It may not have enjoyed quite the box office success that a wide Christmas Day release could have brought, but Sony’s controversial comedy The Interview has become the studio’s biggest VOD release of all time following its arrival on YouTube, Google Play and Microsoft Xbox on Tuesday evening, with the film pulling in over $15 million from sales and rentals by close of play yesterday.
“We worked hard to get the film out there by Christmas day,” said Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures president of worldwide distribution, in an interview with Variety. “It was such a whirlwind to get it done that it kind of amazes me that we were able to make it happen.”
In addition to its VOD revenue, The Seth Rogen / James Franco comedy has earned close to $3 million from theaters since Christmas Day, which is impressive considering major theater chains refused to carry the film, leaving it showing in just 331 independent theaters. Still, it’s got some way to go yet before Sony recoups the $75 million it has spent producing and marketing the film…
SEE ALSO: Read our review of The Interview here
The Interview is directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and sees Rogen and James Franco leading a cast that also includes Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex), Randall Park (Sex Tape), Timothy Simons (Veep) and Charles Rahi Chun (Scrubs).