REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES -- "The Interview," the Sony Pictures film about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, opened in more than 300 cinemas across the United States on Christmas Day, drawing sell-out audiences in many theaters where outspoken patrons said they were championing freedom of expression.

Seth Rogen, who co-stars in the low-budget comedy with James Franco, and co-director Evan Goldberg surprised moviegoers by appearing at the sold-out 12:30 a.m. PT (0330 ET) screening of the movie at a theater in Los Angeles where they briefly thanked fans for their support.

Sony Pictures this week backtracked from its original decision to cancel the release of the $44 million film after it became the target last month of the most destructive cyberattack ever on a U.S. company. The United States blamed the attacks on North Korea. Major movie chains had refused to release the film after threats of attacks on theaters and audiences by hackers.

But movie theater managers and patrons alike said they believed there was nothing to fear. Nick Doiron, a 25-year-old engineer from New York's borough of Queens, said he had been planning to stream the movie online, but decided to see it in the Cinema Village theater in New York's Greenwich Village. 

"The controversy itself was ridiculous," Doiron said. He said he was interested in North Korean news and had been following the story closely. "I want to be part of the message that this is how censorship ends."

The film is available online in the United States on Google Play and YouTube Movie and to customers of Microsoft's Xbox Video, as well as on Sony's own website for the film (www.seetheinterview.com). It can be seen also in Canada on the Sony site, according to Rogen's Twitter feed.

Cinema Village manager Lee Peterson said the New York Police Department planned to have officers outside the theater. He said he had also heard from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, though he declined to provide details of security precautions. 

"A week ago we didn't think this was going to happen. Let freedom ring. Nobody's going to tell us what we can or can't see," Peterson said to raucous applause as he addressed the theater's first audience of the day.

There was no visible police presence outside or inside the Cinema Village for Thursday's first screening at 10 a.m. ET (1500 GMT), which was not sold out

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