Over a dozen independent cinemas around the Bay Area have leapt at the chance to screen the new James Franco/Seth Rogan satire The Interview just a day after Sony Pictures decided to go ahead with a Christmas Day release despite earlier backing down to North Korean threats.

Big chains like AMC and Regal had earlier decided not to screen the film, and from the looks of it the former Sony Metreon, now the AMC Metreon, won't be showing the film, and nor will any SF locations of Landmark Theatres. SF's Roxie Theater has expressed interest in screening the film, as the Chronicle reports, however they're closed until Friday and they are not equipped to screen a digital version of the film, offered to them by Sony — they still only have old-fashioned projectors.

As our LAist colleagues noted this morning, the movie will be available to stream on your various devices today (Xbox, Google Play, YouTube Movies, but not Apple TV, Amazon, or Netflix just yet) starting at 10 p.m. PT Christmas Eve, marking a first for a major motion picture getting released online a day before it arrives in theaters.

Tomorrow, as CBS 5 reports, the first local screenings will be happening at the 13 cinemas below, and counting. We'll update you if any SF theaters jump on board.

  • New Parkway, Oakland
  • Elmwood 3 Theatres, Berkeley
  • Fairfax Theatre 6, Fairfax
  • Palladio 16 Cinemas, Folsom
  • Livermore Cinemas, Livermore
  • Contra Costa Cinemas 8, Martinez
  • Boulevard Cinemas 14, Petaluma
  • Maya Century Plaza 16, Pittsburg
  • Maya Salinas 14, Salinas
  • Camera 3 Cinemas, San Jose
  • Del Mar Theatre 3, Santa Cruz
  • Rialto Cinemas, Sebastopol
  • Sonoma 9 Cinemas, Sonoma

The guy we have to thank for Sony's decision, at least in part, appears to be Tim League, the CEO of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema — the company that's opening a new theater in the Mission, in the former New Mission Theater, sometime next year. League wrote an open letter to Sony saying he wanted to screen the film regardless of threats, and quickly another independent theater in Atlanta came on board as well. It's now expected to hit at least 3,000 screens tomorrow and garner WAY more box office revenue than it probably would have otherwise.

Here's the trailer.