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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Alamo Drafthouse to Screen 'The Interview' After All

Posted By Albert Salazar on Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 11:59 AM

click to enlarge

The Interview will be screened on Christmas after all. Tim League, founder of the Alamo Drafthouse movie chain, announced on Twitter this morning that Sony has authorized a Christmas release of the much-discussed film. The film will show at several independent theater chains, side-stepping the major national chains that initially scrapped their plans to release the film.

Breaking news: Sony has authorized screenings of THE INTERVIEW on Christmas Day. We are making shows available within the hour. #Victory
— Tim League (@timalamo) December 23, 2014

The movie, starring James Franco and Seth Rogan, was the source of controversy over its satirical depiction of the assassination of North Korean baby boy dictator Kim Jong-un. The film is thought to be the motivation of a hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer systems, which has dominated the news cycle since Thanksgiving.

Hackers threatened acts of terrorism on theaters screening the political action comedy, prompting several top national movie chains to pull screenings of the film. This lead to Sony scrapping the film's planned Christmas Day release, a decision which resulted in a barrage of criticism which focused on the issue of freedom of speech. Last week, President Obama even weighed in, saying Sony's decision was a "mistake."

KXAN News in Austin has reported that the first Austin screening has already sold-out.

The first showing of "The Interview" in Austin appears to be sold out, already.
— KXAN News (@KXAN_News) December 23, 2014

As of this post, the Alamo Drafthouse website, drafthouse.com, was acting sluggish, presumably because of the announcement and the demand to see the controversial film. We reached out to Santikos Theaters to see if the movie theater chain would follow suit, but as of yet they have not gotten back to us.

We'll update with San Antonio showtimes as soon as they become available.

Update: Tuesday, December 23, 2014, 12:35 pm

The Alamo Drafthouse has published San Antonio Christmas Day showtimes of The Interview on its website:

Park North: 1:05 p.m., 4:10 p.m., 7:15 p.m. 10:20 p.m.
Westlakes: 11:30 a.m., 2:25 p.m., 5:20 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 10:40 p.m.
Stone Oak: No showtimes have been posted at this time.

Tags: The Interview, Alamo Drafthouse, Tim League, James Franco, Seth Rogan, Image, Video

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