UPDATED, 11:55 AM: No comment so far from NATO on behalf of the movie theaters, or from Sony. This will renew the discussion over whether Sony Pictures Entertainment should release The Interview. I had heard from sources that the expectation was that this “Christmas surprise” promised by the hackers likely would be the online release of The Interview, in hopes of diluting the theatrical business. The film wasn’t among those the hackers leaked to the web earlier, a group of films that included Annie. Part of the document dump included the money shot of The Interview, where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is blown up. The site Defamer brazenly posted a film clip, which is marked “Property Of Sony,” and basically shows the end of the movie.

BREAKING, 10:41 am PST: In a move that should get the attention of everyone from Homeland Security to the so far slumbering MPAA, cyberterrorists took a nasty turn in this Sony hacking scandal by invoking 9/11 and threatening possible attacks in theaters showing The Interview. The bottom of the message indicates that the Christmas Gift is aimed at Sony chief Michael Lynton. The hacked emails served up by websites so far have focused on dialogue involving Amy Pascal. Here’s the missive, essentially a cover letter to a new pile of plundered documents:

Warning

We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places “The Interview” be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to.

Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made.

The world will be full of fear.

Remember the 11th of September 2001.

We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time.

(If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.)

Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

All the world will denounce the SONY.

The studio did not immediately comment, nor have they addressed my inquiries about whether they be boosting security in theaters when The Interview opens December 25. We have seen carnage in movie theaters, most recently in Aurora, Colorado shooting of The Dark Knight Rises. Warner Bros did not pull the movie, and there was no reason to, because it was an isolated incident. A better parallel might be the 1979 release of the Walter Hill-directed drama, The Warriors, and three people died in incidents related to the gang movie. Some 200 theaters nationwide installed security guards and many others refused to screen the film, released by Paramount.