Christmas is one of the biggest movie days of the year.

This year, nine movies will come out on Dec. 25.

If you're heading to theaters, and aren't sure what to see, we've compiled which films are worth checking out and which you should wait for on DVD. 

1. Pass: "Unbroken"

What it's about: Based on a true life story, the World War II movie follows former track star Louis Zamperini (Jack O'Connell) as he spends over two years in Japanese prisoner of war camps after surviving a plane crash.

Why to see it: The survival story is Angelina Jolie's third time behind the director's chair with a script from the Oscar-winning team of Joel and Ethan Coen ("Fargo").

Why to pass: While the film covers a lot of ground, reviews suggest the movie doesn't completely capture the essence of Zamperini while shortchanging on a few significant scenes from Laura Hillenbrand's book of the same name.

The film failed to gain any big nods at the Golden Globes which doesn't bode well for the film at the Oscars.

2. Must See: "The Imitation Game"

What it's about: The World War II film follows mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he leads a secret team on a mission to crack a code that will allow the British to decipher secret German codes and help win the war. The film is getting its wide release on Christmas.

Why it's a must-see: See the film for Cumberbatch and co-star Keira Knightley alone. Both are masterful on screen. Cumberbatch has a knack for playing awkwardly humorous geniuses on screen.

The story of Turing and how he helped win the war was a long held government secret that took a tragic turn due to the mathematician's homosexuality which was illegal at the time. This part of the film feels slightly rushed through.

Both Cumberbatch and Knightley received Golden Globe nominations for their roles. Cumberbatch is almost certainly a lock for an Oscar nomination.

3. See: "Selma"

What it's about: The film follows Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) as he attempts to lead a voting march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.

Why to see it: Powerful and emotional, it's impossible to watch this film without thinking of the parallels between the protests today in light of the Eric Garner and Ferguson cases. David Oyelowo is the perfect embodiment of Dr. King.

One scene that sticks out in particular is a hard-to-watch portrayal of Bloody Sunday in which 600 marchers were brutally attacked.

As our reporter Brett Arnold points out in his review, it's an important film not only to see where we came from but to help show how much farther we need to go as a nation. 

4. For the family/musical lover: "Into the Woods"

What it's about: The adaptation of the book and musical of the same name follows a group of fairy-tale characters from "Cinderella," "Jack and the Beanstalk," "Rapunzel," and "Little Red Riding Hood" after a curse is placed upon a baker and his wife by an evil witch (Meryl Streep).

Why to see it: Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, and more singing. Need we say more?

Disney not only has an all-star cast, but composer Stephen Sondheim, the lyricist behind plays including "West Side Story," "Sweeney Todd," and "Into the Woods."

5. Go out and find: "The Interview"

What it's about: When two journalists (Seth Rogen and James Franco) get invited to North Korea to interview dictator Kim Jong Un, the CIA asks the duo to assassinate the leader in a secret mission.

Why to see it: Sony announced Tuesday the controversial comedy will get a limited release Christmas Day in select theaters. The studio originally pulled the film's release after the five big US theater chains canceled screenings following threats to theaters showing the movie.

Although wildly inappropriate, the movie is hands-down one of the funniest films we've seen this year. 

You can view the theaters showing the film here.

The four other movies coming out Christmas Day:

6. "Big Eyes": Tim Burton's comedic drama based on the true-life story of artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) whose husband Walter (Christoph Waltz) started taking credit for her successful paintings of characters with big eyes. Both actors were nominated for Golden Globes. See it.

7. "The Gambler": Mark Wahlberg stars as a professor who has a double life as a gambler and gets involved with a student. Skip.

8. "American Sniper": Clint Eastwood's second film this year ("Jersey Boys") is based on the New York Times' best-seller of the same name starring Bradley Cooper as United States Navy SEAL Chris Kyle who was known as the deadliest sniper in US history. See it.

9. "Leviathan": The Russian drama is about a man fighting against a corrupt mayor to retain ownership of his property. The film is currently sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with over 30 positive reviews.  The film won best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival this year. A good alternative from the ordinary.

Other films to check out:

If you don't want to see any of those movies, here are a few recent releases you should consider seeing over the holidays.

"Top Five"

Release date: Dec. 12

Chris Rock's return to theaters is both funny and and an introspective look at fame. Rock plays Andre Allen, a washed-up actor known for a franchise in which he plays a cop in a bear suit called "Hammy the Bear." Years later, Allen tries to rejuvenate his career with a more serious role; however, most reporters just want to talk about his old franchise. In many ways, the film echoes this year's earlier film "Birdman," starring Michael Keaton but without the feeling of a dramatic one-shot. 

Fans hoping to see Kevin Hart, who has been a regular in promos for the film, will be disappointed by a short cameo from the comedian. However, there are a few other big cameos in the film to make up for it.

"The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies"

Release date: Dec. 17

The best of "The Hobbit" trilogy, director Peter Jackson's final installment takes us back to Middle Earth one last time to battle a dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) and a handful of armies who descend upon a mountain filled with treasure.

While not perfect, this is the movie with the majority of the action that fans have been waiting for through two other installments. The film is already performing very well overseas and should end up with one of the largest hauls at the box office this year by the end of its run.

"The Theory of Everything"

Release date: Nov. 7

Eddie Redmayne's magnificent portrayal of Stephen Hawking not only earned him a Golden Globes nomination, but also wowed Hawking himself. As a result, he allowed filmmakers to swap out a synthetic voice they created for Hawking's character with his own trademarked version.

Redmayne trained for four months to play the cosmologist, reading everything and watching every video he could find on the theoretical physicist. He also regularly worked with a choreographer and visited a neurology clinic where he spoke to patients. 

Not only does the film narrates Hawking's life, but also the hardships it brought upon his relationship with wife Jane, beautifully played by Felicity Jones.

"Inherent Vice"

Release date: Dec. 12 (limited). Wide release is Jan. 9

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon reunite in a wacky detective tale where Larry "Doc" Sportello (Phoenix) investigates the disappearance of an ex girlfriend.

Based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon, our own Brett Arnold says the film is worth a watch for Phoenix's performance alone as a "pot-smoking hippie who obliviously stumbles from one major clue to the next."

Phoenix received a Golden Globe nod for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical.

