the Cultural Revolution era (which were doubtless derived from Soviet art). But they too are more richly varied than the INTERVIEW poster style, and don't rely that much on symmetry, though they do occasionally.

Clearly, if somebody is stealing from the style of Fairey, he's just getting a taste of his own medicine.

[Johann]

"True Art is what you can get away with", isn't it? Chris?

You're right. I don't know if Shepard did the poster or not. Have we been hoodwinked? How do we react to this affront?
I guess we should drop the Nukes.

[Chris Knipp]

A famous saying of Picasso's is: "Good artists copy; great artists steal." But since the poster is in an intentionally derivative style, not from Shepard Fairey but from Soviet or Cultural Revolution poster art, it could be by anybody, so we can hardly feel hooodwinked. I do not know who the artist is. I might point out that even for the Obama "Hope" poster that made Fairey famous, he was sued for stealing the image from an A.P. photographer's photo. Is he copying or stealing? Either way, he doesn't seem very interesting. But that THE INTERVIEW poster is still visually and stylistically cool as current movie posters go (they used to be better, once, the old hand painted ones (https://www.google.com/search?q=old+movie+posters&espv=2&biw=1145&bih=852&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=X-OVVP3dH4fnoASgg4LYAw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ)) and it's valuable due to the movie's controversial history. (There must be thousands of them though, so not that valuable, unless a lot of them get destroyed and they become rare.)

[Johann]

You don't like Shepard Fairey? :)

[Chris Knipp]

Do I like or dislike Shepard Fairey? Really I had no opinion, and was not even very aware of his work other than the Obama poster. Was just researching it in connection with the possibility that he did the THE INTERVIEW movie poster. I'm obliged to you for calling my attention to Fairey; it's been fun looking things up about him and the possible graphic art roots of the THE INTERVIEW poster and his graphic work. I see he graduated from RISD. A good school. He seems in a league with Mark Kostabi and Andy Warhol. Well, not in a league with Warhol: not that significant, that influential, or that original. But the "appropriation" and the interaction with commerce. Not as significant as Banksy either, it looks like. There is negative criticism of Fairey from numerous sources suggesting he's a hypocrite.
Fairey was questioned about criticism surrounding his use of images from social movements, specifically images created by artists of color, in an interview (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/03/interview-shepard-fairey)with Liam O'Donoghue for Mother Jones. O'Donoghue later posted an article, titled "Shepard Fairey’s Image Problem" (http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2008/06/shepard_faireys_image_problem.html), on several independent media sites.[63] The article explored Fairey's use of copyright protected images while at the same time defending his copyright protected works from being used by other artists and corporations. [Wikipedia,"Shepard Fairey."] See "Critical Response" in the Wikipedia article "Shepard Fairey." I think from what I've seen of his work that the accusation that it's "generic" by a writer in the NY Times in 2009 has some validity.
In a New York Times review (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5DE173EF93AA15755C0A9619C8B 63) of "E Pluribus Venom" at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, art critic Benjamin Genocchio described Fairey’s art as “generic” despite the range of mediums and styles used by the artist. Genocchio went on to say that it was tempting to see Fairey’s art as just another luxury commodity. [Wikipedia article, "Shepard Fairey."] .

[Chris Knipp]

Back to the poster. You can get them on eBay; the bidding is going up. You can buy a pack of 100 for $4,000. And you might turn a tidy profit selling them off individually.

[Chris Knipp]

http://www.chrisknipp.com/newpictures/TIp.jpg

THE INTERVIEW: Back and forth.

In a CNN interview (http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/21/politics/obama-north-koreas-hack-not-war-but-cyber-vandalism/) Friday Obama said hacking the Sony files was "cybervandalism," "not an act of war." But he's not saying North Korea isn't to blame since he says the US will consider whether it wants to put North Korea back on the list of state terrorists. Obama reiterated that he thinks Sony's withdrawing THE INTERVIEW from release was "a mistake."
"If we set a precedent in which a dictator in another country can disrupt through cyber, a company's distribution chain or its products, and as a consequence we start censoring ourselves, that's a problem," Obama said.[CNN] He pointed to the Boston Marathon, where the attack was worse, with people killed and many injured, and yet the next year the race went on and was successful.

This led Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton to reposte in his own interview (http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/?iid=EL) on CNN. He said he was "disappointed" with Obama's response; that contrary to what Obama said, Sony did consult with Washington on the hack attack and that Obama was wrong about why they withdrew THE INTERVIEW -- not because of the hack or the threats but due to the distributors' and theaters' prior withdrawal from showing the movie. Lynton said if they had it to do over they "might have, uh, done some things slightly differently" but he'd still have made the movie. He said he wants the public to see the movie by some means, but no Video on Demand (VOD) company has come forward.

