Full Coverage: Sony Pictures hacked

Sony Pictures on Friday repeated its call for media organizations to not publish information stolen in last year’s hack of its computer systems.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has named Tom Rothman as the next chairman of its motion picture group, the company said Tuesday.

Months after Sony Pictures Entertainment suffered from a crippling cyberattack, troves of the studio’s leaked information has resurfaced on WikiLeaks, potentially reopening one of the darkest chapters in the Culver City studio’s history.

Amy Pascal, the outgoing co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, is exiting the studio with a high-profile project that instantly makes her one of Hollywood’s biggest producers.

Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal’s announcement that she would step down from her job at the studio came less than two months after thousands of her personal, often controversial emails leaked online.

Steve Mosko, president of Sony Pictures Television, said the cyberattack against Sony in late November made the company “tougher� and “better.�

Amy Pascal’s exit from Sony Pictures comes as the studio faces one of its biggest creative crossroads.

Amy Pascal, long considered one of the most powerful women in Hollywood — and a throwback to old-school moviemaking — is stepping down from her co-chair job at Sony Pictures Entertainment in the wake of the devastating cyberattack that crippled the studio.

She has been a fixture of Hollywood for nearly three decades.

It was the exit heard around Hollywood.

A look at the box office performance of movies released under Amy Pascal’s tenure at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal is stepping down and will launch a new production company at the studio, the company said Thursday.

Sony Corp. said it has spent as estimated $15 million investigating and recovering from the massive cyberattack that crippled its movie and TV studio.

Sony said Friday that it will miss its deadline to report its next quarterly earnings as a result of the cyberattack on its film unit late last year.

Sony Pictures’ controversial comedy “The Interview� is coming to Netflix.

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s “The Interview,� the comedy at the center of the studio’s hacking woes, is set for release on DVD and Blu-ray on Feb 17, the studio said Wednesday.

Sony Corp.

The head of the FBI said Wednesday that the shadowy hacker group blamed by the U.S. for the computer attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment “got sloppy� and left behind clues that point to North Korea’s involvement.

Sony Pictures’ “The Interview,� the movie at the center of the crippling cyber attack on the studio, has grossed $31 million through video on demand as of Sunday.

President Obama ordered new economic sanctions Friday against North Korea aimed at increasing financial pressure on the rogue state’s leadership, a preliminary retaliatory action by the administration in response to what it calls the “destructive and coercive� cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment computers.

“The Interview� is coming to Dish Network’s video-on-demand service on Friday, making it the latest and last of the major pay television services to carry the controversial Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy.

Seth Rogen and James Franco’s North Korea-themed assassination comedy “The Interview� has already had one of the more unusual rollouts in recent memory, going from a planned wide release to a cancellation to a simultaneous VOD and limited theatrical release.

Sony Pictures Entertainment announced Wednesday that it would continue its rollout of “The Interview� by adding new video-on-demand platforms, pay-per-view services and about 200 more theaters.

“The Interview� wasn’t supposed to change the way Hollywood movies are released.

It seems Sony’s ‘The Interview’ didn’t need a wide release after all The studio reported that its Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg comedy collected $2.8 million in 331 independent movie theaters and more than $15 million online since its launch last week.

It was the most wonderful time of the year for the box office.

Sony Pictures’ controversial comedy “The Interview� began its atypical release with about $1 million in ticket sales from 331 theaters on Christmas Day, the studio estimated.

Some came out of a sense of patriotic duty. Some came to see what all the fuss was about.

A slow trickle of moviegoers gathered in West Hollywood on Thursday morning to check out “The Interview,� the comedy about North Korea that has wound up in the center of a real-life geopolitical imbroglio.

Capping weeks of headline-grabbing tumult over the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy “The Interview,� the film finally began to roll out into 331 independent theaters nationwide just after midnight on Christmas Eve.

The final installment of the “Hobbit� franchise is likely to top the box office again over the four-day Christmas weekend.

Sony’s decision to stream the controversial comedy “The Interview� has upended the often fractious relationship between Silicon Valley’s biggest Internet company and Hollywood’s film industry.

Just a week ago, Sony was more troubled than poor giftless Bunky at Christmas.

Amy Adams is “frustrated� over the cancellation of her “Today� show interview earlier this week in the wake of the Sony hacking saga.

Sony Pictures’ comedy “The Interview� was released online Wednesday, the day before the film’s theatrical release.

On Wednesday, Sony announced it would release the embattled comedy “The Interview� on a host of digital platforms--including Google Play, Microsoft Xbox and YouTube--and make it available for rental or purchase from Christmas Eve through the holiday weekend.

After mounting pressure from theater owners, celebrities and even the White House, Sony has decided to release “The Interview� on about 200 screens beginning Christmas Day, reversing an earlier plan to scrap the opening of the controversial comedy.

Laemmle Theaters, which operates seven cinemas in Los Angeles County, said it would play “The Interview� in its North Hollywood location beginning Dec. 31.

