The comedy film The Interview was set to be one of the big film releases on Christmas Day, until the hacks on Sony occurred. Said hackers have dubbed themselves “Guardians of Peace” and have released tons of private information including social security numbers of employees, and detailed numbers about how much money each actor makes who has been employed through the company.

When many of these emails and documents from all over the company were released, threats came along with the release. Many of those threats were in response to the film The Interview, and included suggestions that people who went to see the film in theaters could be in immanent danger.

The Interview is a fictional movie with a plot about killing Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea. The film stars James Franco and Seth Rogan and cost an estimated $42 million to produce.

When the initial threats started pouring in from the hacking group, Franco and Rogan pulled out of promotional appearances and many movie theaters opted out of showing the film for fear of their own safety. Once the largest selling theaters in the both the U.S. and Canada decided not to show the film, Sony took it as a signal that the film’s end was near. As of Dec. 17 the film has been pulled completely.

The Federal Bureau of Intelligence has been paying close attention and investigating the threats, some of which referenced past U.S. tragedies like 9/11. “Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time…Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment,” they wrote.

The threats are understandably frightening, despite the U.S. government saying the any real plans to attack U.S. movie theaters is unlikely. They have however, linked the hacks with the North Korean government directly. Administration officials are reportedly not speaking about what this means directly, except to say that the staff at the White House is still deciding how exactly to confront the issue.

Some people feel it would be the appropriate tactic to directly speak to Kim Jong-Un himself, while other people feel like this could cause a furthering of an issue that is clearly already taking place. Other countries too are questioning their involvement in the predicament. Japan worries that their involvement in the name Sony could reopen some delicate negotiations that went down a few years ago when they made concessions for getting some kidnapped nationals back on their home turf.

In many circumstances the U.S. does not release information on where hacks come from, because the circumstances can be so touchy or inclusive. Apparently in this case the hacking trail is clear enough to point directly to North Korea, although it is not yet clear whether they were working alone or used an “in” to Sony’s own company members.

There are also similarities in the hacking work to the work of a cyber hacking group called Dark Seoul, who previously made attacks on South Korean broadcasters and banks. Clearly there is a lot more to be revealed.

As far as long term implications of what the hack might do to Sony, it hopefully is not much which has been demonstrated by their share prices. There has only been a 5 percent drop in share prices since news about the hack was released, suggesting that most investors are not that worried about it.