Christine Hong, an assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz specialized in Korean matters, was interviewed (along with writer Tim Shorrock) on "Democracy Now (http://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/22/the_interview_pokes_fun_at_north)! saying the real issue was not free speech but the US's strategy of using threats from North Korea as an excuse to maintain local bases aimed primarily at China. She claimed Bruce Bennett, a Rand think tanker, advised that THE INTERVIEW might "possibly get the wheels of a kind of regime change plot into motion." suggested the line between the movie and government policy was thin this time; that a Rand Corporation person to bring down the North Korean government and think that "taking out" the leader would be an effective way to do it; that a rough cut of movie was vetted and approved by the State Department, who "actually gave the executives a green light with regard to the death scene." All this comes from hacked and leaked Sony emails described on The Daily Beast (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/17/exclusive-sony-emails-allege-u-s-govt-official-ok-d-controversial-ending-to-the-interview.html) 17 Dec.

500 THE INTERVIEW posters are for sale now on eBay for a wide range of prices. At one point a lot of 100 was for sale for $4,000.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/newpictures/TIp2.jpg
[ AP Photo/David Goldman, Atlanta 17 Dec.]

[Chris Knipp]

Tues., 23 Dec.: Sony reverses itself: showing THE INTERVIEW okayed.

Seth Rogan tweet:

Seth Rogen
‏@Sethrogen
The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn't give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!
See USA Today article (http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/12/23/the-interview-thursday/20808469/).

It's not clear who'll be showing the movie, so far, other than the clearly feisty Alamo theaters in Austin and Dallas, Texas, Atlanta, and northern Virginia. Fox news says "a few hundred independent theaters" will show it. "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," said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Entertainment. "At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience." Reportedly it will begin showing this week at "a few hundred independent theaters."

[Chris Knipp]

http://imageshack.com/a/img908/4556/9AaJLm.jpg

24 Dec. 2014. Some theaters will be opening THE INTERVIEW on Christmas Day, as originally planned, all over the US.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center is going to show it, and so will Cinema Village; 12 other theaters in the greater NY-New Jersey area. It seems to be scheduled all over the country, but sometimes not in big cities due to the dominance of the theater chains that have opted out.

For example, in the San Francisco Bay area so far only two small indie theaters have scheduled it, the Elmwood Theater in Berkeley and the Parkway in Oakland.. One theater in Baltimore, one in Washington, one in rural Maryland and rural Virginia. None in Boston, but on in Danvers MA and one in Cambridge. And so on. Two in and around Pittsburgh but none in Philadelphia. Four in Los Angeles, nine in the LA area. None in Chicago; one in Woodridge, Il. None in Miami, but one in Orlando. And so on. So you may have to do some driving to see it.

Maybe it if's successful and screenings proceed without incident, some bigger theaters will relent and start showing it.

[cinemabon]

Seth Rogan and James Franco have made several videos on social media to promote the movie. Here is link to some of them.

Naked and Afraid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuKbXp2tOPc

Epic Meal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3YpqWFBamc

Freaks and Geeks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI8o6s1pmwg

[Chris Knipp]

The Interview is making money, mostly via online downloads.

Thanks for your input cinemabon. But none of these three videos is a promotion for the INTERVIEW movie.

As of Jan. 1 Box Office Mojo estimate (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=interview2014.htm)s $3,815,000 gross for THE INTERVIEW from 331 theaters.

The big story is the VOD one. By Dec. 28th (my birthday!) THE INTERVIEW had made $15 million online, making it Sony's biggest VOD success to date, according to a Variety (http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony-the-interview-has-made-over-15-million-online-1201388557/) article. It's available that way via a lot of different platforms, and Netflix is in talks about taking it on too.

[cinemabon]

I'm hip to the new flashes, Chris. But leading up to the opening, before it got yanked, Rogan and Franco flooded social media with - yes they are - promotional videos, building up word of mouth. This going on with the Sony leaks that had nothing to do with The Interview (more about racist emails). Then the threats started - if you open this movie, blah blah blah will happen. (no change in the Nation's security status, mind you; nothing posted from the NSA or the military) Sony's chairman panicked. The theater owners got caught in a lie. And the public screamed foul. Oh, the networks love controversy and one of the best promotional (stunts?) news events followed with some online posters claiming it was our patriotic duty to go see The Interview (which just about opened everywhere, despite the claim it didn't). It opened Christmas week in Raleigh to little fanfare. Sony and Rogan should look at the hack as a blessing in disguise.

As to the real damage, it's too early to tell. Should Sony/Columbia bootleg videos suddenly flood the Asian market, then Sony might call in a few favors in China.

This "event" has been so thoroughly covered on Facebook, Twitter, and other online high traffic sites (forget the traditional sites like Time, AP, NBC, ABC, CNN, etc), I doubt ANYONE missed the coverage over the past two weeks.

As to the posters? The local theater took them down for one week. I spoke to the manager. He was told to "hold onto them" during that period. They put the same posters out Christmas week. If you rushed out to buy a "collector's item" at some high-ebay-price, you got screwed. According to the theater manager, they had dozens of them. So goes the media hype machine, whipping up public opinion and then dropping the story just as fast as they picked it up.

Where's your headline now?

