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 The hackers, who said they were also responsible for seizing
control of Sony Corp's computer system last month, on Tuesday warned
people to stay away from cinemas showing the film starring James
Franco and Seth Rogen, and darkly reminded moviegoers of the Sept.
11 hijacked plane attacks on the United States in 2001.
"We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that
time," the hackers wrote.
"(If your house is nearby, you'd better leave.)"
A spokeswoman for Landmark, which was to have hosted a premiere of
the film at its Sunshine Cinema in Lower East Side, New York, on
Thursday, said by email that the screening had been canceled, but
did not explain why.
A Sony spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the threat.
Sony executives had earlier told theater owners it would not pull
the film but added they would not object if they decided to cancel
screenings, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
 Carmike Cinemas, operator of 278 theaters in 41 states, informed
Sony late on Tuesday that it would not show the film, the person
said. Carmike executives were not immediately available for comment
on Tuesday evening, a spokesman said.
An official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and
another U.S. security official said investigations had found nothing
concrete so far to substantiate the threat.
"At this time there is no credible intelligence to indicate an
active plot against movie theaters within the United States," the
DHS official said.
Police departments in Los Angeles and New York, however, said they
were take the warning seriously.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck told a news conference that
officers would be taking extra precautions to make sure movie
theaters were "as safe as we can make them". He said the threats
were "done to put terror" into U.S. audiences.
The North Korean government has denounced the film as "undisguised
sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war" in a letter to
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
CYBER ATTACK
Internet news company BuzzFeed reported that Franco and Rogen had
canceled all planned media appearances on Tuesday, the day they were
scheduled to appear at a BuzzFeed event. Representatives for the
actors did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
U.S. security agencies are investigating a hacking group that
carried out the cyber attack in November that severely damaged the
movie studio's network and published damaging internal emails,
unreleased films and employee data online. The group published what
appeared to be more internal emails on Tuesday.
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Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer of cybersecurity firm
BeyondTrust, said he believed it was the first time a film screening
had been pulled in the wake of a high-profile cyber attack.
"If they pulled the premier because of the hacking it's troubling.
The moment you start reacting is the moment you give them more
power," said Maiffret.
Sony is already reeling from the disclosures in documents released
by the hackers, which have publicly exposed internal discussions
important to the company's future.
Reuters has not been able to verify the authenticity of the more
than 100 gigabytes of documents that have been distributed via the
Internet. The company has confirmed that at least some are
authentic, apologizing for the loss of sensitive employee data and
some comments made by executives.
The newest file published on Tuesday appeared to be emails from Sony
studio chief Michael Lynton. One email showed Lynton consulted with
a senior official in the U.S. State Department in June this year,
days after North Korea threatened "merciless countermeasures" over
the release of the film.
Several rounds of leaks of emails have prompted apologies for
disparaging remarks that executives made about celebrities. The
leaks have included a James Bond script, high-quality digital copies
of films that have yet to be released and private employee data.
Sony has also been sued by self-described former employees who
accuse Sony of failing to properly protect their personal data. Sony
declined comment on the lawsuit.
(Additional reporting by Supriya Kurane, Aron Ranen, Piya Sinha-Roy,
Dan Levine, Lisa Richwine and Curtis Skinner; Writing by Peter
Henderson; Editing by Grant McCool, Ken Wills, Kenneth Maxwell and
Will Waterman)
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