On Wednesday morning, Sony issued a statement saying The Interview will be available for rental on Google Play, YouTube Movies, Microsoft’s Xbox Video, and Sony’s dedicated website www.seetheinterview.com, starting at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET on Dec. 24. On Sony’s site, The Interview will be $5.99 for rent and $14.99 for HD purchase.
“It has always been Sony’s intention to have a national platform on which to release this film,” Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Entertainment.
“With that in mind, we reached out to Google, Microsoft, and other partners last Wednesday, December 17, when it became clear our initial release plans were not possible. We are pleased we can now join with our partners to offer the film nation-wide today.”
Google released a statement expressing their desire to show the movie:
“Last Wednesday, Sony began contacting a number of companies, including Google, to ask if we’d be able to make their movie, The Interview, available online. We’d had a similar thought and were eager to help — though given everything that’s happened, the security implications were very much at the front of our minds,” David Drummond, SVP of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer said in a statement.
“Of course it was tempting to hope that something else would happen to ensure this movie saw the light of day. But after discussing all the issues, Sony and Google agreed that we could not sit on the sidelines and allow a handful of people to determine the limits of free speech in another country (however silly the content might be).”
