Controversial comedy The Interview will also be made available on YouTube on Christmas Day, according to reports in the US.

CNN is reporting that YouTube and Sony Pictures are close to striking a deal that would see the movie, which depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, be made available via the world’s largest video website.

The deal would mean a historic, simultaneous release in both living rooms and cinemas, after hundreds of independent movie theatres confirmed yesterday that they would be hosting screenings on Christmas Day.

The Interview, which stars James Franco and Seth Rogen, has been at the centre of the cyber attack on Sony Pictures, with the FBI claiming the North Korean government was behind the breach.

The secretive state called the attack “a righteous deed” but denied any involvement, having previously called The Interview and its plot an “act of war”.

The Interview film poster.
(Jim Ruymen/Landov/PA)

Sony were criticised for originally cancelling the movie’s release, with even US President Barack Obama expressing his disappointment.

Now the movie will be getting a large-scale release and, with the announcement of YouTube as a partner, one of the most widespread in history. It is also thought that the Google-owned video site is unlikely to be the exclusive streamer of the film, with Sony said to be talking to other potential partners, with rumours of a digital release via Apple’s iTunes some time after Christmas also circulating.

Sony Pictures execute Michael Lynton said: “We are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theatres so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.”