‘The Interview’ Becomes Instant Hit in Cinemas, Google Play, YouTube

MOSCOW, December 26 (Sputnik) — The movie "The Interview," a controversial comedy about a fictional assassination attempt on the leader of North Korea has become a hit on Google Play and YouTube Movies, the Variety magazine said on Friday.

Sony Pictures Entertainment released the comedy online on the Google streaming sites, Xbox video and its own site "See the Interview.com" on Thursday, after the movie premiere was canceled last week.

On Friday, just a day after its release, "The Interview" was listed as a bestseller on Google Play and YouTube Movies, becoming the most-purchased movie, ahead of "Guardians of the Galaxy," according to the Variety.

Only two hours after its official release, the movie already started to appear on the popular file exchange service KickassTorrents. "The Interview" had been illegally downloaded over 1 million times by Friday.

"The Interview" has also been running in independent movie theaters in the United States since Thursday.

‘The Interview’ Collects Over 1Mln in Tickets Sale on Christmas Day: Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures' controversial movie "The Interview" generated over $1 million in ticket sales on Christmas day in the United States despite very limited number of cinemas showing the film, president of worldwide distribution for Sony Pictures Rory Bruer said in a statement on Friday.

"The audience reaction [to The Interview] was fantastic — the limited release, in under 10% of the amount of theaters originally planned, featured numerous sell-outs and a first-day gross over $1 million," Bruer was quoted as saying in the statement.

After US President Barack Obama called Sony's cancellation of "The Interview" premiere "a mistake", Sony Pictures made a decision to release the comedy about the CIA plotting to kill North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un in limited US theaters, amid threats from an anonymous hacking group traced back by FBI to North Korea.

"Considering the incredibly challenging circumstances, we are extremely grateful to the people all over the country who came out to experience The Interview on the first day of its unconventional release," Bruer stated.

North Korea had repeatedly denounced "The Interview," claiming that the film hurts "the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK."

In late November, two weeks before the the comedy was due to premiere in America, Sony Pictures Entertainment was the target of a cyberattack which resulted in the massive theft of internal company information, including data on 47,000 Sony employees, their passwords, salary details, emails, and other sensitive information.

Following threats from the hackers that they would reveal the stolen information and concerns over security at theaters showing the film, Sony decided to cancel the premiere of "The Interview."