In the past several hours, this story has developed from pretty intriguing to weirdly interesting to downright fascinating. Variety is now reporting that “Sony Pictures has no further release plans for" Seth Rogen's film The Interview. No theatrical, no VOD, no DVD, no nothing.

The article stated that Sony might be able to sell the film to another distributor, but includes no speculation about any other companies that might be interested in acquiring it.

Expect even more back-and-forthing about the First Amendment, internet piracy, and the moral and ethical ramifications of Sony's decision in the days to come, but one thing is for sure: Whoever the hackers are—the US government says North Korea, Wired says almost certainly not—they have definitively won this battle.

The Variety story continues below:

The studio issued the statement a few hours after pulling the planned Christmas Day release of “The Interview” in response to the hackers who threatened movie theaters and moviegoers if the comedy were released.

The move could open the door for Sony to sell the rights to a rival distributor — though Hollywood is still reeling from Tuesday’s invocation of a possible 9/11-type terrorist attack on exhibitors who screened “The Interview.”

Prior to the decision to pull the film, a Sony Pictures insider had told Variety that the studio was weighing releasing the film on premium video-on-demand. Such a move would have allowed the studio to recoup some of the film’s $42 million budget and tens of millions in promotion and advertising expenditures.

Sony’s nightmare began on Nov. 24 when the “Guardians of Peace” hackers disabled the studio’s computer system and began disclosing internal documents, email messages, film budgets, executive salaries and the social security numbers of thousands of employees.

“The world will be full of fear,” Tuesday’s message said. “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.)”

“The Interview” centers on an assassination attempt on North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. There has been speculation that the country may be involved in the hacking as retaliation for the film, though it has denied involvement.

On Wednesday, several published reports said that federal authorities had determined that hackers working on behalf of the North Korean government were behind the hack attack. CNN’s Evan Perez said that an announcement is expected on Thursday that would “assign attribution” to the country.

It’s also unclear if Sony’s declaration of “no further release plans” applies to international distribution. “The Interview” has been scheduled for release in foreign markets starting in late January.