The CEO of Sony Pictures Michael Lynton at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo on 18 November 2014 ( AFP / File / Toshifumi Kitamura)
The devastating hacking Sony Pictures by North Korea and the cancellation of the film “The interview that kills!” could cost the film studio up to half a billion, experts say.
The cancellation of the film “The interview that kills!” qualified “error” US President Barack Obama, blew the potential cost of piracy which has been the subject of Sony Pictures after Hemanshu Nigam, founder of the consulting firm SSPBlue computer security.
This cost reached probably present “500 million dollars,” he told AFP. The CEO of Sony Pictures Michael Lynton said Friday that the studio had not yet “estimation” of the financial impact but it would be “very important.”
“The interview that kills! “parody film about a fictional CIA plot to assassinate the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, sparked the ire of Pyongyang.
On November 24, Sony Pictures has the subject of a massive computer attack claimed by the “GOP” or “Guardians of Peace”, awarded by the FBI in North Korea.
It has paralyzed its computer system and was accompanied by the online distribution of 5 films from studios including some not yet emerged, the personal data of 47,000 employees, confidential documents as the script for the next James Bond, and a series of very embarrassing emails for Sony executives
-. Reputation and loss of productivity –
Wednesday, while the GOP threatened to attack the cinema when “The interview that kills!” came out as expected on Christmas Day, the major cinema chains have abandoned the project and Sony Pictures has followed suit.
The costs of production and distribution of the film alone are estimated at $ 75 million . To this is added according to Mr. Nigam “several hundred million dollars in revenue” that Sony could expect to earn at the box office in the world of a film that has received huge media exposure given the controversy.
However, Sony said Friday “always hope” broadcast the film with “alternative paths”, even if this is difficult.
The head of Sony Pictures Michael Lynton said on CNN no “video site on demand, any commercial site,” had yet agreed to broadcast the film either in digital form or DVD.
A release on VOD or on websites of paying stream viewing largely decrease the losses. Celebrities like Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho have also offered to buy the film rights and put online for free.
Mr. Lynton has also not excluded to put the movie on the video site youtube.Com, a subsidiary of Google.
According to Mr. Nigam, cleaning and replacement of the computer system is forecast to “tens of millions of dollars.”
Kevin Haley, Symantec consulting firm, also believes that “the loss of employee productivity have not been able to access their computers” and had their deleted and all their documents stolen hard drives, and “computer system cleaning process will be terribly expensive”
There are also monumental legal expenses. Sony, target complaint partnership of employees for not having been able to protect their personal data, will incur a showdown with its insurers, etc.
The studio will also have to bear the consequences for employees and customers of the theft of their personal data, including “the possible identity theft,” says Schouwenberg, Kaspersky Lab.
Finally, the experts stressed that it was difficult to “assess the damage for the reputation of Sony Pictures, “but they would be substantial.
Sony will have to reconnect with celebrities like Angelina Jolie who was described in an email released by the pirates of” spoiled child with limited talent “.
Sony Pictures was “already in trouble” with “Movies in gestation are not stronger,” said Jeff Bock, the company specializes in box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
In addition, the torments of the Hollywood studio come as the accounts of its Japanese parent are already in the red due to a restructuring that drags on.
Copyright © 2014 AFP. All rights of reproduction and distribution reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment