Was it an all elaborate hoax and marketing ploy? Possibly, but whether it was intended subterfuge or not, the decision to make a mountain out of the mole-hill of a not-very-good-at-all movie was a big commercial win for Sony. And that's despite the fact that it was almost their worst idea on any number of levels. First off, the creative choice to portray (and slay) North Korea's notoriously volatile supreme leader Kim Jong Un as a figure of fun (in the same vein as his father's portrayal in Team America) was enough to incite the anger of all of his definitely-not-coerced fanboys in his home land. That alone was silly, given the country's new nuclear abilities and the way they apparently deal with agitants, but then by bending to the will of the hackers (terrorists in other words) Sony managed to annoy the patriotic America fanboys they were trying to protect from becoming collateral damage. Regular cinema goers were outraged at the censorship, suggesting that Sony were setting a dangerous precedent, and the result was a banner-waving, tub-thumping display of not only patriotism but of commitment to creative freedom, as the studio was lumped in as a villain of the piece themselves. Inevitably they caved and made the film available, but their reputation remains somewhat in tatters. Which other fanboy-inciting moments from 2014 also deserve to be on this list? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.
