If there was ever evidence to support the age-old adage that states any press is good press, it’s The Interview‘s eye-catching performance on VOD. Coming off the back of an unprecedented controversy that saw theater chains pull the film in light of terrorist threats, James Franco and Seth Rogen’s controversial flick was seemingly doomed to fail on all accounts.
But, buoyed by a group of advocates that helped the film see the light of day via VOD, the satire has exceeded expectations by pulling in $31 million since it arrived online back on December 24. That’s according to figures published by Deadline, who report that the flick has now pulled back a significant chunk of its initial budget — said to be $44 million — though there’s no doubting that the media attention surrounding it helped it to become one of the most, if not the most, topical film of the festive period.
Such a feat now positions The Interview as the number one online film of all time, according to Sony, which has prompted the studio to begin rolling out the film to theaters across UK and Ireland at the beginning of February. It’s an interesting turn of events, really, given that normal proceedings would have seen the same situation play out in reverse, with the movie debuting in theaters before becoming available on VOD services. And even though it was a consequence of a hacking attack that will go down in history, it may just change Hollywood studios’ perception on the platform as a whole.
Circling back to The Interview, however, and it’s likely that Rogen and Franco’s satire will pull back the majority of its budget sooner rather than later, even if it fails to pass the lofty prediction of a $100 million gross. But is the film really worth the hype? Well, our own review tells another story:
Rogen and Franco have an easy chemistry that never fails to entertain, but The Interview is the dumbest and least continuously funny film they’ve been involved with to date.