The Interview is top of YouTube's Popular Right Now chart after being released online on December 24th through four digital channels: Google Play, SeeTheInterview.com, Xbox Video, and YouTube Movies.
From a nationwide US opening in 331 small and independent theaters, The Interview is thought to have taken $1 million in Christmas day ticket stubs according to reports from both Variety and Deadline. The top earner in the same time period was the Angelina Jolie-directed war flick Unbroken (an estimated $15.6 million), followed by Disney's musical Into the Woods ($13.6 million), and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ($12.7 million).
USERS WHO RENTED THE FILM FROM SONY COULD SIMPLY COPY AND PASTE THE LINK TO SHARE IT
The Interview's digital takings were almost certainly hurt by piracy. Although the hackers who targeted Sony Pictures didn't release unfinished edits of the film online (as they did for both Annie and Fury), internet users have noticed that the DRM on Sony's official streaming site is woefully inadequate. Users who paid $5.99 to rent the film for 48 hours could simply copy and paste the site's URL to share the film with friends. Variety estimates that high-quality versions of the movie were torrented more than 900,000 times in the 24 hours after the film's legitimate release.
