Sony released a statement confirming that The Interview will appear in a select number of theaters on Thursday.  This was announced just six days after terrorist threats and a large hacking incident led Sony to cancel the comedy, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Michael Lynton, chief executive for Sony Entertainment, said that the release of the film was a message to the hackers, according to the Wall Street Journal. Lynton claimed that he is proud of the film’s release, and he is proud to have “stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.” He also said that Sony had never really given up on releasing The Interview and Sony is working to secure more theaters and platforms so that the film will still reach a large audience.

The studio said that the movie’s limited release on Dec. 25 is just step one in their release plans. Sony Corp. has informed theaters that the film will appear on video-on-demand. However, which vendor Sony will use for distribution is unclear.

The Interview star Seth Rogen expressed his excitement over the news in a message via Twitter.  Rogen wrote “Freedom has prevailed” and “Sony didn’t give up” in his post. He said that The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to put it on screen.

James Wallace, Alamo Drafthouse DFW programmer, told The Dallas Morning News that he was amazed by the “international outpouring” of cinema support and freedom of expression. He continued by noting that they are proud supporters of Sony and will release the film on Christmas. An independent theater in Atlanta also said on Tuesday that will also release the film.

It is unlikely that large theater chains will play the film on Thursday. It is expected to open on a small portion of the thousands of screens in which its showing was originally planned. Last week, Sony told theaters that they had the option of showing the film. The large chains told Sony they would not play it and asked them to cancel or postpone the film. This caused Sony to state, on Dec. 17, that they were going to cancel the film’s opening.

The screenwriters, actors and directors were alarmed by the statement. Even President Barack Obama said Friday that he did not agree with the decision. President Obama said that if Sony had talked to him directly about their decision, he “might have called” large theater chains and “asked them what that story was.” However, other independent theater operators urged Sony to release the film as a statement of free-speech and they agreed.

Last month, hackers broke into Sony Pictures’ computer network and ransacked massive amounts of internal documents. Emails and other data were also stolen and spread across the Internet. North Korea, which denied any sort of involvement in the hacks, has been linked to the attack by several officials including the FBI.

The alleged hackers issued a vague threat of terrorist attacks at movie theaters who were planning to play the film. However, The Department of Homeland Security stated that the threat was not credible.