UPDATED 13:00 EDT / DECEMBER 15 2014

Sony caught in the middle of embarrassing emails, plot to take down an Internet ‘Goliath’

shame sign letters protestSony Pictures, the movie production arm of Sony Corp. was attacked by a group of hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace (GoP) back in November. Despite several weeks having passed since the attack, Sony still hasn’t recovered and the situation seems to be getting worse, as more leaks are being publicized by the attackers.

The root of the attack is pointing to the movie The Interview, a comedy that portrays one journalist’s opportunity interview North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un, who is then tapped by the U.S. government to assassinate Jong-Un. GoP claims that they have performed the attack and demanded that the film not be shown this coming December 25, as it is promoting terrorism and war, but Sony declined to bow down to the hackers’ demands. This reportedly led to sensitive information obtained from the company being leaked in various corners of the web.

GoP promises a big surprise awaiting Sony come Christmas day if the production house still fails to cancel the debut of The Interview.

So what have we learned from the leaks?

Project Goliath

 

The leaked Sony emails uncover a plan called Project Goliath, which aims to take down Google. Project Goliath is a plan seemingly backed by movie studios to raise $500,000 in legal assistance to groups who want to take a jab at Google for its participation, voluntary or otherwise, in film piracy. The movie studios believe that the search giant is giving consumers access to pirated content via torrent sites, doing nothing to stop piracy.

The emails revealed that Project Goliath is backed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and six major studios, conspiring on strategies to hit Google hard. Some of the emails referred to Google as ‘Goliath’ while others blatantly referred to Google as the target of Project Goliath.

The leaked emails also revealed that the movie studios are trying to build a partnership with Internet service providers to block sites that are hosting copyrighted materials.

Movies in the works

 

Other leaked documents reveal that Sony Pictures is working on a few movie titles for kids. Leaked emails between Marvel Studios co-founder and producer Avi Arad to Sony studio chief Amy Pascal discuss the possibility of releasing a Super Mario Bros. animated movie, which is intended to be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of the Cartoon Network series “Dexter’s Laboratory,” “Samurai Jack” and “Star Wars: Clone Wars.

Other emails mention a third Spider-man movie, which will have a cameo in the the Captain America: Civil War movie slated to be released in May 2016. There’s also talk of a female spidey movie, a Christmas flick slated for 2015 that will debut as a teaser at the end of The Interview, and other superhero-themed movies.

Dissing the president and movie stars

 

Movie stars are often depicted as prima donnas or divas, but not all celebrities are created equal.  Another wave of embarrassing emails leaked from Sony Pictures feature an exchanged between Pascal and Hollywood producer Scott Rudin discussing who between them needs to shut down actress Angelina Jolie. The megastar was apparently upset about Director David Fincher who had been offered to work on the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic (different from Ashton Kutcher’s movie Jobs), when Jolie wanted him to direct her in Cleopatra. The gist of the conversation boils down to Jolie being called a ‘minimally talented spoiled brat.’

Speaking of the Jobs biopic, there were apparently several actors considered to play the late Apple Inc. leader according to the leaked Sony emails, including Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale, but they decided on Michael Fassbender.

Though these leaked emails are harsh on actors, nothing beats the racial exchange that happened between Pascal and Rudin regarding topics to discuss with President Barack Obama at a fundraising breakfast they’re scheduled to attend. The emails reference various movies depicting slavery and racial inequality including Django Unchained, 12 Years a Slave, The Butler and others. The two have publicly apologized for their insensitive and racist emails that involved the president, as well as the emails that targeted famed actors.

photo credit: BlueRobot via photopin cc

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