SEE ALSO: 14 movies to see this winter

AND: These will be the 12 biggest movies of 2015

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Do you ever finish watching a movie and wish it had been done slightly differently? You're not alone.

There are hundreds of people working together online to create unofficial fan edits out of movie, modifying them in clever — and frequently bizarre —  ways to create something totally new.

15. Bateman Begins: An American Psycho

Most fan edits correct errors in movies, or add in deleted scenes. However, some ambitious people edit different movies together to make something totally new. This fan edit combines footage from 'American Psycho', 'Batman Begins', 'The Dark Knight' and 'The Machinist' and creates one long story. 

It's difficult to describe the plot of 'Bateman Begins', but it uses the rough outline of 'Batman Begins' as the movie's beginning, and then Christian Bale is shown to become more deranged and violent using footage from 'American Psycho' and 'The Machinist'. It sounds bizarre, and it is, but it makes for an entertaining watch.

14. AARRSSTW-WTSSRRAA

In case you hadn't guessed, this is the original 1977 'Star Wars' movie re-sorted by shot length. That's right, some eager 'Star Wars' fans made exact measurements of how long each camera angle lasts for and rearranged the entire movie. 

Is it watchable? No, not really, it's difficult to make sense of the movie now. But it does show just how dedicated 'Star Wars' fans are, and forces you to look at the movie in an entirely different way.

You can watch the whole movie here.

13. Caddyshack: No Respect

'Caddyshack: No Respect' is an unofficial fan edit of classic 1980 cult comedy movie 'Caddyshack' which cuts out the character of Al Czervik as much as possible. 

Here's the creator of the fan edit explaining why he made the changes:

"I hate Rodney Dangerfield. With a passion. He is not funny. Never was. His annoying presence stands out even more in Caddyshack next to comedic greats like Bill Murray and Chevy Chase."

The New Year represents a fresh start. And some of us may need it more than others.

Here are 28 high-profile people (and teams) whose careers or reputations took a big hit in 2014. Many are likely to bounce back — while others may never recover. 

Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice

The Baltimore Ravens running back was charged with assaulting his then-fiancé Janay Palmer in February, but the news didn't initially gain traction in the media. 

That changed in September, when the NFL announced it would suspend Rice for a measly two games, prompting critics to point out that the league seemed to take marijuana use and college recruiting violations more seriously than domestic violence.

The story got even bigger when TMZ released the full security camera video of Rice punching Palmer, who by then had become his wife, in an elevator at Revel Casino in Atlantic Casino. Afterward, the camera showed him dragging her out of the elevator. 

The Baltimore Ravens cut Rice from the team, and the NFL suspended him indefinitely. Although though Rice won the appeal of his indefinite suspension in November, it is unlikely that an NFL team will add him to its roster any time soon.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel

In November, Hagel resigned as US Secretary of Defense under pressure from President Obama. As it turns out, Hagel "just wasn't up to the job," a senior defense official concisely summarized.

Although Hagel was reportedly chosen for the position in order to reorganize the armed forces and cut defense spending, he ended up needing to focus on other projects, including combating the rise of ISIS and the spread of Ebola.

'7th Heaven' actor Stephen Collins

This October a recording from a confidential marriage therapy session in 2012 was made public in which the "7th Heaven" actor admitted to molesting underage girls.

In December, 67-year-old Collins released a statement to People magazine in which he admits to inappropriate sexual contact with three female minors. In that statement he said: "Forty years ago, I did something terribly wrong that I deeply regret. I have been working to atone for it ever since."

Last week, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced their list of inductees for  2015.

After two months of voting by an international body of more than 600 artists and music industry insiders, the votes were tallied and the resulting winners will be celebrated at the official ceremony on April 18th, 2015.

And while some of the inductees feel nearly inevitable (Ringo Starr), or even sentimental (three posthumous inductees: Lou Reed and the leads of both the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble), some of the people left out feel like a statement of purpose.

Of the nominees — a list that is comprised of people who, amongst other things, must have released their first record at least 25 years ago — the most notable snubs were to iconic Compton rappers, N.W.A., and seminal British lads, The Smiths. Both of these acts defined an entire generation of disgruntled and alienated youth and changed popular music in the process. 

Without the pioneering work of N.W.A. there is no West Coast Hip Hop sound to follow: no Snoop Dogg, no East vs. West rivalry (though arguably you still get Tupac who came out of California Bay Area group Digital Underground, the rift and talent pool would certainly be more one-sided, tilting Eastward). Similarly, without the legendary influence of The Smiths, there is no Oasis: no Gallagher brothers rivalry, potentially no Blur or likely Travis, either. 

For Green Day, a band that through numbers of hits alone certainly deserve to be there, some think they may be cutting in line a bit. A recent article at Spin.com suggests that Billie Joe Armstrong would likely himself "find it quizzical" that they made it in before The Smiths or Nine Inch Nails. 

For his part, Ian Scott of Anthrax thinks that it's currently a popularity contest when it doesn't need to be. In a recent NY Daily News article, Scott says, "When you talk about sports, you look at the stats, it's all math...Babe Ruth hit x average and x home runs and so he gets in. Numbers don’t lie. When it comes to music it comes strictly down to taste."

There does seem to be some large bias against Heavy Metal, Dance Music, and Hip Hop too, perhaps based on the feelings of some who believe  that only "Rock" with a capital R acts should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. By such narrow definitions, bands should literally be forced to roll as well.

Until that happens, we can probably assume that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is working to be inclusionary of major movements in modern music and respect that. Still, if that is the case, it takes more than the occasional genre act as lip-service to prove it. 

SEE ALSO: Green Day marks rock's new generation in Hall of Fame

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This past year was great for singer Pharrell Williams. His song "Happy" secured him Grammy nominations for Best Music Video and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Despite Pharrell's ubiquity, "Happy" made $2,700 in publisher and songwriter royalties from 43 million Pandora streams in the first quarter of 2014, according to an email from music publisher Sony/ATV CEO Marty Bandier obtained by Digital Music News.

In the letter, Bandier said a million streams of a song on Pandora yields roughly just $60 in royalties. “This is a totally unacceptable situation and one that cannot be allowed to continue,” Bandier wrote.