Jens Dietrich, a 33-year-old Atlanta resident, was disappointed when he heard “The Interview� wasn’t playing on Christmas Day because of threats from Sony hackers.

Cult movies come about in different ways.

Theater owners say Sony Pictures Entertainment plans to release “The Interview� in the home as well as in theaters on Christmas Day, a move that is likely to heighten tensions between the embattled studio and cinema chains.

Sony will give “The Interview� a “limited theatrical release� beginning Christmas Day, the company said Tuesday, releasing the movie in a handful of independent theaters across the country.

Sony Pictures Entertainment called on Twitter to stop its users from tweeting information leaked in the hack of the studio’s computer systems, saying it would hold Twitter responsible for damages unless the company complies.

North Korea experienced a major Internet outage on Tuesday, according to companies that monitor global networks, raising suspicion that the country may have been the target of a cyberattack.

The story of Sony’s corporate hacking crisis and the subsequent fallout revolves around a feature film, “The Interview.�

Sony’s theatrical release of “The Interview� is officially kaput, but a small New York stage company is taking up the cause by hosting a live reading of the movie’s screenplay.

An alliance of independent movie theaters says art house cinemas are willing to screen Sony Pictures’ “The Interview,� the Kim Jong Un assassination comedy that was pulled from release in the wake of terror threats.

Cult movies come about in different ways.

In the early 1990s, writer-director Jim Abrahams was making a big studio comedy about a mission to kill a foreign dictator — and not just any foreign dictator, one the United States had recently gone to war against: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

North Korea’s defense department asserted Sunday that the U.S. government was “deeply involved� in the making of the Sony Pictures comedy “The Interview� and threatened to “blow up� the White House, the Pentagon and other U.S. targets if Washington launched an assault to retaliate for the cyberattack on the studio.

Fallout from the crippling cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment has called into question exactly what the future holds for one of Hollywood’s biggest names.

North Korea on Saturday proposed a joint investigation with the U.S. into the hacking attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, warning of “serious� consequences if Washington rejects a probe that it believes would prove Pyongyang had nothing to do with the cyberattack.

Kazuo Hirai was worried.

One of the more surreal weeks to hit the movie industry in recent memory got even stranger Friday as the president of the United States of America spent part of his last press conference of the year giving a shout-out to Seth Rogen and James, er, “Flacco.�

The head of the Hollywood studios’ chief lobbying arm on Friday called the cyberattack on Sony Pictures “a despicable, criminal act.�

President Obama on Friday said Sony Pictures “made a mistake� in canceling the release of the satirical film “The Interview� after threats from anonymous hackers, offering an unusual public rebuke by a president of a corporate decision along with a strong defense of free expression.

Top management at Sony Pictures Entertainment are feeling the walls close in on them.

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s decision to yank “The Interview� from movie theaters will benefit rival studios trying to attract audiences during the crucial holiday movie season.

As Sony Pictures’ cancellation of “The Interview� continues to raise a clamor around the world, the two people at the very center of this riveting drama — the film’s co-directors, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg — have been silent.

A number of North Korea experts on Thursday echoed U.S. intelligence officials’ assessment that the reclusive regime was somehow connected with the computer hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, leading to a massive leak of sensitive data and threats that prompted the studio to cancel release of the North Korea-themed comedy “The Interview.�

The Rev.

There are few things Hollywood loves — or relies on — more than a good villain.

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s extraordinary decision to scrap the Christmas release of “The Interview� came amid mounting pressure from powerful theater owners and other studios concerned that the film’s release could keep moviegoers away from multiplexes during the holidays, one of the most lucrative periods for Hollywood.

As Sony made the decision Wednesday to scrap the Dec. 25 release of “The Interview,� casual observers found themselves asking some logical how-could-this-happen questions.

When Seth Rogen’s film “The Interview� had its Christmas Day theatrical release canceled Wednesday, incensed movie fans rushed to social media to voice their disappointment.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has canceled the Christmas Day release of “The Interview� after the nation’s major theater chains said they would not screen the film.

The massive computer breach at Sony Pictures Entertainment could test laws that require companies to protect their employees’ personal and medical information.

Concerned about threats to moviegoers, theater owners are starting to pull “The Interview� from their holiday lineups amid a relentless cyberattack that has wreaked havoc on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Theater owners are considering canceling plans to put “The Interview� on their screens in the wake of new threats by the hacking group that has unleashed a relentless cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

At the end of October, Christian Bale decided not to take on the role of Steve Jobs.

In an interview with The Times the week before a devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures came to light, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, co-directors of the upcoming comedy “The Interview,� seemed fairly cavalier about the possibility that North Korea could take serious action in response to the film.

The stakes for Sony’s North Korea comedy “The Interview“ got raised higher — a lot higher -- on Tuesday.

The hacking group behind the Sony cyber security attack has made its first physical threat.

