On Tuesday Sony Pictures announced it would allow “The Interview” to be shown starting Christmas day.
And while no major exhibition chains are listed as showing it, the re in New London is among theaters that are. Also listing the film on its website for Dec. 25, is the Fond du Lac Theatre in Fond du Lac.
“We weighed the pros and cons and talked to local police and asked if they had any concerns,” said Sydni Williams, general manager of the Grand Cinema Theatre fourplex.
“And we just decided we don’t think North Korea should determine what movies we show.” She said that while showing it “is a risk” she is not “super nervous” because “we’re a little town in Wisconsin. We’re not Chicago.”
New London is twenty miles west of Appleton, off Highway 45.
She said “a lot of people contacted us” after Sony withdrew the film to ask about whether the theater would show it and that they already “do have seats sold” now that the film is being shown.
NBC estimated that as many as 300 theaters will be showing the film. At this point no theaters in Milwaukee or Madison .
The comedy stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as a TV talk show host and his producer who are invited to North Korea by its leader Kim Jong-un and recruited by the CIA to assassinate him. North Korea called the film an act of war.
After hackers broke into Sony’s computers and threatened 9-11 type violence against the film, major theater chains representing as many as 40,000 screens refused to show the picture forcing Sony to withdraw it.
Since then President Obama criticized the studio, and North Korean internet went off line for reasons some speculate may have been in reprisal for the Sony hack and threats against the film.
The Grand Cinema Theatres are owned by Jim Bilek , who owns several theaters in northern Wisconsin.
The theater was built in 1895 “and is actually still in its original form,” said Williams, with smaller screens adjacent to the original big screen. “The Interview” “will be shown on our big one,” she said.
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