After looking like we would not be seeing the Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy The Interview for a long time, it appears that Sony Pictures has decided to take a small stand against the hackers who had forced the studio to cancel the planned Christmas Day release after threats of attack on anywhere showing the movie led the biggest theater chains to choose not to run it.

Smaller theaters are announcing that Sony has authorized select screenings of the movie on its planned Christmas Day release, including the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, who initially wanted to screen Team America: World Police in place of The Interview before Paramount shut down that plan. Continue reading for more and to see the announcement of this limited release.

Covering the film news in last few days have been very strange to say least. From the threats, to theaters pulling The Interview, to Sony cancelling the film completely, all hope seemed lost. The studio still has no plans on showing the political satire in any format, but wants to remind us that it is still out there by releasing a new teaser trailer with a slight propaganda spin to it and the Christmas Day release still attached to it.

The latter might not mean much considering the teaser could have been created in anticipation for the film’s release, and if that is the case, it is strangely coincidental that the teaser would have the “In Franco and Rogen We Trust” tag attached to it. Does this mean VOD is on the way?

Hit the jump to watch the teaser.

Now that Sony has apparently thrown in the white towel with their not-upcoming-anymore brutally honest and eye-opening documentary on North Korea, The Interview…wait, it’s not a brutally honest and eye-opening documentary about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea supreme leader Kim Jong-un? It’s actually a silly satirical comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco? Well, that’s weird. Someone should let them know.

While many theaters are running from all of this madness, the Dallas/Fort Worth Alamo Drafthouse has decided to turn up a defiant middle finger. The theater will replace The Interview with a special screening of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone‘s satirical marionette puppet comedy Team America: World Police. Read more about the event below.

It appears that this is the end for the James Franco and Seth Rogen political satire The Interview. After hackers threatened a 9/11-style attack on any theater that shows the film on December 25, major theater chains pulled the film from their showings and Sony cancelled the release date.

While many had hoped the studio would opt for a VOD release or just patiently wait for things to cool down, Sony may have already pulled the plug on those ideas as well, meaning The Interview will probably never see the light of day. Sources say that “Sony Pictures has no further release plans for the film.”

[UPDATE: Sony Has No Plans To Release “˜The Interview’ On VOD]

Yesterday, the hackers who infiltrated Sony Pictures’ computer network escalated from attacks of the informational kind to actual terrorist threats. They had announced that any theater showing the James Franco and Seth Rogen comedy The Interview would experience a 9/11-type attack. Far from what many had thought the Christmas surprise would be. Last night both the Arclight Cinemas and Carmike Cinemas announced that they would not be having any showing of the upcoming film because of the threat, and now five more theaters are following suit.

The Wrap says that Regal Cinemas, Cinemark, Cineplex, and AMC Theatres are now pulling The Interview after the threat was made. This also comes after Homeland Security stated that there is no credible information that an attack(s) will occur to said theaters that show the film on Christmas Day.

Even with Homeland Security saying the that threats are not credible, the decision of these major theaters chains to not screen the movie has forced Sony to cancel its Christmas release entirely and explore new options. Read a quote from Sony and more below.