Celebrity Hackings

"The Interview" was splashed across a movie screen in downtown L.A. to a packed house, which included an ebullient Seth Rogen.

The Silent Movie Theatre screened the flick just after midnight on XMAS day. Seth charged up the crowd, taking the stage and saying, "If it wasn't for theaters like this and people like you, this wouldn't be f***ing happening."

A total of 331 movie houses will play the film beginning Thursday, but in a crazy twist they'll be competing with Video On Demand ... it's available on YouTube Movies, Google+ and Xbox.

James Bond was white, is white and should always be white ... at least according to Rush Limbaugh.

On his radio show Tuesday, Limbaugh was reacting to a story that came from the leaked Sony emails ... saying Idris Elba, star of "Luther" and "The Wire," should take over the iconic part from Daniel Craig.

But Limbaugh feels that Elba (who he describes as "African-English," since Elba is a Brit) is not right for the role because Bond was created as a white guy and should stay that way.

Limbaugh said, "Now Sony is suggesting that the next James Bond should be Idris Elba, a black Briton rather than a white from Scotland. But that's not who James Bond is, and I know it's racist to probably even point this out."

9:27 AM PT -- It's a done deal ... "The Interview" will be available online TODAY (Christmas Eve) via YouTube, Google Play, the Microsoft Xbox video game console and a special Web site called SeeTheInterview.com.

It will cost $5.99 to rent and $14.99 to buy and should be available at 1:00 PM ET.

The schizophrenic execs at Sony have come up with yet another change of course on "The Interview" ... this time nearing a deal to release it on YouTube.

The plan, according to CNN, is to have the film available for rental on YouTube the same day it goes into theaters ... Christmas Day. It's not a 100% done deal and Sony already had a deal with iTunes fall apart.

It's latest about face for Sony ... the studio has reversed course multiple times over "The Interview" ... even more than Karrueche changes her mind about Chris Brown.

Our inside sources at Sony say it's bedlam over there and there is no singular voice making the decisions ... which explains the Sybil act.

In addition to the theater flip-flop -- which intiially drew harsh criticism from Prez Obama -- Sony also pulled the flick off social media, per the hacker's demands.

James Caan has a dog in the Sony hacking scandal fight, but you don't see him complaining ... because he's already been paid!

Lost in all the commotion about "The Interview" is a movie called "The Throwaways" ... which is actually about cyber hacking. Caan is one of the film's stars and it was supposed to premiere this month on Crackle (which is owned by Sony) ... but the company pushed it back because of the scandal.

But when our photog asked him about the film Tuesday night outside of Madeo, Caan said once he cashes the check ... it's out of sight, out of mind.

10:30 AM PT -- Seth Rogen tweeted about the news, writing, "The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn't give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!"

James Franco jokingly added, ""The Interview" starring Seth Rogen and James Flacco saved by President Obacco! I MEAN PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!!! Sorry!!!"

In a bizarre twist ... Sony has done an about face and it's green-lighting "The Interview" for theaters to run on XMAS day.

The CEO of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema tells TMZ .... Sony called Monday and said a copy of the film would be delivered Wednesday. The CEO -- was vague about extra security, but says it will run in more than 20 theaters, located in Texas, Colorado, Virginia, New York and more.

An Atlanta theater owner says he got a similar call and he plans on running it as well.

It was a simple question -- Would you ever work with Sony again? -- but Kevin Hart didn't answer ... or did he?

Hart -- who is easily the most talkative and approachable big celeb in town these days -- was leaving a club in Hollywood Monday night when our photog asked the question. It seems relevant, given that one Sony exec called Hart "a whore."

Hart, who initially came out swinging for "his brand" ... deflected our question in an interesting way.

Check it out.

Dennis Rodman no longer wants to be seen with Kim Jong-un -- at least not in a video game -- and he's threatening legal action if a video gamer doesn't make some big changes ... STAT.

The game is called "Glorious Leader!" -- and players can take on America as the N. Korean dictator or as his trusted ally, Rodman. The game was designed by Jeff Miller and his company, Moneyhorse ... and Dennis is not pleased with his role in the game.

TMZ obtained a letter Rodman's attorney sent to Miller ... demanding Dennis be removed from the game because it portrays him in a "negative light."

The letter makes it sound like Dennis has finally taken off the blinders when it comes to Kim Jong-un.