Fusion's Rob Wile points out that these numbers aren't all inclusive and don't include performance rights royalty rates, so Pharrell likely earned more than the paltry $2,700 figure.

"According to industry analyst Michael DeGusta, Pharrell would likely have earned approximately $25,000 from the 43 million plays," Wile says. 

Bandier added: "We at Sony/ATV want these digital music services to be successful because they are a great way for music fans to listen to music and have the potential to generate significant new revenues for everyone. However, this success should not come at the expense of songwriters whose songs are essential for these services to exist and thrive." 

Pandora is the most used streaming service, which paints an ugly picture for artists looking to make a living off of their craft. Taylor Swift recently spoke out about how little artists make from streaming, claiming that services like Spotify don't value her art. Swift pulled her entire catalog from Spotify in protest.

Given how little he's making, it comes as no surprise that Pharrell is among a group of artists demanding that YouTube take down thousands of songs it doesn't have permission to share. If YouTube doesn't remove the 20,000 songs, a legal group called Global Music Rights — which represents artists including Pharrell, the Eagles, John Lennon, and Smokey Robinson — says it will bring a $1 billion lawsuit against Google, YouTube's parent company.

Pandora's Director of Public Affairs Dave Grimaldi provided this statement to Business Insider: 

NOW WATCH: How To Get A Few More Days Out Of An Opened Bottle Of Wine

SEE ALSO: Some Of The Biggest Names In Music Are Threatening YouTube With A $1 Billion Lawsuit

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It has been a difficult year for a number of brands, ranging from newer companies like American Apparel to stalwarts like McDonald's.

Fortunately for these companies, nothing is permanent. We spoke with three branding experts to get their take on which struggling business and personal brands are poised to come back strong next year.

American Apparel

The controversial clothing retailer removed founder Dov Charney from his CEO position in June, reportedly after his board of directors became concerned that he had not been truthful in responding to claims that he had sexually harassed his employees.

Jeetendr Sehdev, a celebrity branding expert and professor at the University of Southern California, expects the company's new leadership to return the brand to prominence with its trademark provocative advertising and a new campaign starring dancing YouTube sensation Brendan Jordan.

"American Apparel remains a challenger brand imbued with masses of cultural currency that perfectly positions itself for 2015," Sehdev says.

Lululemon

The yoga-inspired athletic retailer spent 2014 working to recover from a disastrous 2013, when it had to recall 17% of its bottoms for being too sheer and its founder made comments indicating that women who had a problem with the size of Lululemon's clothes were too fat to be wearing them.

But as 2015 draws near, it seems Lululemon is turning a corner. Erich Joachimsthaler, founder and CEO of the strategy firm Vivaldi Partners, thinks the company is in for a resurgence in the New Year.

Joachimsthaler predicts that the company's new ventures into menswear will make everyone forget the mistakes of 2013. Plus, the recent drop in oil prices will help make its products cheaper to produce.

McDonald's

The world's most famous fast-food brand struggled in 2014 as young people continued to seek personalized, organic options over the brand's signature mass-produced hamburgers and chicken nuggets. Meanwhile, the company was the target of nationwide protests from workers seeking higher wages.

Sehdev says that in 2015, the Golden Arches will succeed with the implementation of re-designed restaurants, a mobile ordering app, and the "Create Your Taste" sandwich option, a test program that allows people to customize their own hamburgers with high-quality ingredients.

"Next year we'll see the start of a necessary re-imagining of the iconic brand as McDonald's demonstrates a greater understanding of business ethics and consumer purpose," Sehdev says.

JetBlue

JetBlue started 2014 by stranding a bunch of passengers in Barbados after canceling flights due to cold weather. Later in the year, it eliminated several features that had been the brand's hallmarks, including its one-class-fits-all boarding system, its promise of generous legroom for all passengers, and its refusal to charge a baggage check fee.

Joachimsthaler sees the company bouncing back in 2015, as it begins to make more money from courting high-end, first-class passengers and its geographic expansion into the midwest. He also thinks consumers will be won over by an emotional new ad campaign, through which the company is giving free flights to citizens who perform good deeds.

Justin Bieber

Biebs began the year by getting arrested for drag racing without a license while allegedly under the influence of Xanax and marijuana. He also made headlines for getting into a fight with actor Orlando Bloom, while otherwise keeping a fairly low profile.

Sehdev sees a 2015 resurgence for Bieber due to the release of a new song and renewed interest from fans who admire his willingness to be his bad boy self in public, regardless of what the critics say.

"There is only one Bieber and his brand not only remains differentiated from a plethora of other pop stars but also is now more humanized than ever before," Sehdev says. "Justin's authentic persona is rewarded with Beliebers that are nearly three times as loyal as other fan followings."

The NFL

The National Football League's concussion issue lingered throughout the year, as players fought in court over the fairness of a legal settlement that could cost the league $1 billion. And later in the year, several teams dealt with lawsuits alleging they had paid cheerleaders below minimum wage.

Of course, the negative media coverage from those proceedings paled in comparison to what came after the league ignored allegations that Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice assaulted his wife in an elevator and TMZ published video footage of the incident. The league also endured criticism when Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was indicted for allegedly assaulting his four-year-old son with a tree branch.

Matti Leshem, founder and CEO of the brand strategy firm Protagonist, thinks the NFL is poised to turn its public image around in 2015, in large part due to its hiring of former Pepsi executive Dawn Hudson to be its chief marketing officer.

Leshem, who worked with Hudson when she was at Pepsi, says her willingness to consider outside-the-box ideas and experience reaching out to constituents on the consumer side will give her the power to redirect fans' attention to the league's on-field action.

"She's an incredibly formidable, very strong woman," Leshem tells Business Insider. "She is going to make a huge difference because she really understands marketing and advertising."

Target

The past year was one of change for Target, which suffered a massive customer data breach at the end of 2013 that will end up costing the company an estimated $148 million. The breach caused CEO Gregg Steinhafel to step down in May, with the company hiring Pepsi executive Brian Cornell to replace him.

Sehdev thinks the brand will return to glory in 2015 due to its unique visual identity, which makes it stand out from Sears and Wal-Mart, and new partnerships with Taylor Swift and Billy Joel.

