New York Showings of ‘The Interview’ Sell Out

Derek Karpel holds his ticket to a screening of "The Interview" at Cinema Village movie theater in Manhattan, N.Y., on Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014. Sony canceled the film's Christmas Day release after threats of violence by hackers linked to North Korea, but the release was reinstated in some independent theaters. AP Photo/John Minchillo

NEW YORK—“The Interview” opened in several New York City theaters on Christmas to enthusiastic crowds as interested in the world drama the film produced as anything on the screen.

“The whole story is like a movie,” Nick Ratner said of the swirling controversy as he prepared to watch the film at Cinema Village East in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood Thursday morning. “I am sure someone has already optioned it for a movie.”

“We are taking a stand for freedom. We want to show the world that Americans will not be told what we can or cannot watch,” said the theater’s manager, Lee Peterson.

We are taking a stand for freedom.

— Lee Peterson, manager, Cinema Village East