Sony Pictures has canceled the release of The Interview, its comedy on the fictional assassination of Kim Jong Un, in an unprecedented victory for North Korea.
Hackers who have been waging a cyber war on the production company threatened a 9/11-style attack on theaters and movie goers who saw The Interview.
As a result, many theaters dropped The Interview this week, and now Sony has canceled it in the wake of the threats and a never-ending hacking scandal.
"Sony has no further release plans for the film," a Sony spokeswoman said when asked whether the movie would be released later in theaters or on demand.
North Korea has denied responsibility for the Sony hacking, but the nation has been incensed by the movie since its inception and threatened payback.
Right on cue, Sony was hacked last month, with millions of leaked documents drawing global headlines and unreleased films being distributed online.
The United States may soon officially announce that the North Korean government was behind the attack, a federal government source told Reuters.
NSC spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said, noting that the U.S. was not involved with Sony’s decision to pull the film, that the investigation is ongoing:
"The U.S. government is working tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice, and we are considering a range of options in weighing a potential response."
The White House National Security Council said the United States was investigating the Sony breach and would provide an update when the time was right.
The FBI warned businesses associated with The Interview that they too could be targeted, though they found no credible evidence of a threat to movie-goers.
"The North Koreans are probably tickled pink," said Jim Lewis, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "This is a new high."
"Nobody has ever done anything this blatant in terms of political manipulation."
Still, Sony came under immediate criticism for the decision to pull the movie.
"America has lost its first cyberwar. This is a very, very dangerous precedent," said former Speaker of the House and 2012 GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.
The film industry also showed support for the film in various ways.
Filmmakers and actors, many of them friends of The Interview stars James Franco and Seth Rogen, also criticized the decision made by theaters and Sony.
Sony said that it was "deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company."
Nevertheless, it decided that doing so beat the alternative. Scary.