"The retailer's efforts at creating innovative brand-centric shopping experiences, such as partnerships with Taylor Swift and Billy Joel, will not only further its perception as a dynamic brand in tune with today's audiences but also revive some of that 'Targé' mojo in the hearts and minds of consumers," Sehdev says.

SEE ALSO: The 10 Worst Corporate Logo Changes Of 2014

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Sony may not yet have a way to distribute "The Interview," but Hustler head Larry Flynt wants to bring a version of the movie to the public. A porn version, that is, titled "This Ain’t the Interview XXX."

Hustler Video — which has also produced porn parodies of "Game of Thrones," "The Simpsons," and "Glee" — will begin shooting an adult-video spoof of the Seth Rogen and James Franco North Korea-based comedy in early 2015.

Just as in "The Interview," the story line will revolve around two civilians recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. 

When Sony pulled "The Interview" from theaters last week after threats from hackers, Flynt — who fought for his own creative freedom in the Supreme Court — was especially bothered.

He tells The Hollywood Reporter:

"I've spent a lifetime fighting for the First Amendment, and no foreign dictator is going to take away my right to free speech. If Kim Jong Un and his henchmen were upset before, wait till they see the movie we're going to make."

Flynt is no stranger to the issues surrounding creative expression. As explained by CinemaBlend:

The case, Hustler Magazine vs. Falwell was brought to the Supreme Court in 1988. The suit was in response to a parody of Jerry Falwell’s first sexual encounter, and the unanimous court decision was that the parody was in grounds of the First Amendment’s free-speech guarantee and that Jerry Falwell was not entitled to any compensation for "intentionally inflicted emotional distress." This case is now taught in law schools in regards to freedom of expression. 

Sony has said that it was forced to pull "The Interview" after major theater chains backed out of showing the film, but the studio's CEO Michael Lynton assures that Sony is looking into "alternatives to enable us to release the movie on a different platform."

The studio added in a statement: "It is still our hope that anyone who wants to see this movie will get the opportunity to do so."

SEE ALSO: We Saw 'The Interview' Weeks Ago, And It's Clear Why North Korea Hates It

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For over 40 years, Jonathan Goldsmith worked as a journeyman actor with hundreds of IMDB credits to his name.

In 2006, he booked the role of a lifetime: the spokesperson for a Dos Equis beer campaign that soon made him known to millions as "The Most Interesting Man In The World."

Goldsmith lived and worked in Hollywood for years, but now prefers the quiet life with his wife Barbara and their two dogs in Vermont.

He talked to Business Insider about how he landed the role that turned him into a cultural icon.

Produced by Graham Flanagan. Additional Camera by Justin Gmoser.

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"Top Gear" is no stranger to controversy, but the wildly popular car show's upcoming "Patagonia Special" may be the most eventful in the program's exceptionally eventful history.

The show and its trio of hosts made waves around the world in October after being driven out of their filming location in southern Argentina by what they described as an "angry mob." After months of anticipation, the episode is finally set to air and fans will get to see the show's mass exodus for themselves.

So what caused all of this trouble? At the heart of the controversy is the license plate on the car driven by host Jeremy Clarkson.

The blue Porsche 928's plates — which read "H982 FKL" — were reportedly seen as a reference to the 1982 Falkland conflict between Great Britain and Argentina.  

According to the Daily Telegraph, the angry mob confronted the BBC crew at a hotel in the town of Ushuaia. During the confrontation, the show's hosts — Clarkson, along with James May and Richard Hammond — concealed themselves "under a researcher's mattress." 

After the initial confrontation, the show's hosts and the female members of the crew were ushered onto a chartered plane and flown to safety in Buenos Aires. However, 29 members of the "Top Gear" crew stayed behind and were forced to escape the mob by driving the convoy of production vehicles to safety in nearby Chile.

Along the way, the convoy and its police escort were met by roadside crowds hurtling rocks and shouting profanities at the cars. 

The Falklands War is a particularly touchy subject for Ushuaia. The city was the last port for the Argentine battle cruiser General Belgrano before it was sunk by British submarine's torpedoes during the conflict — taking the lives of more than 300 sailors. Controversy, over the sinking of the warship and ownership of the Falklands Islands linger more than 30 years on. 

Fans of the show will be treated to the prospect of the dynamic trio's 1,600-mile journey to the southern-most city in the world.

In addition to Clarkson's offending Porsche 928 GT manual, expect to see Hammond in his obligatory muscle car — in the case a classic Mustang — as well as James May in a bright red Lotus Esprit.

The epic-ness of the special could not be contained in just one episode. Producers have decided to split the special into two parts, with the first scheduled for Dec. 27 on BBC2 and BBC2 HD. The second will air the following night. 

Those outside the UK may have to wait bit. No word yet when the episode will hit the US.

SEE ALSO: 10 Reasons Why 'Top Gear' Is The Greatest Show On TV

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Sony has authorized screenings of "The Interview" on Christmas Day in the latest twist in the showdown with North Korean hackers.

The movie will have a limited theatrical release in the US. According to The Wrap, Sony may also announce a video-on-demand release for the film.

"We have never given up on releasing The Interview and we're excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day," said Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Entertainment, in a statement. "At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.

"I want to thank our talent on The Interview and our employees, who have worked tirelessly through the many challenges we have all faced over the last month," he added. "While we hope this is only the first step of the film's release, we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech."

The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, and The Plaza Atlanta in Georgia are among theaters that will release the film Christmas Day.

Director and star Seth Rogen and costar James Franco are claiming victory on Twitter:

The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn't give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) December 23, 2014

VICTORY!!!!!!! The PEOPLE and THE PRESIDENT have spoken!!! SONY to release THE INTERVIEW in theaters… http://t.co/0KyZQAB6cf

— James Franco (@JamesFrancoTV) December 23, 2014

The White House has also released a statement supporting Sony's decision to release the film:

JUST IN: White House statement: "The President applauds Sony's decision to authorize screenings of the film" #TheInterview

— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) December 23, 2014

"The Interview" is a comedy featuring Franco and Rogen as journalists visiting North Korea to interview dictator Kim Jong Un. The film culminates in the leader's fictional assassination.

Ahead of the movie's planned release, hackers targeted Sony Pictures Entertainment in an unprecedented and devastating cyber attack, which led to the release of thousands of sensitive emails of Sony executives and threats that the hackers would release more if the film's release wasn't canceled.

