Sony Pictures on Tuesday backtracked on its cancellation of the movie “The Interview”, saying it would make the controversial Seth Rogen comedy available at a limited number of theaters starting Thursday, according to CNN.
The movie studio's CEO, Michael Lynton, said Tuesday that "we're excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day."
He did not specify an exact number because the plans were still being worked out. As of 7:00 p.m. ET, slightly more than 200 independently-owned theaters have agreed to show the film.
None of the big theater chains, like AMC or Regal, have said they'll support the release yet, but they could choose to show the movie in the coming weeks.
Sony also intends to make "The Interview" available through a video-on-demand or streaming video service, but no companies have publicly agreed to help Sony do that, according to CNN.
"We are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience," Lynton said.
A streaming deal may be announced on Wednesday, another person close to Sony said.
The independent theater release plan comes almost a week after Sony originally canceled the release of "The Interview" in up to 3,000 theaters, after hackers who broke into Sony’s computers threatened terrorist attacks against theaters that played the film.
Backlash to the decision was fierce, including from President Barack Obama, who said the movie studio had made a mistake.
On Tuesday, a White House spokesman said "the president applauds Sony's decision to authorize screenings of the film."
"As the president made clear, we're a country that believes in free speech and the right of artistic expression," the spokesman added.
In light of concerns about security at theaters, an FBI official said "we are fully engaged with Sony on the decision" to release the movie.
"The Interview" is about an assassination plot against the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. It is widely believed that the cyber-attack against Sony last month was partly due to North Korea's fury over the movie.
In fact, the FBI said Friday that Pyongyang was behind the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures, which exposed Hollywood secrets, destroyed data and forced Sony to take its entire computer network offline.