but all it takes is one crazy person to take the opportunity to do it themselves, and you have a situation. And lawsuits.

Even dropping all of that, Sony's key reason for canceling the release was because Regal, AMC, Carmike, etc. all decided not to run it (or to "delay" it), making it a moot point to try and release it (they'll make more money attempting to file an insurance claim on the film than they would releasing it to indie cinemas or on VOD. If for whatever reason the insurance claim doesn't go through, I bet they'll release it somehow, prolly not in cinemas though)