[cinemabon]

Rudolph Valentino died from a punch to his abdomen which exacerbated an inflamed appendix. Valentino suffered and then passed away from lack of an antibiotic. His death made headlines. Every paper in New York gave it front page treatment. Thousands turned out for his funeral. The crowd turned into an unruly mob. They tore his coffin apart to obtain a souvenir. Valentino's train left New York, bearing his body back to LA. By the time he arrived in Los Angeles, the story appeared on page 17.

I know this story well because I told it onstage when performing John Dos Passos USA.

The media loves to make a mountain out of a mole hill. They've done it for a very long and will continue to do so as long as the public is naive to believe an over-hyped press trying to sell cars and pharmaceuticals. When there are no wars, no death statistics, no flag draped coffins, no bombs going off, no earthquakes leveling cities, no volcanoes destroying landscapes, nothing of monumental interest, the press seeks out a story wherever they can find it and exploit the hell out of it. If there's one thing I've learned in this life, it's the old axiom - Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. This couldn't be more true about the internet than ever in the history of yellow journalism.

[Chris Knipp]

If Rogan and Franco made them recently they may very well be intended to draw attention to the movie, or they may be using the attention on the movie as a pretext to do other comic bits. But I merely pointed out that they do not directly, or indirectly, refer to it, that's all.

I didn't get screwed. The poster wasn't expensive. As far as I know, no high prices were paid on eBay for it. Most of the pirces were low. I liked the design of it to begin with and the controversy made it seem to me worth having a copy of. I had no illusion that posters printed for a wide US movie release were rare. I knew there are thousands of them. Some of them, however, were certainly damaged or destroyed as a result of the cancellation of big chain theater release. I have a few posters I hang in my garage and it'll go there. It's an eclectic selection.

I don't get what you're saying about Valentino's death; a mountain out of a molehill? But he was one of the all time matinee idols. Not comparable to Sony's hacking and hesitating over releasing THE INTERVIEW. Most things are news for a while, and then fade. Especially now, Americans have very short memories.

The commercial significance of THE INTERVIEW seems to be that it has been Sony's most successful VOD release, and reflects a trend toward theatrical plus online, as well as like CARLOS, BEHIND THE CANDELABRA, and Bruno Dumont's current L'IL QUINQUIN and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's PENANCE, theatrical plus TV.

[cinemabon]

I don't know about the last two but I would agree, the trend for MOD will only increase. It's a gutsy move for Sony and has a deleterious side effect - it undermines theater owners. You could counter and say, "There'll always be people who want to see a film in a theater." True, but theaters can't sustain any further bleeding from their accounts. They barely break even as it is. Theatrical distribution is on the decline from services like Netflix, Hulu, etc., just as happened in the 1950's with the advent of television. When the masses turn their backs on theaters this time, no one will invest in them in the future. If that's the trend, we can kiss IMAX and all the rest goodbye. I never thought I'd ever see the great movie palaces shut down. It happened once and can happen again.

[Chris Knipp]

The "trend" I am talking about is not of online release replacing theatrical release but of its accompanying it, often at the same time simultaneously for dual release. Are you sure they "barely break even"? It appears from this chart (http://www.the-numbers.com/market/) that US movie theater/cinema ticket sales have remained fairly stable while revenues have gone up between 1995 and 2014. Where do you get your information? The large cineplexes seem to be booming. The independent theaters continue to close, but they accounted for only limited revenues. The thing is, a theatergoer profits the film company much more than a rental. Much more. Hence VOD for the moment is an adjunct, not a replacement.
Movie tickets continue to produce more revenue per viewer than online sales and rentals. For example, a single movie ticket usually runs around $10 or more; "The Interview" cost $5.99 to rent and $14.99 to buy. Moreover, two or more people can watch a rented movie for the same price, but each theatergoer must pay for his own ticket. -- Boston Globe (http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/01/02/sony-the-interview-web-release-not-boost-for-video-demand/8TOnRKHiTqIwIC9qpHVirN/story.html). In addition, of course, cinema-goers go to the snack stand and often spend as much as or more there than they did on the ticket, sot the theater customer revenue from one person goes up to $20, vs. $6 for online viewing. [Sometimes alternate platforms benefit each other rather than cancelling each other out. Read this Boston Globe article, which is written apropos of THE INTERVIEW and its VOD success. Note it is now showing on 580 screens nation wide now.

[Chris Knipp]

I am not rejoicing over the closing of classic movie palaces, or of little local indie theaters. And I'm not saying people are going to the movies now the way they did in the movies' heydays before television or even before talkies. Those who bewail the drop of ticket sales from 1.3 billion to 1.2 billion don't move me to tears. They're talking mostly about "underperforming" blockbusters. Boo hoo. What Oscar might bewail (and has) is that excellent foreign or small independent films get too little, or no, distribution a lot of times. But before videotape, you couldn't really see films that weren't showing in cinemas/theaters. Now you can, and via so many means and technologies.

And I might add that there is a boom of film festivals. Everyplace has one. And those provide cinephiles with the opportunity to see exotic and fascinating films that won't be available any other way. Patronize your local film festival. Go out of your way to attend one.