You won’t be able to view “The Interview” on the North Olympic Peninsula, at least not until after Christmas.
Next week is the earliest that Sun Basin Theatres in Wenatchee, the parent of Deer Park Cinemas in Port Angeles, might consider booking the controversial film.
“I just got the word, ‘No,’” a Sun Basin official who declined to be identified said Tuesday. “It won’t open Christmas Day.”
Decision-makers at Sun Basin were off work Tuesday for the holiday and unavailable for comment, the official said, but might make such a decision Monday.
Meanwhile, movie house owners in Port Townsend said they hadn’t screened the film and might not book it even if it became available.
“I don’t have any plans on playing ‘The Interview,’ not because of the politics,” said Richard Wiley, owner of the Uptown Theater in Port Townsend, where “The Hobbit” currently is playing.
“I have a single-screen theater, and I just don’t have the demographic that would support ‘The Interview.’ Right now, I don’t have any plans to play it.”
At the Rose Theatre, also in Port Townsend, owner Rocky Friedman said he too had missed the film’s screening in Seattle earlier this month.
“So not having seen it, even if it becomes available, I don’t know if I would play it,’ Friedman said.
The Rose presently is showing “Wild” and “The Theory of Everything.”
Elsewhere in the country, more than 40 theaters as of Tuesday afternoon said they will begin showing “The Interview” on Thursday or Friday, seemingly putting the comedy back into theaters after Sony Pictures Entertainment canceled its release.
The Alamo Drafthouse of Austin, Texas, said Tuesday that Sony has authorized it to screen the film starting Christmas Day at 16 locations that it operates from Yonkers, N.Y., to Littleton, Colo.
The release enables “The Interview” to open in select theaters and avoid the national chains that dropped the North Korea satire last week.
Sony’s cancellation of the movie following terrorist threats from hackers drew widespread criticism, including from President Barack Obama.
For its part, Sony Pictures Entertainment on Tuesday said it had never given up on the film.
“We’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day,” said Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Entertainment, told deadline.com.
“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.
“While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.”
In the film, the fictional Dave Skylark and producer Aaron Rapoport run the celebrity tabloid show “Skylark Tonight.”
When they land an interview with a surprise fan, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, they are recruited by the CIA to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission.
Obama, who earlier had termed Sony’s decision to pull “The Interview” from release “a mistake,” reiterated the White House’s support for the move, with spokesman Eric Schultz stating: “The president applauds Sony’s decision to authorize screenings of the film.
“As the president made clear, we are a country that believes in free speech, and the right of artistic expression,” Schultz added.
“The decision made by Sony and participating theaters allows people to make their own choices about the film, and we welcome that outcome.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com