Everything from movie scripts to celebrity aliases and Sony employee salaries, medical records, and social security numbers were among the data leaked online. 

You can see a list of leaked items here.

Hackers also targeted family members of Sony employees and theaters that planned to show the movie. As a result, big movie chains canceled screenings leading Sony to make the decision to pull the film from release on Dec. 25.

In a news conference last Friday, President Obama said Sony had made a "mistake" pulling "The Interview."

Since then, Sony has been looking for an outlet to distribute the comedy.

A deal to get the movie onto Dish Network fell apart for undisclosed reasons.

Earlier reports suggested Sony may have considered releasing the film on its free streaming platform, Crackle.

NOW WATCH: The Trailer For 'The Interview'

AND: Obama: Sony "made a mistake"

SEE ALSO: Here are the theaters showing "The Interview" Christmas Day

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In the past decade or so, the ugly Christmas sweater, in all its gaudy charm, has gone from a bad gift from Grandma to a hip, self-referential focus of holiday parties everywhere.

A few years ago, Evan Mendelsohn, a lawyer at the time, felt there was a huge opportunity for owning the market. He decided to develop a company around the idea with his old college buddy Nick Morton, who was working as a specialized dental surgeon. It didn't take long for this side project, Tipsy Elves, to become a serious company that inspired both Mendelsohn and Morton to quit their jobs and dedicate themselves full-time to making tacky holiday sweaters.

The two made it onto ABC's hit show "Shark Tank" in 2013 and persuaded Robert Herjavec to invest $100,000 for 10% of the San Diego-based company. In an interview with Business Insider in October, Herjavec said that Tipsy Elves has definitely been his favorite investment over six seasons of "Shark Tank," not only because the business keeps growing — its owners expect it to bring in $7 million to $8 million in revenue this year — but also because he finds Mendelsohn and Morton to be competent and knowledgeable about their customer base.

"We've never once made it a 'What can you do for us?' kind of relationship. I think sometimes Sharks invest in companies, and they get needy very quickly," Mendelsohn tells us. "We've developed more of a friendship and mentorship with [Herjavec]."

Mendelsohn had become familiar with search engine optimization (SEO) and internet marketing from the time he spent developing simple websites that would answer people's searches for things like "When is Mother's Day?" back before Google did it automatically.

Because he and Morton had gone to plenty of ugly Christmas sweater parties but had always had trouble finding something they found funny, comfortable, and well-fitting — "we were buying our sweaters at Walmart and getting women's XXL — he decided to create a landing page for all shoppers searching for things like "ugly Christmas/tacky holiday sweaters" online.

Mendelsohn has an MBA and JD from the University of California, San Diego, but he says at the end of the day he was an SEO-sufficient lawyer who partnered with a dentist.

"We didn't know anything about manufacturing," Mendelsohn says. "Basically the only skill we had between us was my internet marketing background, and everything else we just filled in the blanks."

He sought expertise from fellow entrepreneurs he met at b-school, and Morton's family ties in China got them an affordable supplier for their products. They handled the designs themselves.

In their first year, Mendelsohn and Morton put $140,000 of their savings into Tipsy Elves.

Early on, they realized they had a choice: They could make cheesy '80s-inspired sweaters or focus on a more unique product, one that played on retro designs but incorporated irreverent humor.

Today, Tipsy Elves offers both but specializes in the latter. The best-selling sweaters this year have been "Happy Birthday Jesus," featuring a bearded Jesus rocking a party hat and "Birthday Boy" robe; "Yellow Snow," with a urinating Santa Claus spelling out "Merry Christmas;" and "Frosty the Nose Thief," in which one snowman "'enhances' his lower-half at the expense of the other snowman's nose," according to the product description.

Tipsy Elves caught on with 25- to 40-year-old professionals, and when its owners gave their pitch in the fifth season of "Shark Tank," it had brought in about $900,000 in sales the previous year. The successful appearance was a huge turning point for the company, which used the momentum from the holiday-themed episode to boost sales to over $3 million.

Herjavec quickly got to work accelerating the business. Mendelsohn tells us that they met with him and his team in his Toronto office within a month of closing the deal.

"His background is in cyber security, so it's not like he has a huge manufacturing team," Mendelsohn says. "We never expected a lot of retail-specific guidance from him, but what's been really helpful has been a lot of the mentorship and high-level strategy."

Herjavec and his marketing team convinced Mendelsohn and Morton that Tipsy Elves needed to transition from a specialized company that's active only about six weeks a year to one with a variety of offerings year-round, though of course with a unique Tipsy Elves touch. "It hit home in Toronto. It was like, 'Yeah, guys, it's great you're growing, but what if...?'" Mendelsohn says.

In the past year, Tipsy Elves rapidly expanded from around 10 men's sweaters marketed as unisex to a wide variety of sweater designs for men, women, and children, as well as officially licensed college sweaters, pants and leggings, jumpsuits, accessories like beanies and socks, and t-shirts for a variety of special occasions.

Next year, the company will focus more on pushing the shirts for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving. The team started 2014 with one employee and ended with 13, including part-time employees.

Herjavec, who is based in Toronto, may be recognizable to millions of Americans who watch "Shark Tank," but he is a much bigger celebrity in Canada. His name recognition has helped Tipsy Elves take off in Canada, and he's also been generous with his business and legal connections up north.

He or a member of his team checks in over the phone with Mendelsohn and Morton weekly, and he's met in person with the duo three times over the past year.

He's heavily promoted their business as well as their charitable partnership with Save the Children called Sweaters 4 Sweaters, which has donated $155,000 from a portion of all Tipsy Elves sweater sales to provide hoodies for underprivileged American children.

A silly Christmas sweater company ended up becoming Herjavec's favorite "Shark Tank" deal because, of course, he made his $100,000 investment back in just a few months and is profiting from the brand's success, but more importantly because he identifies with Mendelsohn and Morton.

"I'm pretty busy, so I like to invest in people that I like to hang with," Herjavec says. "For me, I always want to invest in somebody who's incredibly, deeply passionate about the business, and these guys wanted to run a business. I mean they wanted to be there 24/7."

