It’s been a chaotic month for Sony Pictures as leaked emails, personal details, and even movies (like Annie and Fury) have all ended up online. Believed to be the work of North Korean hackers who were retaliating over the planned Christmas Day release of The Interview, the “Sony Hack” took a much darker turn when a series of 9/11 type attacks were threatened against cinemas who dared show the comedy on the 25th.

Why has the movie caused such controversy? Well, as you more than likely know by now, it depicts two tabloid television journalists (played by Seth Rogen and James Franco) being recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un after they learn that he’s a fan and wishes to be interviewed.

Following the threats mentioned above, a number of theatre chains in the US decided to not show the movie, and that would lead to Sony Pictures deciding to indefinitely cancel the release of The Interview.

This is something which has caused a lot of discussion, with President Obama even weighing in on the decision to not release the movie. Now, following days of speculation and rumours, Sony have confirmed that The Interview will have a limited theatrical release in the United States on Christmas Day.

“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, CEO of Sony Entertainment in a press release issued today about plans for the release. “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. I want to thank our talent on The Interview and our employees, who have worked tirelessly through the many challenges we have all faced over the last month. 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.”

The mention of “more platforms” has led many to believe we will also see some sort of VOD release.

There’s no word on international plans for The Interview, but if it is released online, piracy will be a very real issue as you have to imagine that it won’t take long for it to hit the streaming and torrent sites shortly after!

Following the announcement, Seth Rogen and James Franco took to Twitter to express their excitement:

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