Seth Rogen and James Franco’s controversial film The Interview will be in some cinemas at Christmas.

Sony has announced a limited cinema release of the movie, putting the comedy back on to screens after a huge international row.

The stars, along with Evan Goldberg – who co-directed and co-produced the comedy with Seth – couldn’t resist taking to Twitter to share their feelings about the latest development.

Sony Pictures Entertainment chief executive Michael Lynton said the North Korea farce “will be in a number of cinemas on Christmas Day”.

He said Sony is continuing its efforts to release the film on more platforms and in more cinemas.

Movie-goers celebrated the abrupt change of fortune for a film that had appeared doomed, as the title started popping up in the listings of a handful of independent cinemas.

A picture of a cinema which will apparently screen The Interview
The Interview will be screened in some cinemas (Ben Gray/AP/Press Association Images)

After hackers last Wednesday threatened violence against cinemas showing the film, the nation’s largest chains dropped the film.

Sony soon cancelled the film’s release altogether.

That decision drew widespread criticism, including from President Barack Obama.

The FBI has said the cyber attacks on Sony came from North Korea.

The latest development came after several North Korean websites suffered an hours-long shutdown that followed a US vow to respond to the cyber attack on Sony.

The White House and the State Department declined to say whether the US government was responsible for the internet shutdown in one of the least-wired and poorest countries in the world.

Though it denies responsibility for the Sony hack, Pyongyang has called it a “righteous deed”.

It has made clear its fury over The Interview, a comedy that depicts the assassination of the North’s authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un, the head of a 1.2 million-man army and the focus of an intense cult of personality.