This is has been a tough three weeks for Tinsel Town. Sony Pictures has been deluged by a mudslide of acrimony and ridicule as a result of the first volley of the world’s first Cyberwar. Unit 121, a 1800 strong computer hacking division within the North Korean army laid siege to the network infrastructure of an entertainment giant and walked away with a treasure trove of gossip, embarrassment and sloppy corporate practices. It was more than humbling to a company who’s owners treasure the maintenance of “face” above all. Apologies and mea culpas streamed out of the corporate offices of this once proud media behemoth.

The leaked information showed that within Sony was a corporate culture filled with callow people who had the grace and poise of a bunch of nasty middle school girls.

Sony waited, wondering what to do. The next shoe was about to drop and they were more than aware of the bounty of nastiness these hackers gleefully held in their hand.

Watching the Sony situation closely was the large theatre chains. They ponder to themselves and between themselves, these hacker have made good on every one of their promises to date, they had manage to penetrate the defenses of one of the largest corporations in the world and were holding the sword of Damocles of the nervous head of Sony. What else were people capable of ? The hackers had threatened to unleash a 9/11 type event attack theatres that dared screen “The Interview”. Compared to what they had accomplished to date decimating a multiplex with a terrorist attack seemed liked child’s play.

On July 20, 2012, during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. A gunman, dressed in tactical clothing, set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms, killing 12 people and injuring 70 others. The sole suspect, James Eagan Holmes, was arrested outside the cinema minutes later. This haunted theatre owners and it weighed deeply on them in the deliberations regarding the release of “The Interview”. They asked Sony to delay “The Interviews” release.

Suggestions were put forward to have a staged release pattern.

Like most major American corporations pressures were brought to bear from legal departments, insurance underwriters all waving the spectre of a reckless endangerment suit if the hackers made good on their threat. There was no real assurance given the skill and adroitness of the hackers that they could not accomplish even more heinous acts.

If a bomb threat is called into a building….any building it is common practice to immediately evacuate the building. All occupants of the threatened building are removed from peril and after a complete sweep of the building is done are allowed to re-enter it. The goal is being to not expose your customers or your employees to any danger whatsoever. A bomb threat heard by all, was issued to theatres owners and keeping with common practice did their best to remove their customers and employees from danger. They could not in good faith and in sound business judgment allow the film “The Interview” to be be released on their screens Christmas Day.

They asked to delay the release of “The Interview” until law enforcement and government could do their job in attempting to firmly identify the hackers and firmly assesss the threat these Cyber warriors had made.Sony was told of the theatre chains decision and instead of delaying, the film pulled it entirely from distribution. This was not the intent of the theatre owners, who had pleaded for a more measured approach.

To a somewhat battered American public it appeared that once proud bastion of American culture, the movies had caved to the threats of terrorists. It saddened many, angered a few and brought a torrent of opinions castigating both Sony and the theatre chains. Michael Lynton, the CEO of Sony Pictures went on CNN and firmly laid blame at the feet of the exhibitors. Instead of understanding the impact of a collective bomb threat to the American Exhibitors, Lynton deftly threw movie theatres under the bus in one fell swoop. It was not corporate America’s finest moment.

The American people can be a times, an astute bunch and witnessed the slightly masked sighs of relief on the part of the Sony execs. Having removed the motivation of these hackers to release any further damaging information they felt safer that their dark secrets would remain hidden.

There were numerous opportunities and offers to stage a prudent release of “The Interview”. The Arthouse Convergence, a loose collective of independent cinemas, offered to screen the film. Sony could have releases the film in a show of defiance in a few select Reel Time Theatres, theatres situated on more than secure military bases. They could have easily stated “in order to let law enforcement do it’s job we will for the time being delay the release of “The Interview”.

The movie theatre operators stepped up to protect the occupants of it’s building, Sony reacted in a attempt to put a lid on a festering Pandora’s box that was about to be released into the world and then put the blame on the shoulder of film exhibitors.

I personally feel that the theatres were dealing from a position of much higher intent.

By the way, Sony has now announced that they are considering their options.Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton met last Thursday with Sony Pictures Co-Chairman Amy Pascal to discuss racially insensitive emails from her, included joking remarks related to U.S. President Barack Obama and his taste in movies.”The jury is still out on where we go with Amy,” Sharpton said. “We’re not going to be satisfied until we see something concrete done.”

It’s a mess