Turns out the Sony hacking hoopla paid off.
All the Sony hacking hoopla surrounding the release of The Interview has paid off.
The production studio announced on Wednesday afternoon that they would not only be releasing the film in select theaters, but they would also be allowing people to purchase and stream the film from home for $5.99. In just the first four days of the comedy's release, The Interview earned $15 million in online sales and rentals, and garnered over 2 million streams.
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The digital sales even beat out the film's earnings at the box office. Seth Rogen and James Franco's movie is now expected to only make about $2.8 million at the 331 independently-owned theaters that have been screening the flick since Christmas Day. "The fact that people actually left their houses when they had the option of staying home is amazing," Rogen said in a statement (via CNN).
The $15 million earned only accounts for the Wednesday through Saturday sales and does not include Sunday's streams, which is when Rogen, Franco and the film's co-director Evan Goldberg started live tweeting to boost online purchases of the movie.
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It's still not looking like Sony will make their money back. The Interview cost about $44 million to make and that doesn't count marketing costs. Prior to security scares, the comedy was to open in 2,000 to 3,000 theaters which would have given the film more of an opportunity to gross more money.
Earlier this month, Sony announced that The Interview -- which depicts Franco and Rogen attempting to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un -- would not be released after a hack leaked embarrassing executive emails, full-length movies and threatened Americans in theaters with 9/11-like attacks if they went to see it. U.S. officials confirmed that North Korea was behind the cyber attack.
Did you see The Interview? Let us know what you thought of the comedy in the comments and tweet #ETnow.
For more on the back story of the Sony hacking, check out the video below.