Top of the hour now. Im pamela brown. Great to have you along with us on this Christmas Day. It might be the only time going to see a comedy is considered fulfilling your patriotic duty. Right now people all across the United States are packing into theaters to see the interview. The seth rogen, james franco comedy about an assassination plot against kim jongun. Movie goers say what it lacks in critical acclaim it makes up for in patriotism. You know, this is a film i probably would not have come to see but because of the controversy i thought i would come out tonight to stand up for freedom of speech. Im here because i wanted to support filmmakers who were being censored by a foreign body because i dont believe that anybody should have a right to censor a work. Theres not enough marijuana in the world to explain that screen play. It was hilarious. I laughed the whole time. It was very funny. I laughed the whole time. I think that the world needs to see this. I think everybody in north korea should be forced to watch this movie and i think it should change the way everybody thinks about censorship and everything. I think we just need to do it. So even the films star seth rogen and its codirector celebrated the films release stopping by a screening at a california theater to thank their fans. We want to say thank you. If it wasnt for theaters like this and for people like you guys, this literally would not be happening right now. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. We hope you like the movie. The comedy premiered online yesterday available for download on youtube at the Google Play Store and on xbox and first time a major Motion Picture was made Available Online before its t e theatrical release. We talked earlier, rosa. You said there were big crowds and another screening has just begun. The same kind of turnout . Reporter take a look behind me, pamela. You can see theres already a long line of people that are waiting to get their tickets. Take a look at what they are paying with. A lot of them are paying with cash. Thats one of the things that people have been worried about because of the threat of hacking. We have talked to people throughout the day because theres been earlier showings. The reaction has been mixed, pamela. Some people say this is great. It was a great movie. I got what i paid for which was laughs because at the end of the day its a comedy. Others saying, you know, yes, its a comedy. Its fun. Theres nothing funny about someone dying. Its been interesting. Right now you can see that theres a long line where people are going in and well see what they have to say. Pamela . So of course theres the question are movie goers worried considering hackers released this threatening message last week and said they would release a surprise on Christmas Day. Are they worried about hacking or possible violence . Reporter you know, we did hear from the manager from this theater and he told us they got an email from the fbi, a call by the fbi, a visit by nypd and it was more to let them know how to report suspicious activity. In fact, they have a flier that they would probably be posting later that kind of explains that to movie goers so they can keep an eye out for suspicious activity. From talking to a lot of people here, some of them like i mentioned, they were worried about using their credit card. Heres what one had to say. Are you worried at all about hacking and possible violence, possible im not worried about violence in any way. I came here because the chance of something happening here is much less than if i give my Credit Card Company online to buy the film. Reporter did you pay cash . Yeah. Reporter thats the safe way . It is. I always pay cash. Reporter so like you said, a lot of folks pulling out cash which we dont see a lot of americans do anymore. I also want to show you this movie poster behind me. This is new. Lets remember that until a few days ago, this movie was not going to be in any theaters around the country. We saw the guy come in, post the poster, and everybody was available to enjoy it. Weve seen people take pictures with this one. Just because again its a novelty. People cant even believe they are going to watch it in the theater rather than in their living room because of the release yesterday. Its hard to believe that just a few days ago we didnt think we would see the movie at all. Rosa, we know that after it was released online yesterday that it became the number one seller on youtube and google play. Do we know how many tickets have been sold . Obviously we see the crowds and long lines. An idea of how many tickets have been sold so far . Reporter we can only count bodies at this point. We know the capacity is about 150 per theater here. There are three theaters. You know, one of our friends at cnn, some producers have been digging on that. From what i understand, i dont know that sony is going to be releasing those numbers at the moment. I dont know that we will know any time soon what the numbers look like. Thats going to be something that i know a lot of folks are going to be wondering and waiting to hear. So did this help the movie or not . Pamela, lets be honest. Some of the people i talked to today said i probably wouldnt have watched the movie if it wasnt for the controversy and because of all of the news about it. So it will be interesting to see what happens. As of now what we know is those numbers may not be released any time soon. I have been hearing that from a lot of folks as well. Rosa flores, thank you so much. We appreciate it. So now that the interview is hitting the big screen, will it bring in the big bucks like we were talking about with fewer showings in theaters today and the new option of streaming it at home for less than the cost of a single ticket. Can sony still make a profit . Alison kosik joins me now with more. Reporter pamela, the movie, the interview, definitely getting plenty of attention. Its the kind of publicity sony cant buy but when it comes to recouping what it spent to make and market the comedy, its questionable if sony will come out ahead. The movie cost about 44 million to make. According to the hollywood website the rap, marketing in the u. S. Ran up the tab another 35 million add in another 10 million for overseas and were talking about 90 million invested. The movie is hitting the big screen but only at a limited number of independent theaters. 