Netflix Is Adding a Controversial Comedy Movie in September

Netflix has a ton of great new movies and TV shows coming in September, but it's also adding a very controversial comedy film that some watchers might not have seen yet. On Sept. 1, the Seth Rogen, James Franco comedy The Interview will be available for Netflix subscribers to stream. Released in 2014, the film stars Franco and Rogen as a pair of journalists who are enlisted by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, played by Fresh Off the Boat star Randall Park.

The film was directed by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, from a script written by Dan Sterling. The plot was originally set to feature Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il — the previous leader of the country — but after his death in 2011, Jong-un was made the leader and the story was redeveloped. The Interview became highly controversial after the North Korean government threatened to take action against the United States if Sony, the film's producing studio, released it. Sony also suffered a computer hack, carried out by a group tied to North Korea, which led to stolen data and many leaked emails. This resulted in theater chains refusing to carry the movie, which led to Sony initially releasing the movie as a digital rental only.

The Interview ended up grossing $40 million in digital rentals, which made it Sony's most successful digital release. The film earned an additional $12.3 million at the global box office, as some countries opted to allow the film to be screened. With an estimated budget of $44 million, the movie at the very least earned back more than three times what it cost Sony to produce.

In 2019, Rogen opened up about the controversy surrounding the film while speaking to David Chang, on the celebrity chef's Netflix show, Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner. After speaking about the difficult nature of getting movies like Sausage Party and This Is The End made, Rogen joked, "The Interview would be the thing that people point to as like, 'Oh, that's where your hubris took you too far.' He added, "But the truth is, that movie, looking back, had the least resistance to its making. They were just like, 'Go, go, go, you're geniuses.' And we're like, 'OK, great.'"

Rogen continued: "That, I think, was the problem with it, as opposed to our other movies. They have to jump through so many hoops to get made that by the time they're getting made, they're really good because they've had a lot of holes poked in them and things like that. The Interview was the one where I was like, 'Man, wish maybe people scrutinized that a little more.' Could have had a couple more meetings about that one. That wouldn't have hurt."