"The Interview" Grossed Over $1 Million in Its First Day in Theaters

"Considering the incredibly challenging circumstances, we are extremely grateful to the people all over the country who came out to experience 'The Interview' on the first day of its unconventional release," Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony Pictures Entertainment, said in a statement today. "The audience reaction was fantastic - the limited release, in under 10% of the amount of theaters originally planned, featured numerous sell-outs and a first-day gross over $1 million."

The movie has received consistently bad reviews online.

From the NYC Movie Guru:

  By now, you've probably heard a lot about The Interview and how controversial its concept is. Unfortunately, the screenplay by Evan Goldberg doesn't deliver when it comes to political satire and comedy because much of it is toothless, asinine, tedious and more silly than actually funny. One particularly unfunny joke that's goes on for too long is when Dave says "They hate us, cuz they ain't us" while pronouncing "ain't us" like "anus." It's as though the film were written by and for 12-year-olds given the kind of gross-out, repetitive humor found here. Lowbrow humor could work if it's done with wit intact (see Mel Brooks' films or the political satire In the Loop as an example) and if you don't feel like you're losing brain cells while watching it. A few scenes with Kim Jong-un do generate a chuckle or two, but they're far and few between.

 The Interview fails to even sustain its entertainment value because of its running time of 112 minutes. Comedies that clock past 90 minutes better have a good reason, but this film's plot is too wafer-thin and doesn't have enough laughs or bite to justify why it's longer than that...The Interview is ultimately a toothless, brainless comedic misfire that's low on laughs, wit and clever satire. If you're expecting this to become a cult classic comedy, you'll be sorely disappointed.

In the end, the real entertainment appears to have been the hackers release of emails of top Sony Entertainment officials, leading up to the off again, on again movie release. And, of course, the now all too frequent horrific government sideshow.

-RW