While the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy The Interview made less than $3 million in its first four days of theatrical release in 331 independent film houses, it’s now being reported that it has grossed $15 million from online sales and rentals in North America between Wednesday and Saturday.
Who knows how much money the movie would have made if Sony Pictures had gone with its original plan for a wide release on Christmas Day, but what ended up being a groundbreaking gamechanger of a decision may pay off as the movie was downloaded legally 2 million times mainly on Google Play and YouTube. iTunes just started offering the movie this morning although it has yet to place on the Top 30 for the ITunes Store.
It hasn’t been determined what the plans are for the movie from here on, including the chances of it getting a normal theatrical release internationally, where the paid download was not made available, but it still has a ways to go before it makes back its $45 million budget.
Reviews have generally been mixed right down the middle on Rotten Tomatoes with many regional critics taking advantage of the availability to watch the movie via download when critics screenings were cancelled after Sony balked on the original release plans in response to major theater chains refusing to show the movie.
