Theaters cancelling Sony’s premiere in the wake of threats

In the wake of hacker threats invoking 9/11, Sony Pictures has cancelled the New York premiere of its film about the assassination attempt on Kim Jong-Un.

The film was scheduled to be shown at the Landmark’s Sunshine Cinema in Manhattan, but a spokesperson confirmed to Variety that the screening was off late on Tuesday, US time.

Rumors abound that other theaters are also pulling their screening of the movie in the wake of threats by the Guardians of Peace (GOP) who threatened anyone who attended. The threatening message was mixed in with further leaks of Sony files stolen from the systems by GOP.

A Department of Homeland Security official told a number of US media outlets that it had “no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters with the United States”, but that it was still analyzing the credibility of GOP’s threats.

Two former employees have already launched a class-action suit against the studio, claiming that it failed to adequately protect its networks despite known problems because it had made a business decision to accept the risk of hacking. ( See the related story Here ).