AP PHOTO[/caption]I suppose dictators of repressive regimes just can't take a joke.
THE READ: Sony's New Movies Leak Online Following Hack Attack »
This is a big deal in the entertainment world. Sony’s new movies have leaked onto the Internet after this hack.
At this moment, the story is still in the development stage.. but we know this, at least five new movies from Sony Pictures are now on file sharing websites across the internet.. The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER says this,
Copies of DVD screeners of four unreleased Sony movies including the upcoming “Annie” are getting some unwelcome early exposure, but nothing compared to the frenzy enveloping “Fury,” the war pic still in theaters since bowing last month.
“Fury” has been downloaded by over 888,000 unique IP addresses since showing up on peer-to-peer networks on Nov. 27, according to piracy tracking firm Excipio. That’s high enough to be the second most downloaded movie currently being pirated, and it’s not out of movie theaters yet.
Another big Sony movie, “Annie,” is also being pirated, this one three weeks ahead of its own wide release. Other Sony movies being downloaded include “Mr. Turner,” “Still Alice” and “To Write Love on Her Arms.”
Sony is not commenting yet.
The WRAP has this information this morning: Sony has been hacked by the #GOP group.No, not the Republican party, but instead a group called THE GUARDIANS OF PEACE. The WRAP reports that every computer in the entire company has seemingly been compromised! MORE:
But as of Friday the studio’s email, phone system and computers remained paralyzed, and in some cases staffers were using whiteboards to get things done. The studio’s Twitter accounts have also been hacked, according to two individuals with knowledge of the situation.
And while the studio has set up a parallel system offline, there is apparently no solution that has been found to undo the attack.
The hack attack is more than just movies.. it’s stolen data of stars and their contracts..
But here is the kicker: SONY is investigating the situation attempting to ascertain if NORTH KOREA may be behind the attack! According to various sources now, Sony is wondering if North Korea has funded the hackers.. REUTERS reports this connection to the SONY hack:
The attack occurred a month before Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp, is to release “The Interview.” The movie is a comedy about two journalists who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The Pyongyang government denounced the film as “undisguised sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war” in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in June.
Did a movie propel a strange and cruel dictatorship to declare war on an American studio? There seems to be a connection..
But there are a few people online who are suggesting this is all just a ploy--that the computers at Sony are awful, maybe, and that a hack could have occurred.. but that the blame game of North Korea is just a part of the INTERVIEW marketing. Making the movie seem even more important on the geopolitical stage than it ever would have been..
I don't think SONY is faking a hack--too many people would be eager to call them out on that type of scenario.. But there is a chance that they are playing this in a way that could hopefully benefit their release of THE INTERVIEW in December..
But if it's real, would this be an act of war? Or does anyone way if actors’ IDs get stolen and lackluster movies get leaked?