♪ let's go ♪ i just want to celebrate this is "nightline." tonight -- moving the stakes. tough words from president obama for sony. now facing backlash from hollywood after pulling the movie "the interview" from theaters. plus, two free tickets to anywhere. but is it too good to be true? how the supposedly free vacations could be too good to be true. and super saturday, one of

the biggest shopping days of the year. but first, the "nightline" five. number one

good evening. president obama came down hard on sony today after pulling the

upcoming movie "the interview" from theaters. some of hollywood's biggest stars agree it was a mistake. here's tom llamas. >> yes, i think they made a mistake. i wish they had spoken to me first. i would have told them, do not get into a pattern in which you're intimidated by these criminal attacks. we can not have a society in which some dictator can start imposing censorship in the united states. >> reporter: then the sony ceo

fired back on cnn. >> we have not caved, we've persevered and not backed down. we have always had everybody desire to have the american public see this movie. >> want to kill kim jong-un? >> it's a date. >> reporter: the comedy starring seth rogen and james franco features an assassination plot to kill kim jong-un. >> well, i love them, but this gives you an idea of what we're facing here. >> reporter: earlier this week, they told george stephanopoulos they have no regrets. >> did you ever imagine you would have a storm like this? >> the movie itself is very silly and wasn't meant to be controversial in any way. >> reporter: but since the

threats were issued, they declined to comment. on november 24th, sony's computer systems were hacked. >> this was not just designed to steal sensitive information. it has the purpose of destroying the computers of the company. >> reporter: personal e-mails were placed online, embarrassing celebrities. and the inspiration for olivia pope is advising sony. but the hackers have threatened people that see the film. >> it feels like censorship to

them. >> this is a rock and a hard place situation. the liability issues they could face if something happens. >> you have issues of freedom meeting issues of safety. >> reporter: and the decision not to release the movie was because theaters said they would not run the film. but the damage is already done. judd apatow saying, i can't believe this. even newt gingrich saying that no one should kid themselves. america has lost its first cyber war. george clooney issued a rallying cry, saying we shouldn't be told we can't see something by kim

jong-un of all people. it's insane. >> this is not going to just be one. it's going to be all. it's an industry. >> reporter: clooney believes it's time for the industry to stand united against these threats. circulating a petition to ask sony to release the film. but he couldn't get one person to sign on. >> people were like, i can't handle this liability and we don't want to get caught in these cross hairs ourselves. >> reporter: and in a statement, the agency said, the destructive nature of the attack sets it apart. >> sony is not alone in not

being well-prepared to defend its networks. it's a wakeup call for companies in the united states. >> reporter: and president obama says they will respond. so, how do we protect ourselves going forward? >> more young people entering into programs to help protect ourselves and our networks. >> reporter: this is one professor teaching just that. he believes the best way to stop hackers is to beat them at their own game. >> we need to teach people to do this so they can identify the vulnerabilities before the bad guys. >> reporter: at this hack-a-thon, they're applying

this to real life. competing to develop their skills to possibly stop the next cyber attack. for sony, the damage has already been done. losing a significant portion of the $44 million it cost to make "the >> $47,000 employees were affected. >> reporter: and sony may have to fight back, or be hacked into hollywood history. for "nightline," i'm tom llamas in los angeles. next, we'll find out if there really is such a thing as a free vacation, or if it could

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protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. it's the promise of free airplane tickets arrived to your house tomorrow, you may think it was a holiday miracle. but we were skeptical, and decided to track them down. guess what happened? here's rebecca jarvis. >> reporter: tis the season for

traveling. so, when tickets showed up in the mailbox, it may seem like holiday cheer. i'm just going to ask them a couple of questions. tonight, we're on a mission to track the free vacation runaround. so, where it's the free trip? we got this note. our then-executive producer received a letter congratulating him on a dream vacation. you will get two nights at a marriott hotel. the value is up to $1,398. >> sounds pretty good. >> reporter: when we googled their phone number, we got this. complaints. and it all goes to that phone

