Suspected North Korean hackers may have pulled the plug on Sony Pictures’ “The Interview,” but that didn’t stop the Texas Alamo Drafthouse from screening another film mocking the totalitarian regime in its place.
After hackers threatened a 9/11-style attack on any screening of the film on Wednesday, several major American theater chains backed out, leading Sony Entertainment to cancel the movie’s Nov. 25 release date.
But Wednesday night, the Alamo Drafthouse announced it will screen the next best thing — a free showing of the 2004 puppet comedy “Team America: World Police.”
FOR THE RECORD: We were still going to show #TheInterviewMovie…
— Alamo Drafthouse DFW (@AlamoDFW) December 17, 2014
…but now we’ll be showing TEAM AMERICA in it’s place…for FREE(DOM). Because AMERICA, F YEAH. http://t.co/7A7p6ApIIE pic.twitter.com/U3EEqQU1Px
— Alamo Drafthouse DFW (@AlamoDFW) December 17, 2014
In the film, the late Kim Jong Il — the father and predecessor of the nation’s current dictator Kim Jong Un — leads an international terror ring foiled by a crack team of American patriot puppets.
Similarly to “The Interview,” the film includes a scene in which the North Korean leader is killed — almost. His body is kicked onto a pike, before a cockroach from outer space emerges from his mouth and escapes into a spaceship, vowing revenge.
“We’re just trying to make the best of an unfortunate situation,” James Wallace, a manager of the Dallas/Fort Worth theaters told The Hollywood Reporter.