It's fairly standard practice for big-budget movies to go through digital alterations during post-production. It's not standard practice, however, for a country to declare said film an "act of war." That movie would be Sony Pictures' now-highly-scrutinized The Interview, a comedy about two journalists (Seth Rogen and James Franco) who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony is digitally altering "thousands of buttons... [that] depict the actual hardware worn by the North Korean military" to honor Kim Jong-un and his father Kim Jong-il." THR's source claims "clearance issues" led to the change. The publication also notes that showcasing such decorative hardware "would be considered blasphemous" to North Korea, a concern that apparently wasn't raised during the movie's production.
The other potential change contains major spoilers, so we'll talk about that after a picture of James Franco in a tank.
We imagine this is one of the final scenes (or at least a very trippy dream sequence), but one scene that might get cut altogether involves the face of Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) being "melted off graphically in slow motion." THR's source claims the filmmakers are "just trying to gauge whether it's funny." None of this is confirmed, and it may be awhile (if ever) before Sony Pictures comments on the changes. The Interview is scheduled for release December 25th.