Faced with fear or courage on ‘The Interview,’ Sony caves: Roeper

By RICHARD ROEPER | Sun-Times columnist

When Seth Rogen and his writing partners dreamed up a screenplay about a celebrity tabloid producer and host recruited by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong-un, I’ll bet they didn’t see this coming.

In what has be a first in the history of American cinema, the top theater chains in the country decided not to play a movie due to threats — and then Sony announced it wouldn’t be releasing the movie in ANY theater.

Remember 9/11, and Rudy Giuliani pleading with us to come back to New York and show our support? Remember all that talk about how if we give in to threats, the terrorists will have won? Remember what FDR said? “The only thing we have to fear … is fear itself”?

Wednesday afternoon, U.S. officials said they believe the North Korean government was behind the hack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

If the mission was to shut down the release of “The Interview,” humiliate Sony and make it seem like a lot of people will indeed retreat in the face of a possible threat, it was an extremely successful mission. Disgusting.