Herjavec says he never had to get too hands-on. "I didn't feel like I had to worry about them."

Next year is Tipsy Elves' first shot at fulfilling Herjavec's initiative of becoming a year-round business. So far, the partnership has been a success. "It's worked out really well for us," Mendelsohn says.

SEE ALSO: 'Shark Tank' Investor Barbara Corcoran On What Drives Her, What She Invests In, And How She Balances It All

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Sony Pictures Entertainment's lawyer has suggested that Twitter is violating state and federal laws by letting one of its users tweet data stolen by North Korean hackers. 

High-powered lawyer David Boies sent Twitter a letter Monday on behalf of Sony demanding that it suspend the account of a user called @BikiniRobotArmy, who tweeted screenshots of Sony's embarrassing documents. That letter threatened legal action against Twitter.

However, Yale Law professor Jack Balkin told me in an email message, "As to most of the leaked on Twitter, Sony does not have a very good case."

Hacker group Guardians of Peace unleashed the documents several weeks ago as part of an apparent campaign to stop Sony from releasing "The Interview," a satire about the assassination of North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-un.

Boies has attempted to stop the spread of the leaked internal documents by asking the media to destroy the stolen documents. His letter to Twitter, posted online by the Wall Street Journal, claims Twitter violated several California state laws and federal laws. 

One of those laws is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This 1986 law makes it a crime to access a computer without authorization. The law, which was used to prosecute Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, has been widely criticized for being too broad and outdated. 

Another federal law Twitter is allegedly violating is the Copyright Act. This law protects certain material from being republished. (In this case, that material would be hacked information.) However, under a doctrine known as "fair use" it's okay to publish certain copyrighted work. For example, it's considered "fair use" to publish short excerpts from other publications, or to distribute copies of an article to college students.

Sony also says the publication of the stolen data violates California's Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which forbids the disclosure of a company's trade secrets.

If Sony did sue, Twitter would likely defend itself using the section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Balkin, the Yale Law professor, told me that this law, "which is one of the most important safeguards of freedom of speech on the internet, immunizes interactive service providers (like Twitter) from lawsuits for material that others publish on their sites."

As for the copyright argument, Balkin said, Twitter has a "fairly strong" argument that the publication of the hacked data constitutes fair use.

Balkin said Sony's best argument would be that some of the leaked data constituted trade secrets and wasn't available elsewhere on the internet. However, Balkin said, "[T]he majority of the leaked material would probably not meet these criteria."

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Roughly a week after Sony decided to pull “The Interview” from its Christmas day release after hackers threatened to attack theaters showing the film, the production company has reportedly changed its mind.

Tim League, founder of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, and The Dallas Morning News both report that Sony plans to allow theaters to screen the film on Dec. 25 after all.

Sony’s decision may have been influenced by three factors:

• It couldn’t make as much money by releasing The Interview online as much as it could make from theaters. Early reports said Sony could lose $100 million by pulling "The Interview" from theatres, and it doesn't look like there were any good online alternatives. It couldn't strike a deal with Dish Network, its own video on-demand service Crackle is free and changing the structure would have taken too much time (also handling the bandwidth load would've been problematic), and releasing it for free would've been great for people, but bad for the company's bottom line. Maybe it’ll spend some time in 2015 to make Crackle into a service that might be able to handle issues like this in the future.
• The hackers promised Sony that their hacked data would remain secure unless they made "additional trouble" — Sony probably realized that was a bogus bargain. Why would Sony trust a group of hackers to not release any more information, after the damage they had already done? Sony probably realized it couldn’t take an anonymous group’s word at face value, or any value, and they probably realized their threats were bogus. Even if the hackers leaked more information, Sony would rake in millions of dollars due to all the extra advertising this film has received, now that the film has become national news.
• If terrorists actually did attack theaters that showed the film, it would effectively be an act of war. Sony was coerced because the hackers were anonymous; if a physical attack actually happened, it would be pretty easy to find the source of the attacks at that point. And it wouldn't be Sony's fault: This has already become a national news story, so the military and government would get involved with any kind of attack on US citizens. Threatening terrorism is one thing; carrying it out is something else entirely.

We can’t call this change of heart a "victory," even though Sony is now authorizing theaters to show “The Interview”: The company caved at the first sign of a threat, and that's not a good precedent. But even after a week of nonstop news about the subject, with even the president weighing in on the matter, it’s good to see that the company has come to its senses, knowing that these threats should not be taken seriously or, at the very least, acknowledged.

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A documentary that will debut on Netflix next year will reportedly provide new evidence that Michael Rockefeller, the son of former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, was eaten by cannibals in New Guinea in 1961.

Details of the documentary and its release were reported by New York Post "Page Six" columnist Richard Johnson on Tuesday.

According to Johnson, the movie, "The Search For Michael Rockefeller," will be released on the streaming video service Feb. 1 and it "confirms" that "one of the most compelling unsolved mysteries of the 20th century" ended with the young heir being "devoured." 

Rockefeller, whose great-grandfather was the cofounder of Standard Oil and one of America's wealthiest dynasties, traveled to New Guinea in 1961 to photograph the Asmat people and collect their art. At the time, he was 23-years-old and his father was the governor of New York. He disappeared after a boat he was riding in capsized.

In 2013, Carl Hoffman published a book about Rockefeller that also theorized he was eaten by cannibals. In an excerpt of that book, published by Smithsonian Magazine, Hoffman described the heir's disappearance:

"One moment his boat was being tossed by the waves, just as ours was, and the next he and his Dutch companion were clinging to an overturned hull," Hoffman wrote. "And then Rockefeller had swum for shore and vanished. No trace of him was ever found, despite a two-week search involving ships, airplanes, helicopters and thousands of locals prowling the coasts and jungle swamps."

Rockefeller's death was eventually ruled a drowning, but there have long been questions about this official version of events.

"The Search For Michael Rockefeller" hit the festival circuit in 2011, but it has yet to enjoy a wide release. According to its website, the movie is based on original footage and materials obtained when author and adventurer Milt Machlin mounted an expedition in search of Rockefeller. 

The movie was directed and produced by Fraser Heston, the son of famed actor Charlton Heston. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. 

NOW WATCH: 11 Mind-Blowing Facts About North Korea

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The "Entourage" movie follows the gang as Vince directs his first movie and takes on Hollywood.

