The Fear Is Growing: Steve Carell's North Korea-Based Movie Canceled

Now studios are afraid to go forward on any North Korea-themed projects.

Image via HitFix

After seeing what's happened to Sony Pictures in the build-up to the release of The Interview, other studios are starting to abandon their North Korea-related projects. Just hours after the top five cinema chains decided to yank The Interview from their theaters in response to a 9/11-style threat from cyber terrorists, New Regency canceled production on Pyongyang, a thriller from Gore Verbinski starring Steve Carell

The movie was set to begin production in March, but now the studio isn't going to touch it with a ten-foot pole, according to Deadline. While you can't blame New Regency for being weary after seeing Sony Pictures' movies leaked, dirty laundry aired and security utterly breached by hackers, this really sucks. First of all, can't filmmakers just make up a fiction entity that stands in place of North Korea? Are we that bereft of creativity these days?

Secondly, this unfortunately feels like Hollywood is just letting a bunch of fear-mongering hackers/terrorists win. Bending the knee to faceless, uncompromising threats isn't solving a problem—it's setting a precedent. And the last thing these studios need is to be at the mercy of any hacker who can get into a secure network.

[via Deadline]

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