The first legal salvo has been leveled against Sony Pictures Entertainment since the massive computer breach that exposed the personal information of thousands of current and former employees.

Before signing on to play North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the comedy “The Interview,� actor Randall Park understandably had a few concerns.

Weeks after hackers waged a devastating cyberassault on Sony Pictures Entertainment, major Hollywood studios have broken their silence on the worst hack attack in the industry’s history.

The top executives from Sony Pictures Entertainment, still reeling from a cyberattack that crippled the studio three weeks ago, assured employees Monday that the company would survive.

Stunned by a massive leak of sensitive documents, Sony Pictures Enterprises embarked Sunday on an attempt to contain the crisis by discouraging further media coverage of the leaked emails, which have embarrassed Hollywood stars and the studio’s top executives.

The producers of James Bond films have acknowledged that an early version of the screenplay for the new movie “Spectre� was among the material stolen in the massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Mark Cuban plays a tough negotiator on ABC’s “Shark Tank.�

The internal emails leaked in a massive computer hack at Sony Pictures have captivated an entertainment industry that’s all ears for scandalous revelations.

Seth Rogen and James Franco went through with the premiere for their latest comedy “The Interview� on Thursday amid a cyber attack on Sony Pictures entertainment and threats on the studio from North Korea.

Federal investigators are getting closer to confirming that North Korea was behind the embarrassing cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer systems, the head of the House Intelligence Committee said Friday.

Stern security guards kept a close eye on guests. Stars were kept away from the press.

In an alternative universe without blaring headlines about leaked emails, security breaches and North Korean denunciations, one imagines that Sony Pictures would have put on a splashy premiere for its upcoming Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy “The Interview,� opening on Christmas.

When Gov.

Kevin Hart said he is “able to brush ignorance off� his shoulder and “move forward� in the wake of leaked Sony emails that called him a “whore.�

Sony Pictures Entertainment co-Chairman Amy Pascal, one of the most powerful executives in Hollywood, has come under intensifying pressure after the release of confidential emails in which she made racially insensitive remarks about President Obama.

Mark Ruffalo has never been one to shy away from controversy.

Sony Pictures Co-Chairman Amy Pascal has apologized for remarks made in emails to producer Scott Rudin that contained racially charged comments about President Obama.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is going through with its red carpet rollout for the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy “The Interview� on Thursday evening in Los Angeles -- but unlike other Hollywood premieres, no press interviews will be allowed.

Months before a devastating computer attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, studio executives debated the risk of releasing the upcoming comedy “The Interview� amid threats from North Korea that the movie was tantamount to an act of war.

An online message claiming to be from the group that hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer systems demanded that the studio stop showing “the movie of terrorism,� a reference to the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy “The Interview.�

The FBI will hold “cyber security awareness briefings� for Sony Pictures Entertainment employees this week, according to an internal email obtained by The Times.

Leave it to James Franco and Seth Rogen to lighten the mood.

Federal law enforcement officials investigating the escalating computer hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment say they are taking seriously the possibility that the North Korean government may be behind the crime.

A cyber security firm investigating the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment has called the attack on the studio’s technology systems “unprecedented,� Michael Lynton, Sony chief executive, told employees Saturday in an email.

The financial cost of the crippling cyberattack that hit Sony Pictures Entertainment last week is beginning to become clear — and it won’t be cheap.

Anxiety heightened on the Sony Pictures lot after employees received a threatening email from someone claiming to be with the hacking group that infiltrated the studio’s computer system last week.

Sony executives are struggling to contain damage in the aftermath of a hacking that leaked several finished films, personal information about thousands of employees and other confidential documents.

Judd Apatow, Sylvester Stallone and Rebel Wilson were among the roughly 47,000 people whose personal information was hacked during the massive Sony security breach, according to data-security consulting firm Identity Finder.

The whodunit surrounding the recent hacking at Sony Pictures Entertainment has taken another twist.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s office on the Sony Pictures lot is a lot like you might imagine it to be.

The upcoming comedy from Sony Pictures Entertainment, “The Interview,� was expected to draw the ire of the North Korean government, with a plot that depicts a fictional assassination attempt on leader Kim Jong Un.

Life is slowly returning to normal for Sony Pictures Entertainment after a computer attack that crippled the studio early last week.

While some Sony Pictures Entertainment employees have regained access to their email accounts, the company is still scrambling to repair the damage after a massive computer breach last week.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has made progress getting its systems back online, after a hacker group hijacked networks last week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In an email to thousands of employees on Tuesday evening, Sony Pictures Entertainment executives Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton said they are “deeply saddened� by the security breach that led to leaked personal employee and company information.

If Sony Pictures employees return to work Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend without computer or email access, it will mark the beginning of the second week of blackout for the Culver City movie studio after a widespread hack.

Sony Pictures Entertainment suffered a widespread hack that rendered the film studio’s computer systems useless, in a twist right out of a cybersecurity thriller movie.