At least three Ottawa-area theatres are set to begin showing the controversial movie The Interview starting on Friday, despite vague threats from unidentified hackers against cinemas that show the film.
The Mayfair Theatre on Bank Street, Rainbow Cinemas at the St. Laurent Shopping Centre and Cinéstarz Orléans will begin showings Friday.
Rainbow Cinemas will have the first screening, with a 10:40 a.m. show, followed by four screenings: at 1:20 p.m., 4 p.m., 6:40 p.m. and 9:10 p.m. Friday.
Cinéstarz’s screenings begin Friday, with 1:40, 3:30, 5:15, 7:15 and 9:15 start times.
The Mayfair Theatre begins its screenings with a 9 p.m. start time on Friday.
The movie, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, depicts two journalists who are invited to North Korea to interview that country’s leader Kim Jong Un.
While preparing for their interview the two are tapped by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to assassinate the leader.
The release of the film has been rife with controversy.
Hackers broke into Sony Pictures computers, stole sensitive information and distributed the information online in a bid to get the release of the film halted.
They also threatened any theatre chain that showed the film.
Major theatres backed out of showing the movie; however, it has been distributed online as well as through independently owned theatre chains.
The film has attracted mixed reviews and is rated at 52 per cent on Internet film rating service Rotten Tomatoes.
