The Department of Homeland Security has responded to the news, saying that 'there is no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters within the United States.'
- Dec 17, 2014
AceShowbiz - The group of hackers which launched massive cyber attack against Sony in late November has sent a chilling letter telling people that they will orchestrate an 9/11-style attack on movie theaters which screen "The Interview". The message was delivered in an online message on Tuesday, December 16.
"The world will be full of fear," they wrote. "Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you'd better leave.) Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment."
The Department of Homeland Security has commented on the threat, saying that they believe there is no indication of such action. "DHS is aware of a threat made online targeting movie theaters in the United States. We are still analyzing the credibility of these statements, but at this time there is no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters within the United States," they said.
"The Interview", starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, is a comedy which centers on two journalists who are sent by the CIA to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un (played by Randall Park) after they scored an interview. It opens in U.S. theaters on December 25. In the wake of the threat, Franco and Rogen announced they suspended media appearances such as a scheduled appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Wednesday and "Late Night with Seth Meyers" on Thursday.
A group which calls themselves Guardians of Peace hacked into Sony's system on November 24. A handful of unreleased movies, sensitive data about former and current employees, as well as emails from executives' inbox are spread online following the hack.
On Monday, two former Sony workers Michael Corona and Christina Mathis filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court against the company "on behalf of all others similarly situated," saying that Sony was negligent in protecting their systems because "Sony made 'a business decision to accept the risk' of losses associated with being hacked," read the complaint as quoted by TheWrap. "Sony subsequently failed to timely protect confidential information of its current or former employees from law-breaking hackers."
THR later reports the company was hit with second class action lawsuit by a group of production managers. Susan Dukow and Yvonne Yaconelli whose credits include "Jerry Maguire", "Spider-Man" and "The Green Hornet" filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, slamming the company for their failure to protect sensitive data as well as their decision in regards to "The Interview".
"Various news reports suggest the original script of The Interview included a fake villain, but that Sony specifically changed the script to make North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un the film's villain," read the suit. "Upon information and belief, Sony knew it was reasonably foreseeable that producing a script about North Korea's leader Kim Jon Un would cause a backlash."
