The most talked about movie of 2014 will be shown in the area on Christmas Day after all. On Tuesday, SONY Pictures announced it will be releasing the controversial movie The Interview to theaters in the US on Christmas Day after all, and that put the staff at a local independent movie house into action.
Joshua Carroll, the General manager of Treehouse Cinema in Gulf Breeze says they were planning on showing the movie throughout the current controversy, they were just waiting to see what SONY would do with the film. When SONY's announcement came through, Carroll hit the phones and made the deal.
SONY's announcement came Tuesday morning and it was just a few hours after later that it was confirmed that the Treehouse Cinemas, which is located on Gulf Breeze Parkway across from Baptist Hospital, would be able to show the film. Carroll says booking a movie on Tuesday and getting it on screen on the following Thursday is unusual to say the least, but he says SONY is putting all of its resources behind this project.
It appears that the Treehouse Cinema is the only location in the area that will be showing The Interview...at least for the time being. Last week, the Carmike Cinema chain decided not to show the film at its theaters across the country including its many locations in Pensacola. Tuesday afternoon the local Carmike locations confirmed there are no plans to show the film. Joshua Carroll says the screening on Christmas day, which has already sold out, will be an intimate affair. It will be shown once at 7:30pm on only one screen which will seat about 120 people. He says there will be multiple screenings per day beginning on Friday.
The Treehouse Cinema have only been operating under that name in Gulf Breeze since the summer. They were previously known as Movies Four Gulf Breeze when they were purchased by a member of the staff. Carroll says all of the employees at the Treehouse were also employees at Movies Four, so the staff has been around for years operating at the same location. Since the purchase and the name change the small theater has converted to a completely digital format...and General Manager Joshua Carroll says it was that conversion that ultimately enabled them to get this film. since there was no way SONY would make The Interview available on 35 millimeter.
Tickets for the Christmas screening of The Interview are SOLD OUT!