number that we're about to call. so, we decided to schedule an appointment with this mystery company. >> i received a letter about some free tickets. >> reporter: to claim our free trip. >> so, i come, stay for the presentation, i get two tickets. we sent two abc news producers wearing hidden cameras to get the tickets. the location, in brooklyn, new york. >> good afternoon, how is everybody doing? >> all right, all right. >> reporter: it starts with him congratulating everybody for being invited. >> this is a presentation about vacation and travel. >> reporter: we find a relentless sales pitch that

lasts more than 90 minutes. >> if this doesn't save you one nickel, then don't buy. but i think you will be impressed. >> reporter: at the conclusion, they come in to close the deal on packages that cost thousands of dollars. >> we're not going to sign up. sorry. >> reporter: but that's not enough. they're moved to three different locations with three different sales people, each trying to get us to sign up. >> congratulations, welcome aboard. >> reporter: two hours later, we're still empty-handed. we're eventually given these vouchers for a free trip. so far, it's only cost us two hours spent at the seminar. but there's more. we have to send in money to get

the vouchers. that's not a trip. >> well, it's an activation form to get more offers, asking for more money. >> reporter: an activation form. that's right, 15 days later, we didn't get tickets, but instead a solicitation for more money. it's been about two months, now we've tracked them down in new jersey, and we're going meet them and ask them a few questions. i understand they're in the basement right now preparing for the presentations. we're just going to go in and ask them a couple of questions. when we first walked in, we saw familiar faces from the first seminar. i'm rebecca jarvis with abc news. we were left with this guy who

calls himself thorne. we were told we qualified for complimentary travel. then asked to pay $150 for that. we did pay, but didn't get any complimentary travel. we were sent these. is this a ticket? >> these are ser ticertificates >> reporter: is that my ticket? he dodges our questions and can't seem to explain why the free trip costs so much money. i'm not seeing any free tickets. where are the complimentary tickets? >> i'll be forward with you. we give a 90-minute presentation. if you attended it, this is fine. >> reporter: the company claims the gifts are fulfilled by an

outside company. >> i'll be frank with you. that's what this say. >> reporter: the new york attorney general says third-party companies are a sign of trouble. >> they make it hard by changing their names to track them down. >> reporter: we sent them the money, got them. then we were told to pay $59 a person. >> which was identified -- >> reporter: but that's not complimentary. >> you have to jump through hoops. >> reporter: correct. how many hoops do you jump through? >> you follow the instructions. provided all instructions are followed. you got these. as long as you follow these individual instructions, you will receive two tickets for

anywhere in the continental united states. >> reporter: he or anyone else got back to us. we still don't have that hotel stay or tickets we were promised. now, we've been offered a new deal. a new opportunity to do more business with this company. but still, no tickets or hotel. >> if someone is calling you up or e-mailing you with something that seems too good to be true, it's probably not true. >> reporter: rebecca jarvis, for "nightline," in new york. next, time for super saturday, companies are revolutionizing their sales.

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tomorrow is the last weekend before christmas. and if you're like 93% of us, your shopping list isn't done. but take heart, retailers are bringing the digital world into the stores. here's rebecca jarvis. >> reporter: amazon announcing their one-hour delivery. but you can only get that in new york city. so, for all you delinquent

gifters, those old-time brick and mortar stores are your best bet. and they're bringing the ease of online shopping to their store. you can scan what you want and they bring it to your dressing room. and lowe's is experimenting with robot sales people. a >> this is the big thing that is going to revolutionize retail. >> yeah, this is a big part of it. >> reporter: this giant touch screen lets you bring clothes to

your dressing room, even order a drink. and the dressing room recognizes clothes instantly with rfid tags. >> it will channel it here to let you know what you brought into the fitting room. >> reporter: need another size? you never need to run through the store in your underwear. you can even adjust the lighting. there we go. very nice. so, whether you spend it running around or clicking around the web, take heart. shoppers are winning the traditional face-off this season. rebecca jarvis in new york. >> i'm officially a part of

"nightline" now, joining dan and juju at the desk. you can always reach us at abcnews.com. good night, america. thanks for watching.