Since its release on Christmas Eve, The Interview has raked in an incredible amount of money online. The Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy, which was pulled from most theaters after terrorist threats from hackers, has made more than $30 million across the web platforms on which it has been made available for purchase.
Down the line, The Interview will come to more platforms, and at least one site will apply a different model to it. Sony Pictures Entertainment‘s Crackle service has announced it will be the first ad-supported service to offer The Interview online.
“At Crackle, we always try to push the envelope when it comes to our own original programming and we’re happy to say the same for our licensed content,” said Crackle GM Eric Berger. “We are proud to be the first to distribute the film directly to consumers in the ad-supported window.”
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Crackle has always seemed like logical choice for The Interview, since it is owned by the studio that distributes the film. Back before the film’s digital release strategy had been solidified, the New York Post published a report claiming The Interview would come to Crackle, though that report was later questioned.
As it turns out, The New York Post was almost correct–it was only off by a couple years. Variety reports that Crackle likely won’t stream the comedy until 2016. That’s a long ways off, and based on information revealed in the Sony hacks, it’s easy to question whether Crackle will even be controlled by Sony at that point.
In the meantime, there are plenty of sites already screening The Interview. The latest platform to add the controversial film to its library is Netflix, which announced during its most recent earnings call that it would begin streaming The Interview on January 24th.
