Sony puts 'The Interview' on YouTube, other digital platforms

"The Interview," the provocative comedy that triggered a  devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures, went straight to U.S. consumers on Dec. 24 in an unprecedented online debut after hacker threats prevented its wide release on Christmas day.
   
The film was available for rental on Google Inc's  YouTube site as of early Wednesday afternoon. Microsoft Corp  and Sony itself are also showing the comedy, a day before the hastily scheduled premiere at some 320 independent theaters. Google Canada is also offering the movie.
   
It is not clear if the studio will earn back the $44 million it spent to make the comedy, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as TV personalities assigned to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
   
The enormous publicity "The Interview" has received could augur well for the movie, but the absence of major U.S. movie chains as exhibitors could also severely cut into box office receipts.  The chains refused to show the film owing to security concerns.
   
"We chose the path of digital distribution first so as to reach as many people as possible on opening day, and we continue to seek other partners and platforms to further expand the release," Sony Entertainment Chief Executive Michael Lynton said in a statement.
   
He added that Sony had first reached out to Google, Microsoft "and other partners" on Dec. 17, the day the studio said it had no future plans to release the film.
   
The movie prompted the most destructive-ever cyberattack on a company on U.S. soil one month ago and resulted in the release of embarrassing emails and confidential data.
   
U.S. President Barack Obama last week blamed the cyberattacks on North Korea and joined a chorus of politicians and top...