After canceling the theatrical release of The Interview amid threats from hackers and a collection of theater chains unwilling to screen the film, Sony eventually opted for an unconventional release model, offering the film in 301 smaller, independent theaters across the country, as well as making The Interview available through VOD platforms that included Google Play and YouTube. With the holiday weekend behind us, many are wondering just how well the film performed.
Earlier today, Sony revealed that The Interview had been downloaded more than 2 million times, and had grossed more than $15 million from the digital release, easily cementing its status as the studio’s most successful VOD release of all time. It also far surpassed this year’s earlier VOD hit, Snowpiercer, which raked in $7 million from digital outlets. The Interview also took in $2.8 million from its limited theatrical run, for a total around $18 million.
Those numbers sound pretty impressive, especially when original theatrical estimates were somewhere in the $20-$25 million range, but there are a number of other factors to consider, as well. First of all, according to TorrentFreak, The Interview was illegally downloaded more than 1.5 million times during the first two days of release – a pretty significant number, especially when you consider that if every one of those downloaders had paid to stream the film through legitimate means, it would’ve resulted in another $8-$10 million in revenue.
Another mitigating factor is the non-stop media coverage in the weeks leading up to the film’s release. With a staggering amount of private information being released to the public after Sony’s servers were hacked, the studio was already finding itself under intense scrutinization. The threats of violence and the controversy surrounding the film’s release only exacerbated the situation, and ensured that The Interview remained squarely in the public eye.
Had The Interview been given a wide release on approximately 3000 screens, as originally intended, would it have performed better or worse? If there had been no around-the-clock media coverage, would the film have garnered the same level of interest? There are no real answers to these questions, but it’s worth bearing in mind that while The Interview is a huge success for the VOD release format, it wasn’t exactly operating on a level playing field, either.
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