Hackers are waging all out war on Sony.
The anonymous group of cyber thieves wreaking havoc at Sony Pictures Entertainment ramped up their attack on Friday and threatened to wipe the movie studio “off the face of the earth.”
The mass email — purportedly from a group of hackers that dubs itself, ironically, the Guardians of Peace — went to Sony employees.
“Removing Sony Pictures on earth is a very tiny work for our group which is a worldwide organization,” the email read, according to Variety.
“Please sign your name to object the false of the company … if you don’t, not only you but your family will be in danger,” it continued.
The awkwardly worded letter is bound to increase suspicions that North Korean hackers are behind the relentless attacks on the Japanese-owned Hollywood studio.
The communist government is up in arms over Sony’s yet-to-be-released comedy, “The Interview,” in which two American journalists attempt to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
Sony said it has no plans to yank the offending movie due Christmas Day.
Staffers were told to turn off their computers when they received the message. All employee communications are being monitored by tech experts, according to insiders.
“It’s frightening, everyone is freaked out,” one person told The Post.
A Sony spokesman said: “We are aware of the situation and are working with law enforcement.”
The email hit the same day the group also dumped a new cache of documents that divulged one of the most closely guarded secrets in Hollywood — the profits and losses for individual movies.
“This is the End,” a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco that didn’t suffer from high expectations, was among the company’s most profitable movies of 2013, earning the studio $50 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter which dug through the documents. The actors were paired again for the “The Interview.”
“Grown Ups 2” earned $48 million; “Captain Phillips,” with Tom Hanks, took in $39 million; and Oscar contender “American Hustle,” starring Jennifer Lawrence, reaped $27 million. “One Direction: This is Us,” about the boy band, earned $18 million, as did “Elysium,” starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. George Clooney’s “Monuments Men” earned $10 million.
“Everyone has talked about Hollywood accounting and how big movies are often not profitable,” said one source. “What happens when that movie accounting is made public?”
The latest data cache also exposed the studio’s efforts to cut costs and improve profitability.
The document, prepared for the parent company in Japan, notes that, “Currently, approximately, $1 billion in production spending can be expected to deliver $500 million to $600 million in profits,” wrote company controller Curtis Crider.
His aim was to reduce production overhead to $800 million to $900 million, the document shows.
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