The controversial movie “The Interview” produced by Sony Pictures earned more than $40 million in sales from 5.8 million digital downloads worldwide according to the announcement released by the media company on Tuesday. The comedy movie was also believed as the main reason of the cyber attack on Sony during the past months.
Sony Corp’s entertainment arm, chief executive Michael Lynton, called the $40 million mark “a significant milestones” for the studio’s unprecedented online and pay television release, on various platforms such as Google Play, Apple’s iTunes and Timer Warner Cable.
The digital release of the movie was on December 24, 2014, a week after Sony Pictures shelved a wide release when major theater chains refused to screen the movie due to unspecified threats of violence from hackers.
The movie stars some of Hollywood’s most notable stars such as Seth Rogen and James Franco, which depicts the fictional assassination of North Korea leader Kim Jun Un.
The Interview already earned $6 million in the box office after independent theaters pushed for a limited release on Christmas Day. According to entertainment insiders, the studio’s cost of the movie production was at $44 million to make and tens of millions more to market.
