Emagine plans free showings of 'The Interview' as a First Amendment statement
Originally Published: December 29, 2014 3:01 AMModified: December 30, 2014 5:48 AM
Update: Troy-based Emagine Entertainment Inc. on Monday offered details about its free showing of "The Interview." Up to 5,000 free tickets will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis beginning Dec. 31 at its Canton location. Emagine asks that guests attending a free showing make a donation to The Fallen and Wounded Soldiers Fund.
The controversy of The Interview is anything but over.
Chafing from Sony Pictures Entertainments plan, now, to release the movie at select theaters across the country and simultaneously on demand, as well as hacker attempts to interfere with Americans free speech, locally based Emagine theaters plans to show the movie for free.
Troy-based Emagine Entertainment Inc. cant open the picture this week, as the State Theater in Ann Arbor plans to do on Christmas Day, since its already made commitments for its movie screens to show other pictures, said Co-Founder and Chairman Paul Glantz.
But we plan to show it beginning a week from today at Emagine Canton free of charge.
We do not and cannot support simultaneous release with video on demand...it undercuts our industry, said Glantz, who is also President and CEO of Troy-based Proctor Financial Inc.
Those whove invested literally billions of dollars worldwide in building theaters believe they should have a unique and discreet ability to show first-run films.
Emagine will lose about $15,000 a week at five showings per day, Glantz said. And it will still pay Sony the same royalties it would if it were charging people to see the movie.
The bottom line is well do this as a public service to protect the First Amendment, he said.
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Emagine plans free showings of 'The Interview' as a First Amendment statement