“The Interview” controversial comedy illegally downloaded 750,000 times

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Interview has been illegally downloaded over 750,000 times in the past 20 hours, Digital Spy said citing statistics released by Torrent Freak.

The file sharing news site reports that the controversial comedy was downloaded through BitTorrent 200,000 times during its first 10 hours online.

However, the number of downloads increased dramatically within the 10 hours which followed, jumping to 750,000 illegal downloads.

The Interview has now been released in some US cinemas and on various online streaming sites, but access is only available to viewers in the US.

The film's illegal copies appeared across file-sharing sites, including some in China, within an hour of the film's official release, with some available with English and Chinese subtitles.

The Interview's limited US release comes after Sony reversed its decision to cancel the release entirely, in the wake of a cyber attack against the film company by a group named the 'Guardians of Peace'.

The film stars James Franco and Seth Rogen as hapless journalists who are sent to interview North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, only for them to then be hired by the CIA to assassinate him.