Directed by the HBO series creator Doug Ellin, the film is set to release June 5, 2015 and features cameos from Mark Wahlberg, Billy Bob Thornton, and Emily Ratajkowski.

Edited by Devan Joseph

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Sony announced Tuesday it will give a limited release to “The Interview” starring James Franco and Seth Rogen on Christmas Day.

The film's initial release was canceled by big theater chains after hackers threatened movie theaters planning to screen the film.

This is going to be one of the hottest tickets on Christmas Day; however, not every theater will be showing the controversial film about the assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. 

Where can you see it?

Below is a list of theaters that will be showing "The Interview" on Dec. 25

We’ll continue to update this list until it's complete.

Alabama

Continental Cinema, Troy

Arizona

Harkin's Valley Art, Tempe
The Loft Cinema, Tucson

Arkansas

Riverdale 10, Little Rock

California

Agoura Hills Stadium 8, Agoura Hills
Foothill Cinema Stadium 10, Azusa
East Hills Mall, Bakersfield
Commerce 14, City of Commerce
Cinémas Palme D'Or, Coachella Valley
Fontana 8, Fontana
Granada Hills 9, Granada Hills 
Los Feliz 3, Los Angeles
Laemmle Theatre, North Hollywood (starting Dec. 31)
Perris 10, Perris
Mission Grove Theater, Riverside
University Village 10, Riverside
Sterling 6, San Bernadino
Santa Paula 7, Santa Paula
Janss Marketplace 9, Thousand Oaks 
Van Nuys Plant 16, Van Nuys
Westminster 10, Westminster

Colorado

Alamo Drafthouse, Littleton

Delaware

Penn Cinemas Riverfront, Wilmington
Westown Movies, Middleton

Florida

Swap Shop 13 Screen Drive-In Theater, Fort Lauderdale
Swap Shop Drive-In Theater, Lake Worth
Sunray Cinema, Jacksonville

Georgia

The Plaza, Atlanta

Illinois

Hollywood Blvd. Cinema, Woodbridge
Art Theater Co-Op, Champaign (Starting Jan. 2)

Indiana

Georgetown 14 Digital Cinemas, Indianapolis
Jasper 8 Theatres, Jasper

Louisiana

Robinson Film Center, Shreveport will screen for a week

Maryland

Eastpoint Movies 10, Baltimore

Massachusetts

Apple Cinemas, Cambridge

Michigan

Alamo, Kalamazoo (Starting Dec. 26)
Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor

Minnesota

MSP Film Society, Minneapolis—St. Paul

Missouri

Alamo Drafthouse, Kansas City
Chase Park Plaza, St. Louis
MX Movies, St. Louis (Starting Jan. 2)

New Jersey

Maplewood Theaters, Maplewood
Columbia Park 12, North Bergen
Fabian 8, Paterson

New York

Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington
Williamsburg Theater, Brooklyn
MovieWorld, Douglaston
Kew Gardens Cinemas, Kew Gardens
Flix Stadium 10, Lancaster
Island Cinemas, Mastic
Alamo Drafthouse, Yonkers

North Carolina

Palace Pointe, Roxboro

North Dakota

Fargo Theatre, Fargo

Ohio

Tower City Cinemas, Cleveland
Gateway Film Center, Columbus
Grandview Theatre, Columbus

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh Southside Works

Rhode Island

Cable Car Cinema, Providence

South Carolina

Terrace Theater, Charleston

Tennessee

Franklin Theatre, Franklin
The Belcourt Theater, Nashville

Texas

Essentially, every Alamo Drafthouse.

Alamo Drafthouse, Austin
Alamo Lakeline, Austin
Alamo Slaughter, Austin
Alamo South Lamar, Austin
Alamo, Dallas/Fort Worth
Alamo, Richardson
Alamo, San Antonio
City Base Cinema, San Antonio
Look Cinemas, Dallas

Utah

Brewvies Cinemas Pub, Salt Lake City
Megaplex Theatres, South Jordan

Virginia

The Alamo Drafthouse, Ashburn

(h/t The Huffington Post on many of the updated locations)

Know a theater showing "The Interview" that isn't on this list? Send me an email kacuna[at]businessinsider[dot]com.

SEE ALSO: Sony confirms it will let theaters show #TheInterview on Christmas Day after all

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Comedian Dennis Miller, known for his years on "Saturday Night Live," is selling his renovated beachfront home in Carpinteria, California, for $22.5 million, nearly double what he paid for it in 2003, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Miller and his wife bought the home for its prime location on one of California’s most pristine beaches and its exceptional sense of privacy, according to The Journal. 

The 6,000-square-foot beachfront estate sits on more than a half-acre of land with 63 feet of beach frontage on the Pacific Ocean. 

Riskin Associates with Village Properties has the listing. 

Welcome to 3333 Padaro Lane. Located in California’s Santa Barbara County, this charming seaside home was designed by architect Don Nulty.

The five-bedroom mansion was recently renovated and filled with Scandinavian antiques.

The quintessential beachfront home is decorated with a light color scheme.

While North Korea has denied its involvement, the U.S. government has accused the reclusive country as the force behind the recent Sony hack. President Barack Obama said in a press conference that the U.S. will “respond proportionately,” escalating tension between the two countries.

During this whole debacle, the South Korean press has largely remained mum, only offering basic coverage on what’s been said in the U.S. media. The prevailing theory is that South Koreans see the Sony hack as an American problem rather than something directly affecting them. 

But after things seemed to get a little out of hand over the weekend — like when people floated the possibility of putting North Korea back on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism — the South Korean press has been chiming in.

One of the more controversial columns came from Bae Myung Bok of Joongang Ilbo, who wrote, “The worst comedy would be North Korea and the U.S. taking tension to the extreme over one low-class comedy film.”

He added, “What the U.S. needs now is the ability to calm down and keep its presence of mind — and wisely solve the issue, like any superpower would do.”

His basic premise is that the U.S. is accusing North Korea based on circumstantial evidence. He points out there hasn’t been a single mention of “evidence” in the FBI statement (it only says it has enough “information”). In fact, he says this is the first time the U.S. has actually named a country in a state-sponsored cyber attack. 

