How Sony Will Still Get Their Money Back

I've been meaning to write about the #SonyHack scandal ever since it started. Of course, here I am now with days of new information, culminating to today's biggest blow of all: Sony gives in and cancels the release of "The Interview" from theaters.

Before Sony actually pulled the trigger, starting yesterday, they gave the option to theater owners like Regal, AMC to opt out of showing the film. One after the other, they decided not to put up "The Interview" on their screens. The domino effect was so predictable, and so quick, by 2pm, Sony put out a statement officializing the cancellation of the film across the board.

Since this morning, I've been saying that this could have been the best thing that could have ever happened to this movie. Seth Rogen + James Franco, it's a hit or miss. You don't make a silly film as good as "This is The End" twice! The word around the [Hollywood] streets was that the film wasn't so great in the first place either, I remember Variety's hilarious headline (which has now been edited since) which said something along the lines of "North Korea can rest easy, The Interview is an act of terrorism on film". Talk about a bad review! Nonetheless the Sony hack [unwanted] publicity could have definitely been welcoming for the box office numbers. People always end up wanting to see what the fuss is all about!

By noon, I was convinced they were going to find a way to release the film on VOD as fast as possible in order to make a gigantic profit of the scandal that way. People would have flocked to to their living room couch to watch the film from the comfort of their own home, safe from any potential terrorist attack. But then by evening, Sony released another statement saying they have absolutely no plan to release the film on VOD or in any other alternative format.

Quite frankly, THAT's a mistake. While I can understand why they couldn't take the risk to  become associated with putting viewers at risk in a public area...what's shaky about releasing it online?

Why decide to completely give in to the North Koreans? Gee, this sure is starting to feel like the plot of "The Interview 2". I started thinking...By showcasing to the best of their ability that they can't 'safely' release the film (not releasing it on any platforms would do that), they can then hit up whoever their bonded with insurance-wise for a much bigger claim. Think about it, when Paul Walker tragically and unexpectedly died before finishing The Fast And The Furious 7, Universal claimed what is right now considered one of the largest Hollywood-insurance-claims in history - A whopping $50 Million! In order to capitalize as much as possible and guarantee to recoup on the film, Sony must do whatever it takes for an even larger insurance pay-out. Not to mention writing the production and Publicity/Advertising  as a loss when filing for taxes! Is this truly Sony's plan? I don't know but, I think it's a valid explanation for now.

And in the mean time, let's all watch Team America...that'll piss off Kim Jon-Un.

From Laugh Out Loud To Reaching For The Remote

Last week's Saturday Night Live featured James Franco and to my grand surprise it was quite a show! Honestly, when you think James Franco these days, you can't ever seem to let go of the horrendous job he did while hosting the 2011 Academy Awards. You gotta have some balls to host the most prestigious entertainment industry award show while high out of your tuches. I guess now with last week's SNL and his performance in "This Is The end", I may just finally be able to move on and give Franco a clean slate.

His monologue was well executed. Of course his bff Seth Rogen showed up, you know to help promote the reason why Franco probably got to host in the first place: promoting their new film "The Interview". I found myself laughing out loud through most of the skits, something I can only find myself doing every once in a while these days when watching the show. The Star Wars parody featuring old-farts-characters was a must. How come no one had thought of this before? Just brilliant. I enjoyed the VH1 (or was it MTV?) skit; it's hard to miss when the cast does impressions, but I always love those. Even though, I have not yet (and probably never will) seen NBC's "Peter Pan Live", the Christopher Walken Hook that Franco portrayed was so awesome, that I decided I needed to master my own Christopher Walken impression. Hell, I even enjoyed the pervy troll skit! But my favorite remains "Jeremy's Brain". Yet, another skit with impressions, but like I said, they are always bound to work! How can you say no to Jay Pharoh's Fresh Prince rendition? I think I even enjoyed the ever-annoying Nicki Minaj, even when she was Kim Kardashian in Weekend Update!

@jamesfrancotv's Christopher Walken is terrifyingly good. #boo #SNL #PeterPanLive #CaptainHook

A video posted by Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) on Dec 12, 2014 at 10:19am PST

Twas definitely a good episode....So what the hell happened this week? You'd think there would be obligatory witty writing with a British host like Martin Freeman hosting. Alas, no. Oh, if you don't know who Martin Freeman is, he is the hobbit, in....The [recent] Hobbit movies. And if you are like me, who thought that Elijah Woods was still playing the main character (woops) in the prequel (?) franchise...well please let me know and make me feel less uncool about my lack of JRR Tolkien knowledge. I actually fast-forwarded several times throughout the episode. The only 2 redeeming skits of the night for me were the cold open with the #TortureReport psychologists (the comcast & self-check-out jokes were amazing) & The Office: Middle Earth. It was well made and quite enjoyable, even though I'm not a fan of either.

Saturday Night Live seems to be having trouble keeping up great content on a regular basis. I think they struggle recovering when they have back to back episode. Hopefully the Amy Adams episode will be good. Go to sleep SNL writers, get some rest and give us some of that je-ne-sais-quoi for Amy....she deserves a good show!