Will The Interview get a release date after Christmas? BitTorrent offers online distribution help to Sony

Even as the recent cyberattacks on its computer systems cost Sony Pictures several millions of dollars, the company may reconsider releasing its comedy movie The Interview, after recently announcing that it would not release the film following serious terror threats at movie theatres.

The movie is based on a US TV personality and his producer, who travel to North Korea to secure an interview with the country's leader, but are instead approached by the CIA and asked to assassinate the leader.

With there being no clarity on the release of the film, BitTorrent, the file-sharing company, has urged Sony not to bow down to threats and take back control of the movie by releasing it through its self-publishing platform.

Matt Mason, chief content officer of company, told the Deadline website: "We have reached out [to Sony] on a number of fronts.

"It seems like no one else wants to touch this, but for us, this is about the two things we care about most: an open internet and a sustainable future for creativity.

"This is bigger than this film at this point. As a company, we feel we have no choice but to help Sony Pictures and defend these principles."

According to a report by the Hollywood Reporter also quotes a spokesperson for BitTorrent as saying the BitTorrent Bundle service "is in fact the very best way for Sony to take back control of their film.

"Using the paygate option, Sony are able to set the price for the film and release it widely without implicating anyone or exposing any third party to a terrorist threat."

The file-sharing company also warned the movie studio against leaking the film by using piracy websites.

"That would only serve to encourage bad actors. It's also important to make the distinction that these piracy sites are not 'torrent sites'. They are piracy sites that are wrongfully exploiting torrent technology," BitTorrent said in its statement.

Cybersecurity expert Neil Doyle told The Sunday Times that the audience reach offered by BitTorrent would be quite limited because it is typically used by "techie types".

"A deal with a more mainstream online video streaming site like Netflix would be a better option," he said.

Sony Pictures said in an emailed statement: "It is still our hope that anyone who wants to see this movie will get the opportunity to do so".

Earlier, US President Barack Obama criticised the firm and said that the studio had "made a mistake" by not releasing the movie.

The James Franco and Seth Rogen starrer comedy movie has become the most talked about movie in recent times after a massive cyberattack crippled distributor Columbia Pictures' parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment last month.

However, Rogen and Franco maintain that they never intended to make the movie controversial.

"I can't definitively say I know the ramifications of the storm. I mean, I don't know if the hacking honestly is because of our movie, definitively or not," Rogen, who co-wrote the movie, said during the Good Morning America show.

"I know that it has been the center of a lot of media attention lately. It is weird because we just wanted to make a really funny, entertaining movie and the movie itself is very silly and wasn't meant to be controversial in any way," he added.

Sony had earlier planned for a Christmas Day release in the US and a February release in the UK. However, it cancelled the movie release after terror threats emerged against theatre chains that would play the movie.