This isn’t the first time we've heard this argument. Some U.S. publications like the Foreign Policy and Huffington Post wrote similar columns, while many security experts have argued it’s hard to conclude North Korea as the definitive perpetrator of the Sony hacks yet. 

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LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sony Pictures will allow "The Interview" to play in more than 200 U.S. theaters as of Christmas Day, reversing its decision to pull the film, after coming under criticism from President Barack Obama and others for caving in to pressure from North Korea.

The White House praised Sony's about-face, which the studio said would result in "a limited theatrical release" of the film, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and is about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.

"The decision made by Sony and participating theaters allows people to make their own choices about the film, and we welcome that outcome," presidential spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement.

It was another surprising twist in a saga that started four weeks ago, when a massive cyberattack now blamed on North Korea crippled the Hollywood studio. The hacking has grown into a geopolitical headache and a global symbol of attacks on free expression.

On Friday, Obama had called Sony's decision to pull the $44 million movie a mistake, suggesting it could set a precedent in which "some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States."

Congressional Republicans and Democrats, as well as Hollywood luminaries such as George Clooney, had also assailed the canceled release, with some accusing the studio of self-censorship.

Franco and Rogen, who also co-directed the film, broke their silence after Sony made the announcement.

"The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed!" Rogen said, while Franco added, "VICTORY!!!!!!! The PEOPLE and THE PRESIDENT have spoken!!!"

Sony Pictures Entertainment Chief Executive Michael Lynton said the studio was looking for more options to screen the film, which major U.S. theater chains pulled because of threats from hackers who warned of a September 11, 2001 style of attack.

Lynton said in Tuesday's statement: "We have never given up on releasing 'The Interview' and we're excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day." He said the studio, a unit of Sony Corp, was trying to secure other platforms and more theaters "so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience." 

TICKETS SELL QUICKLY

One of the first signs of a breakthrough for Sony came in a tweet from Tim League, founder of the Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain, saying it planned to show the movie. Tickets sold out for many of the screenings within minutes of being offered online.

Most of the 200 or so theaters are believed to be independent exhibitors and some said they would take some extra security precautions for the first screenings. The major movie chains that had bowed out last week, such as AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas, had not yet addressed the reversal.

"I think everybody has been doing a certain amount of this on the fly," said Jan Klingelhofer, a film buyer from Oakland, California, who got the movie into at least two theaters.

Legal experts said theater owners, not Sony, would bear the brunt of legal liability in the event of violence at the shows.

In one case that has similar themes, victims of the 2012 mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, brought a case against the theater owner Cinemark USA. In August, the judge overseeing the case refused to dismiss the lawsuit and allowed it to move forward.

Even so, Eugene Volokh, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, said movie theaters would have "a pretty strong defense" in such a case because, although there is a general threat concerning "The Interview", it is not specific or foreseeable.

Theater owners and film buyers told Reuters that Sony shared its plans to have the movie play on video-on-demand (VOD) beginning on Dec. 25. Sony has not confirmed the VOD plan.

As of yet, however, no major U.S. cable or satellite operator has plans to offer the film to their subscribers.

THREAT NOT DEEMED SERIOUS

A national security official said U.S. authorities did not rate the threats by hackers against theatergoers seriously, but it was not yet clear whether U.S. agencies would issue any additional warnings of possible attacks on exhibitors.

North Korea experienced Internet problems during the weekend and a complete outage of nearly nine hours before links were largely restored on Tuesday; U.S. officials said Washington was not involved.

Links were restored at 0146 GMT on Tuesday, but two brief outages occurred later in the day, said U.S.-based Dyn Research, a company that monitors Internet infrastructure.

Matthew Prince, CEO of U.S.-based CloudFlare, which protects websites from web-based attacks, said the fact that North Korea's Internet was back up "is pretty good evidence that the outage wasn't caused by a state-sponsored attack; otherwise it'd likely still be down for the count."

South Korea, which remains technically at war with North Korea, said meanwhile it could not rule out involvement by its neighbor in a cyberattack on its nuclear power plant operator involving non-critical data.

North Korea has denied it was behind the cyberattack on Sony and has vowed to hit back against any U.S. retaliation, threatening the White House and the Pentagon.

Some of the internal emails leaked by the hackers who attacked Sony suggest it is considering a sale of its Sony/ATV Music Publishing unit, the Wall Street Journal reported.

(Additional reporting by Meeyoung Cho and Sohee Kim in Seoul, David Brunnstrom and Mark Hosenball in Washington, Ben Blanchard and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing, Jeremy Wagstaff in Singapore, Liana Baker in New York, Jon Herskowitz in Austin, Lawrence Hurley in Washington and Mary Milliken in Los Angeles; Writing by Christian Plumb; Editing by David Storey, Steve Orlofsky and Ken Wills)

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Last Friday, President Obama criticized Sony in a press conference for pulling "The Interview" from theaters after threats from hackers.

Obama said Sony "made a mistake," explaining, "I wish [Sony] had spoken to me first. I would have told them do not get into a pattern where you're intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks."

Despite Sony CEO Michael Lynton disputing the president's comments, many industry insiders argued that Obama's strongly-worded remarks would ultimately force the studio to release the controversial film one way or another.

By Tuesday, Sony announced that "The Interview" would get its Christmas Day release after all, showing in more than 200 independent theaters across the country.

The White House was very happy with Sony's decision, and released the below statement:

The president applauds Sony’s decision to authorize screenings of the film. As the president made clear, we’re a country that believes in free speech and the right of artistic expression. The decision made by Sony and participating theaters allows people to make their own choices about the film and we welcome that outcome.

"The Interview" stars Seth Rogen and James Franco were also thrilled by the news:

Seth Rogen and James Franco star in "The Interview," about two journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The Pyongyang government denounced the film as "undisguised sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war" in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon back in June.

Since then, a group of hackers calling themselves "Guardians of Peace" hit Sony Pictures Entertainment with an unprecedented and devastating series of cyber attacks, which led to the release of thousands of sensitive emails of Sony executives and threats that the hackers would release more if the film's release wasn't canceled.

SEE ALSO: Here Are All The Theaters Showing 'The Interview' Christmas Day

MORE: Obama May Have Forced Sony To Release 'The Interview'

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