Over the past couple of weeks, the group known as the "Guardians Of Peace" claims to have been hacking the hell out of Sony's network and coming away with everything from Social Security numbers to corporate emails complaining about the company's trajectory, to even DVD screeners of upcoming and recent Sony releases. As this campaign has gone on, there really hasn't been much of an endgame in sight for this rogue faction. At least, there wasn't until yesterday, as the group also known as GOP has come forward with a demand of Sony Pictures: don't release The Interview into theaters.
The Hollywood Reporter not only had the scoop on a fourth batch of files that were leaked by the group of supposed hacktivists, but they also released the message that accompanied the files, acting as a sort of demand from the group. Their statement read as follows:
"Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War!"
While it wasn't explicitly named in the conversation, the fact that Seth Rogen and James Franco's The Interview is implicated as the "movie of terrorism" is not surprising, especially considering the events of this whole hacking spree have been theorized to be thanks to North Korea, or some party that's tangentially linked to their interests. For the record, North Korea denies any sort of link to the "Guardians Of Peace," but they do fully approve of the actions they've taken against the studio who took their threat of war over the film as seriously as you'd think they would.
Despite the North Korean government's denial that they're involved in any way, shape, or form in the Sony hack, it's hard to think that anyone but them would be involved with such an attack. The wording of the official statement is too on the nose to be from some sort of special interest group that wants to actually promote peace. Not to mention, North Korea is the only real party that seems to be opposing this film's release, so it's not like there's a surplus of suspects to weed through with this criminal breach of security.
Of course, it's up to those investigating these attacks to pass final judgement, as well as find evidence that somehow measures up to the burden of proof. Still, there's motive, and you can almost be sure there's an opportunity in these actions, so the real question is which will be the harder fight: to prove that North Korea isn't behind these attacks, or to prove that they aren't?
Regardless of this possibly geopolitical quandary, you'll be able to enjoy The Interview on Christmas Day in a theater near you. If anything, this whole saga has provided the film with some sweet publicity, and should put it on track to at the very least enter the history books.
