When Sony Pictures announced this week that it would be canceling the theatrical release of “The Interview,” scores of reporters denounced the move as an appeasement to computer hackers believed to be affiliated with North Korea.
“LAME,” tweeted Politico’s Ben White after the cancellation was announced. “I cannot believe theaters are canceling ‘The Interview’ premieres over these ‘threats.’ Well, I can believe it. But still. Feeble.”
“IDEA: Everyone can come over to my house and watch ‘The Interview,'” tweeted Judd Legum, editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress.
But nobody expected “The Interview” was going to be a cinematic classic. It’s a comedy, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, about a harmless TV show host tasked with assassinating North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Not exactly “The Godfather.” Not even “Dumb and Dumber.”
Did outraged journalists actually plan on seeing it?
The Washington Examiner asked a few and the results were largely: No, not really.
“I had no such plans,” said Byron Tau of the Wall Street Journal.
“Nope, but I’m definitely gonna see ‘Into the Woods’ again,” said CNN.com’s Chris Moody, referring to a Disney fairy tale movie.
In the same vein, is Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post, who said having two young children means he never anticipates seeing movies outside of what’s age appropriate for them. “The only movies I ever ‘plan’ to go see are ‘Big Hero 6’ and ‘Penguins of Madagascar,'” he said.
“The concept [of ‘The Interview’] vaguely intrigued me,” Yahoo! News’s Olivier Knox said. “The trailer convinced me that it was not worth seeing. The controversy and the threat did not change my mind.”
Previously on Twitter, he had questioned whether the controversy around the movie had actually made anyone want to see it. He said them movie looked “wretched.”
NBC News’s Andrea Mitchell also did not intend to see the movie. “I’m afraid I had not planned on seeing it,” she said. “Having been to Pyongyang several times, I think it is not easily made into a comedy!”
Legum, the ThinkProgress editor who had suggested people come watch the movie at his house (presumably via an illegal download), even said he wasn’t sure he’d see it. “I didn’t have definite plans, but I might have gone to see it,” he said.
White, the Politico reporter, however, was ready for the film’s debut. “I probably would not have [seen it] without the controversy,” he said. “But it made me very curious and the trailers are really funny. I’m bummed.”