Most of Hollywood is ripping Sony Pictures for its decision to pull "The Interview" from theaters -- but 2 guys from System of a Down understand why it had to be done.

Our photog spotted drummer John Dolmayan and bassist Shavo Odadjian in Santa Monica Saturday night -- and the guys stood up for Sony.

System is signed to Columbia Records -- which is owned by Sony -- and while John and Shavo aren't in total agreement with their company's decision ... they think the haters are forgetting one very important factor.

Dr. Evil is scoffing at the Guardians of Peace for sheer laziness.

The "Austin Powers" super villain appeared on "Saturday Night Live" with some solid advice to the GOP ... "It's easy to kill a movie, just move it to January."

But the evil doc's real beef is purely domestic, and very political.

Looks like the "Guardians of Peace" scored another victory ... Sony quietly gave in to another hacker demand by wiping almost all traces of "The Interview" from its social media pages.

Hackers threatened top level Sony execs Friday saying, "We want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately."

The movie studio almost immediately obliged ... the movie's Twitter page no longer has any tweets, the Facebook page has been deleted and all "Interview" footage has been wiped from its YouTube page.

Sad.

1:50 PM PST -- The hackers also released a message Saturday afternoon mocking the FBI ... saying, "The result of investigation by FBI is so excellent that you might have seen what we were doing with your own eyes. We congratulate you success. FBI is the BEST in the world."

It's all about Sony this week, and America and freedom and losing. So we gotta ask ...

North Korean officials should bottle their gall and sell it ... because they now say the can prove they're clean in the Sony hacking scandal, and if we don't believe them there will be "serious consequences."

Pyongyang's official KCNA says they've proposed a joint investigation with the U.S. to get to the bottom of it.

The official warns, "The U.S. should bear in mind that it will face serious consequences in case it rejects our proposal for joint investigation."

The North Koreans now say the U.S. is slandering them.

Listen up, President Obama ... Joe Flacco wants to make sure you know he's never been in "127 Hours" or "Spring Breakers" ... and he's definitely not the co-star of "The Interview."

POTUS made a huge flub during his news conference Friday -- mashing up James Franco's name with Joe's -- and the Ravens QB quickly responded.

The prez was talking about the Sony cyber attack and "The Interview" ... saying, "a satirical movie starring Seth Rogen and James FLACCO. I love Seth ... I love James."

Flacco razzed the president by tweeting, "@barackobama: It's James Franco, not James Flacco ;)" He also shouted out James ... welcoming him to the fam.

Still ... imagine Franco putting on the pads to take on J.J. Watt and the Texans this weekend. THAT would be awesome.

President Obama just threw down the gauntlet ... saying Sony blundered by pulling "The Interview."

It was inevitable that someone would ask Obama about the Sony mess at Friday's news conference and Obama didn't mince words. He wished out loud that Sony would have called him before making the call to yank the film.

Judy Smith -- the inspiration behind the Olivia Pope character on "Scandal" -- is on the case ... the Sony case, TMZ has learned.

Sources connected with the studio tell us ... Smith has been quietly advising Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal. We're told her focus is dealing with the torrent of criticism over the studio dropping "The Interview."

Smith runs Smith & Company, one of the premiere crisis management firms in the country.

Our sources tell us Smith has been especially helpful to Sony because of her deep contacts with the government, and she has been involved on both the D.C. and Hollywood fronts.

We're told Smith and other members of the Sony crisis team have been behind some of the recent messaging ... that this is not just a Sony issue but an industry issue ... which takes some of the heat off Sony.

We're also told the crisis team is actually pleased with George Clooney's attack as it relates to creative and powerful people in the entire industry -- not just Sony -- taking a stand.

And we're told the crisis team is also pushing the message ... Sony's decision was in large part to protect the safety and welfare of its employees.

We're told the ultimate mission is to somehow contain the PR fallout and navigate a way forward.

The Sony hackers are not satisfied -- they've unleashed a new threat ... trying to ensure "The Interview" NEVER gets released in any format.

Several top level execs at Sony Pictures got the new message which reportedly said, "We want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately."

They also demanded "The Interview" never come out on DVD, pay-per-view, or V.O.D.

CNN first reported the latest message ... which also reminds the Sony execs the hackers still have all of their "private and sensitive data."

The hackers told execs they'd made a "very wise" decision to cancel the release, and shouldn't make any new trouble for themselves.