Sony Pictures was hacked last week, bringing its operations to a halt. From Deadline.com:

Things have come to a standstill at Sony today, after the computers in New York and around the world were infiltrated by a hacker. As a precaution, computers in Los Angeles were shut down while the corporation deals with the breach. It has basically brought the whole global corporation to an electronic standstill. I’d heard that this began with a skull appearing on screens, and then a strangely ominous message telling users they’d been hacked by something called #GOP. It gets more bizarre as the message claims this is just the beginning and then threatens to release documents by 11 PM this evening. There is no reason given why this is happening, and no specific demands. Mentioned are websites in places around the world, some of which don’t even function.

Now, Sony has discovered that at least five screeners (review copies of unreleased motion pictures) have been leaked on-line. From Variety:

“Fury” has been downloaded by over 888,000 unique IP addresses since showing up on peer-to-peer networks on Nov. 27, according to piracy-tracking firm Excipio. That’s high enough to be the second most-downloaded movie currently being pirated, and it’s not out of movie theaters yet.

Another big Sony movie, “Annie,” is also being pirated, this one three weeks ahead of its own wide release. Other Sony movies being downloaded include “Mr. Turner,” “Still Alice” and “To Write Love on Her Arms.”

There is some speculation that North Korea is behind this, in retaliation for Sony’s upcoming comedy, The Interview, in which James Franco and Seth Rogen run a tabloid news show and score an interview with Kim Jong-un which turns into an assassination attempt.

You just can’t make this stuff up.