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WASHINGTON (CNN) — The FBI is reaching out to the slightly more than 200 theaters which plan to screen “The Interview” on Thursday, warning of potential threats.
The FBI on Tuesday night sent out a roster of those theaters to cyber task forces in FBI field offices. FBI agents will call or visit those theaters to inform them of possible threats they could face by screening the movie, though officials stress that there is no actionable intelligence pointing to an active plot against moviegoers.
Officials are most concerned that those theaters could be targets of hacking and FBI cyber task forces will team up with the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Sony has been in close communication with the FBI on its plans for releasing the movie and FBI officials said they have been “fully engaged” with Sony, which gave the FBI a heads up of its decision to greenlight the screenings.
The screenings come after Sony Pictures initially backed off its plans to premiere the controversial movie on Christmas Day after a group of hackers broke into Sony’s servers, published personal emails and information and threatened a terror attack on theaters that would screen the movie. The U.S. has blamed North Korea for the cyberattack.
The comedic movie centers on a fictitious plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
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