300 theaters to be exact. Fewer than the 2,000 to 3,000 screens the movie was supposed to premiere on and youll be able to stream the movie at home on websites including google play and youtube for even less than the cost of a single ticket. 5. 99 to rent. 14. 99 to buy. So far theres interest in seeing the film. Almost all of the Christmas Day screenings have sold out at 17 alamo draft house locations in texas and showings here in new york city have also sold out. On google and youtube, the interview is the number one watched movie. But where does all this leave sony . With all of the attention, will the company make any money off the movie . Many say its doubtful. A Senior Editor says he would be shocked if sony gets back its investment. He says you can work out how many people need to rent the movie to make it worthwhile. That would be 16. 7 million rentals if the studio was getting 100 of the proceeds from each sale but the websites are also going to get a cut. And then you have some people kind of concerned that they could be hacked if they watched the movie at home. Cybersecurity experts say relax. That wont happen. The movie itself is not likely to be tainted with Malicious Software or malware so grab your popcorn and feel free to see the movie you almost werent allowed it see. Pamela . Alison kosik, thank you so much. Joining me now to discuss this, one of the theater owners screening the interview today. Paul brown, owner of terrace theater. Thank you for being with us here on this Christmas Day. How is it looking there today . I can imagine there are big crowds. I want to show a picture. This just shows how jam packed the lobby is. Are all of these people going to see the interview today . Yeah. We opened our doors at quarter to 12 00 and there were people here from 10 00 on outside which we never have that. We dont open these type of movies in the sense we dont open harry potter or hunger games or any of that stuff. It was quite something. Weve sold out every screening except our late show still has seats left. Really interesting in light of the fact that people could have stayed home and watched it online but they wanted to go to see the movie in theaters and as a lot of people said take a stand for free speech. I wonder what went into the Decision Making here for you . Were you concerned at all about any threats . Are you taking any extra security precautions . They first approached us and we were going to show the movie when it was a wide release because i thought the premise of the movie was interesting and even though were an art house theater, a crossover theater, the premise of the movie would appeal in a way to some of our audience. Sony had us in place to play the movie in the first place. When the movie was taken away, we werent part of that Decision Making. That was Big Box Store chain theaters governed by bigger interest. When they came back to us a couple days ago and said would you be interested in it, for sure. I knew there was a groundswell there in the community to bring the movie to theaters and it just didnt seem right that some external force could censor our ability to watch movies. Doesnt seem like the way to do it. There was a lot of people gathering to watch the movie. Its a comedy. Watch a comedy by yourself in your house is a much different experience than watching it with a packed house. People are loving it. The response has been great. So lets talk about the swag here. Has sony been doing a big promotion push for the movie . Word on the street is you received some stag. The staff is dressed in interview shirts and an interview margarita shaker here and then the margarita mix which they sent to us as well. Margarita mix too. You got it all. We serve beer and wine so you never know what can happen. A lot of people have come up, my son, sam, told me people were saying i would not normally go to this movie but im here to support independents and independent theaters. Im here to support you guys standing up against censorship and a lady came up and bought a ticket and says i wont go to the movie but im going to buy a ticket because nobody will tell me which movie to buy a ticket to. Its interesting. In light of that, im curious what your thoughts are on these major movie chains that pulled the plug on the movie . Do you think they should follow suit and perhaps hop on the bandwagon now and show the movie . I would prefer if they didnt. Obviously its a struggle for independent cinemas to get the product from the studios sometimes versus the box store cinemas, the ones that have thousands and thousands of screens across the country. Its a constant battle. I have other friends who own other theaters across the country and this is a Celebration Day for us in the ability to win one against the big guys. I think thats a good spirit. I like that. Interesting to hear your perspective. Paul brown, thank you so much for coming on the show. We appreciate it. Happy holidays. Its a long holiday. Thank you. Coming up, a Coalition Pilot captured by the terror group isis after his plane went down over syria. His family pleading for his release. That story up next. Later, the markets here in the u. S. Are doing pretty good. The dow closed above 18,000 for the first time. Were going to take a look back at the top business stories of the year. What made the list . Thats coming up. Hi. Im Senior AirmanMichael Thomas out here in qatar. I want to give a shoutout to my family, my mom and dad, brothers and sisters. Miss you guys. Love you. Happy holidays. Merry christmas. Is a really big deal. U with aches, fever and chills theres no such thing as a little