The continued fallout of the hack on Sony Pictures has gone from comical, to eye-opening, to surprising, to jaw-droppingly surprising, to despicable, and finally has ended up at “Whoa…” Every day there is a new bit of information that digs a deeper crater for Sony to climb out of.
When news of the hacking was first reported, most of the attention was focused on which movies were going to hit the black market before their release. Then it surfaced that the hack may have been orchestrated by North Korea in retaliation for the movie, The Interview. A few days later the reports surfaced regarding the talks that Marvel and Sony had been having in recent weeks over Spider-Man. It even became more interesting when the Russo Bros. offered to produce a new trilogy of Spider-Man films, while confirming that they are directing The Avengers: Infinity War Pt 1 & 2.
Then the floodgates opened. Essentially it was revealed that all emails and information had been stolen. Reportedly everything from personal messages to Sylvester Stallone’s social security number was taken. A bright light was beamed on high-level executives, exposing the favoritism, racial insensitivity, and overall nastiness, that is the norm amongst those making power decisions in the film industry. Suddenly everyone’s dirty laundry is exposed and it is inevitable that numerous people at different levels are going to end up losing their jobs as a result.
According to recent reports at The Times, the situation at Sony Pictures has escalated from a public relations disaster to a production nightmare.
Agencies filming for Sony Pictures have cancelled shoots because the problems have left it unable to process payments, a source told The Times.
The attack by Guardians of Peace, a hacking collective suspected of having links with North Korea, has taken most of Sony Pictures’ computers offline.
Sony halting production on their movies due to the payroll system being compromised is a huge deal. It is not yet clear which films will be affected and how this will impact their projects that are in post-production, but it is reasonable to assume they get paid from the same source as well.
Spectre had just begun filming and with a release currently scheduled for late 2015, this project is certainly in danger of getting its release date bumped if any significant time is missed. This also creates an avalanche of issues with all of their movies, because the cast and crew typically line up their next projects ahead of time. Sony is in big trouble.
It is estimated that it will cost the company around $100 million dollars to rectify the computer issues. However, a price will not be as conveniently placed on the numerous relationships, such as Angelina Jolie, Kevin Hart, the Smith family, Leonardo DiCaprio, and President Obama, and more to come, that have been strained by the scandal. And since everything hasn’t been released yet, this may not even be the worst to come. A report today by THR explains that the hackers emailed reporters to expect a “Christmas Gift” that will “put Sony Pictures into the worst state.” These are scary times for anyone working at Sony.
We will continue to keep an eye on this situation as it will end up directly affecting the Spider-Man and James Bond franchises among others. This definitely weakens Sony’s standing in the film world. Are the conditions ripe for Marvel to swoop in by assisting in the revitalization of the company by taking back partial ownership of Spider-Man? Only time will tell and will be there to share it with you when it does.
What do you think this “X-Mas gift” is? What do you think will end up happening with the Spider-Man franchise? Let us know on the comment boards and make sure to share our stories on Reddit, , and !
Source: The Times, ScreenRant, THR