Seth Rogen and James Franco’s controversial comedy The Interview was expected to take over the box office on Christmas Day, but when an international dispute limited its distribution, the box office became a race between Angelina Jolie’s historical drama Unbroken and Disney’s musical fairy tale Into the Woods. According to Us Magazine, Jolie’s sophomore directorial effort narrowly beat out its primary opposition, earning an impressive $15.59 million in the domestic box office.

Unbroken is an adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling non-fiction book of the same name, and tells the story of the late Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete who spent several years as a prisoner of war in Japan. The film stars Jack O’Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, and Gerrett Hedlund, and Jolie even received assistance from Zamperini himself before his death. Into the Woods took second after earning $15.08 million, a respectable number considering the Disney film was distributed to 2,440 theaters while Unbroken debuted in 3,131 theaters. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, despite being one of the late Robin Williams’ final projects, proved unable to overtake The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, which was released a week earlier.

Perhaps the most impressive number to come from the Christmas Day box office was the $1.04 million which The Interview still managed to pull in, even though it was only distributed at 331 largely independent movie houses. The Sony film benefited from its dramatic release – it was temporarily banned entirely because its studio feared backlash from online hackers and the North Korean government, but a number of small theaters and online distributors decided to show it despite the number of threats.

“CELEBRATING!!!!!” tweeted Franco when he found out his film would receive a limited release. “The Interview” starring Seth Rogen and James Flacco saved by President Obacco! I MEAN PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!!! Sorry!!”

“The people have spoken!” Rogen added. “Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn’t give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!”