Fallout continues from the Sony hacking scandal, with the embattled studio vowing this weekend that their comedy “The Interview,” in which Seth Rogen and James Franco’s characters assassinate the leader of North Korea, will be released at some future date, somehow (despite zero cable companies offering to show it on demand). With every newly released bit of information from the (likely North Korean) hackers’ seemingly endless trove, the list of winners and losers in SonyGate continues. Here, our tally thus far:
Winners
Michael Fassbender
Fassebender was name-checked in emails between Sony heads and Aaron Sorkin (see losers, below), writer of the forthcoming Steve Jobs biopic, who initially dismissed the Irish actor as “I don’t know who [he] is, and the rest of the world isn’t going to care,” and eventually came around to “F - - k it. He’s a great actor whose time has come.” Sony producer Michael De Luca also remarked that the actor’s turn in the 2011 sex addiction film “Shame” “makes you feel bad to have normal sized genitalia.”
Channing Tatum
The two main revelations about Tatum in the hacking scandal are: a) He really wanted to make a reboot of “Ghostbusters,” in which he and Chris Pratt play the Aykroyd and Murray parts (though additional Sony emails on this subject name Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence instead), and b) he writes amusingly excitable emails, the informality level of which suggests he’s corresponding with his former stripping bros and not the heads of Sony. In both cases: WIN.
North Korea’s leadership
They get to go on convincing their citizens that, as “The Interview” paraphrases it, their leader does not have a butthole.
Charlie Chaplin
In the wake of Sony’s pulling “The Interview,” interest has surged in Chaplin’s 1940 movie “The Great Dictator,” the first film in which the silent film star spoke and in which he played a satirical version of Adolf Hitler named Adenoid Hynkel.
The president
Slandered in racist emails between Sony heads Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin (see losers), President Obama released a straight-up rebuke to the studio on Friday, in which he suggested that they “made a mistake” in giving in to the hackers’ demands. (Also, in making racist jokes about the president.)
Idris Elba
The British actor is tapped as Sony’s top pick to fill the role of James Bond after Daniel Craig polishes off his last martini.
Cheapskates
Five Sony films, including “Annie,” “Mr. Turner” and “Fury,” were released online by the hackers. Despite abysmal reviews of “Annie” (including by our own Lou Lumenick), those who were too cheap to buy tickets and unafraid to be tracked online could now freely download Sony’s work.
George Clooney
The actor circulated a petition of support for Sony in the wake of the hackers’ releasing e-mails and personal information about employees. He says no studio head would touch the document, and accused the industry — and the media — of rank cowardice.
Angelina Jolie
The actress and director, who was repeatedly slammed in e-mails between Pascal and Rudin, who referred to her as “seriously out of her mind” and “a minimally talented spoiled brat,” comes off as nothing but polite in the e-mails — and gave the world an early Christmas present in the photo of the “Maleficent” star looking daggers at Pascal as the two met at an event shortly after the hack.
‘Team America: World Police’
This 2004 musical comedy from “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone features a singing Kim Jong Il marionette and was widely cited as a predecessor to “The Interview.” Netflix is now streaming the film, so it’s enjoying a newly expanded audience of viewers who couldn’t see the Rogen film.
Kevin Hart
Referred to as a “whore” by Sony execs for asking for more money to promote his new movie “The Wedding Ringer,” the comedian posted an eloquent response online: “Knowing your self-worth is extremely important . . . I worked very hard to get where I am today . . . I refuse to be broken, people.”
Shonda Rhimes
The “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy” creator came out swinging after Sony execs’ and producers’ racist emails about the president and Denzel Washington. “Calling Sony comments ‘racially insensitive remarks’ instead of ‘racist’? U can put a cherry on a pile of s - - t but it don’t make it a sundae.”
Dr. Evil
North Korea’s actions were so comically villainous that they brought another comic villain out of retirement. We haven’t seen Dr. Evil since the last Austin Powers movie, in 2002 (that’s the one in which Beyoncé makes out with Mike Myers, by the way). But the bald, cat-stroking baddie played by Myers crashed last weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” to denounce North Korea and Sony for giving evil organizations a bad name. The return of Myers to the character was a surprise bonus of the hacking scandal, and it even showed Myers had a sense of humor about some of his lesser-known works: “If you really want to put a bomb in a theater, do what I did: Put in ‘The Love Guru.’ ”
Losers
Racist producers
An e-mail from a producer to Sony CEO Michael Lynton second-guessed the casting of Denzel Washington as the star of “The Equalizer,” saying “pictures with an African-American lead don’t play well overseas.” As Radar.com pointed out, the movie actually ended up making nearly half its money outside the US.
LA tourists
Sony canceled the 2-hour walking tour of its lot in Hollywood in the wake of the scandal, so families who’d been eagerly awaiting their chance to see the thrilling “Wheel of Fortune” set will have to shelve their dreams until some time in 2015.
Feminism
Salaries were among the sensitive info released by the hackers, including the not so flattering revelation that actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams didn’t make as much money as their male co-stars in 2013’s “American Hustle.” Also, other than Pascal’s top status, the documents also showed a similar gender pay gap between civilian employees of the studio.
Aaron Sorkin
The “Newsroom” creator was outed, to no one’s particular surprise, as a misogynist in e-mails. The writer, who has frequently been criticized for underwriting his female characters, said that actresses have a “lower bar” for winning Oscars than men do.
Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal
After Pascal’s incendiary comments to Rudin, especially about President Obama, were revealed, she’s now on the defensive with many saying her days in the job are numbered. She’s also clearly going to be persona non grata with huge celebs like Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio (whom she called “despicable”).
Producer Scott Rudin
Shocking to zero percent of the entertainment industry was the revelation that Rudin is a jerk of cartoonish proportions, known for his volcanic temper and his outsize ego. Added to those charges were racism, as he and Amy Pascal joked about President Obama liking “Django Unchained,” “12 Years a Slave” and Kevin Hart movies.
Sony music executives
Music bigwigs at Sony are reportedly living in fear that the hackers will publicly release their salaries, which are said to include paychecks that dwarf those of Pascal and Rudin and will be a particularly harsh slap in the face of musicians who are being repeatedly told the music industry just ain’t making the kind of money it used to.
Celebs who were really attached to their fake names
Among the information leaked in the hacking scandal was a trove of code names various celebrities used to check into hotels and make other reservations, including Natalie Portman (Laura Brown), Tobey Maguire (Neil Deep), Tom Hanks (Harry Lauder, Johnny Madrid) and . . . Rob Schneider (Nazzo Good), who probably doesn’t need one.
Paramount
When America’s theater owners collectively threw their hands up and refused to screen “The Interview,” a few enterprising independents — notably the Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse chain — planned to show Paramount’s “Team America: World Police” instead. Paramount, in its infinite cowardice, refused to let them.
North Koreans
If any nation needed to see its leader satirized as a phony, it was the people of the world’s most reclusive nation, who — per the film’s plot — are fed bizarre myths about the Kim family and expected to revere them as gods.