Programmed as a playful substitute to The Interview, Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s North Korea comedy Team America: World Police also has been pulled from theatres.
After Sony dropped its planned December 25 release of The Interview on Wednesday, a handful of theatres plugged in 10-year anniversary screenings of Team America, the 2004 puppet film that parodies former North Korea leader Kim Jong Il.
Cleveland’s Capitol Theatre said its long-planned Team America screening was cancelled Thursday by Paramount Pictures, the studio that released the film. The theatre had booked the film in October.
Texas’s Alamo Drafthouse also said it was pulling Team America showings on December 27 “due to circumstances beyond our control”. The chain’s theatre in Richardson, Texas, had advertised the screening as a show of support for freedom.
Paramount didn’t respond to e-mails.
Sony Pictures on Wednesday cancelled the release of the Seth Rogen, James Franco comedy The Interview amid terrorist threats by a hacking group believed to be connected to North Korea. Sony says it has no plans to release The Interview.