flu. So why treat it like its a little cold . Theres something that works differently than overthecounter remedies. Attack the flu virus at its source with prescription tamiflu. And call your doctor right away. Tamiflu is fda approved to treat the flu in people 2 weeks and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. Before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if youre pregnant, nursing, have Serious Health conditions, or take other medicines. If you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. Children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion or abnormal behavior. The most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. Ask your doctor about tamiflu and attack the flu virus at its source. The war against isis didnt pause for the christmas holiday. Police say the isis governor of mosul was killed by an air strike in office for only 25 days. Isis has a valuable bargaining chip. A jordanian pilot. Militants shot the plane down over syria. The u. S. Military says thats not what happened. The pilots family is begging the Islamic State to show him mercy. Translator hes now in the hands of Islamic State fighters and i do not want to describe him as a hostage. I call him a guest. Hes a against among brothers of ours. I asked them in the name of god and dignity of the prophet mohammad peace be upon him to receive him as a guest and treat him well. Translator i appeal to my brothers in the Islamic State to have mercy upon my brother. If they search his clothes, theyll find a koran hes been carrying since 2006. I ask god to free him and bring mercy to the hearts of the brothers in the Islamic State and have mercy on his parents. Barbara starr joins me now with more on this story. The pentagon says the plane was not shot down. Do we know what happened to it . Well, at this point the pentagon, u. S. Military, coalition are not saying anything other than they are saying that evidence shows them it wasnt shot down. Theyre not saying what did happen to it or how it came down or what the evidence is that leads them to the conclusion it wasnt shot down. This is a mystery to the public at the moment. They are still investigating all of it. You have to ask what evidence could they have . Was there potentially a may day call from the pilot before he ejected he was having mechanical trouble . Could it have been Something Like that . We dont know but they are adamant, unusually adamant, they believe it was not shot down. Unusually adamant. Thats really interesting. As we heard, the brother referred to isis as brothers. He said Islamic State are our brothers and he should be treated like a guest. Do you think he will fare better than other isis hostages . We know that hes sunni. Im curious to know your perspective on this. You know, its so hard to say at this point. Isis known globally over the last many, many months of this year for its unending brutality against shia, sunni, christian, anyone who they feel gets in their way. So this will be a very difficult proposition. There is a good deal of talk that perhaps, you know, the jordanians might be looking at some effort to get him out. The jordanian government and the u. S. Government saying they hold isis responsible for this mans safety. Its very interesting that u. S. Military statement also saying yesterday, pam, that the u. S. Would support any effort to recover the pilot so kind of a hint there that they will see what they can do obviously and look at all of the options to get him out. Pam . Do we have any idea . I know they didnt really elaborate on that but do we have any idea of what those efforts might look like . Well, theres all of the usual things that everyone can think of having seen similar incidents sadly over the years. Could they stage some kind of a military rescue mission . They have tried to rescue hostages in the past. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it goes very badly. You have to have very precise, very exact intelligence about where someone is being held and now certainly isis has had time to secure this man in syria, its selfdeclared capital if you will, so they hold really all of the cards there on the ground the coalition is not. It would be very difficult to get that kind of precise intelligence that would be needed in order to stage a rescue mission. No doubt about it. Barbara starr, thank you very much. Sure. Coming up on this Christmas Day, a huge year on wall street. Were counting down the top ten business stories of 2014 up next. Later, president obama celebrating christmas in hawaii. Find out how the first family spent the holiday. Well be right back after this break. Im down here in cuba. I just want to give a shoutout to my daughter. I love you. My mom and dad, miss you guys. See you soon. Merry christmas. The mercedesbenz winter event is back, with the perfect vehicle thats just right for you, no matter which list youre on. [ho, ho, ho, ho] lease the 2015 ml 350 for 579 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Sea captain theres a narratorstorm cominhe storm narrator that whipped through the turbine which poured. Surplus energy into the plant which generously lowered its price and tipped off the house which used all that energy to stay warm through the storm. Chipmunk theres a bad storm comin narrator the internet of everything is changing how energy works. Is your Network Ready . I have the worst cold with this runni better take something. Dayquill cold and flu doesnt treat your runny nose. Seriously . Alkaseltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms plus your runny nose. Oh, what a relief it is. Welcome back, everybody. Thanks for being here with us on this Christmas Day. The dow surging past the 18,000point milestone is a Great Holiday present for investors but the markets strong showing was not the top money story of 2014. Cnns Richard Qwest and Christine Romans tells you what was in the top ten countdown. Number ten, pressure from protesters. Fast food workers take to the streets in citie