The Interview continues to be one of the surprise success stories of 2015 and will now receive a UK release on February 6. The comedy movie starring Seth Rogen and James Franco looked dead and buried after most theaters in the U.S appeared to buckle under pressure from North Korea and avoided screening the movie.

The InterviewSeth Rogen [L] and James Franco [R] in The Interview

However, word-of-mouth has allowed Sony to recoup a solid chunk of its budget via an on-demand service and the movie has to date pulled in $31 million. Even some of the critics are on side.

More: You can finally watch The Interview online

"It's stupid," wrote Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, "It's in bad taste. It impossible. I know all that. But Rogen's instinct to try anything for giggles and sticking it to dictatorial assholes is worth fighting for. Screw Kim if he can't take a joke."

"The Interview, the gross-out satire that has united Americans in support of free speech and against North Korea, is broad, bawdy and bad -- but also consistently, undeniably entertaining," said Tim Walker of the Independent. 

More: Sony CEO talks The Interview, thanks employees for hack

The announcement of a UK release came after Sony's chief executive Kazuo Hirai slammed the "vicious and malicious cyber-attack" on its systems that resulted in the release of confidential data including its employees' personal information. The company is now facing a growing battle against its own staff who are beginning to file lawsuits for failing to safeguard personal details. Data including social security numbers and salary information was posted online. 

Video-on-demand services are becoming increasingly popular amongst movie fans and recent successes have included Richard Gere's thriller Arbitrage which took $15 million and the excellent Snowpiercer. 

Watch the trailer for The Interview: