There are a lot of people out there who still think that all of the Guardians of Peace and Sony Pictures hack news stories and nonsense were all just some elaborate marketing scheme to help make The Interview the No. 1 film on Christmas Day. While that idea doesn’t really make sense – Sony had faith to pump $44 million into the film, and Seth Rogen and James Franco are proven box office winners – it doesn’t really matter anymore, because we can now watch The Interview on a number of streaming sites, as well as in more than 200 theaters nationwide. And the film is probably going to make significantly less than it would have if, you know, it had been available in all of the major chain theaters today.
Marketing stunt or not, Rogen sure seemed appreciative early this morning when he appeared at the Cinefamily theater in Los Angeles with his creative partner Evan Goldberg and a man dressed as Uncle Sam for the first official showing of the comedy. Rogen thanked the crowd while carolers reportedly sang outside. No word yet if they performed 2 Live Crew’s “Banned in the USA” like I am picturing in my head right now.