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Was talking to a friend about this whole thing earlier today and an interesting point was brought up. With Sony using this as an excuse to release the film online on opening day, it's a good trial to see the viability of future movies being released both online and in theatres. Sure, people will still go to the theatre to experience the full, er, experience, but others will be just as happy to pay the price of a ticket to watch it in the comfort in their own home. Drop the price a couple dollars and film distributors suddenly have another source to tap into. True, this isn't something I'd expect to see start happening anytime soon, but it's certainly a good platform test.
As for the viral marketing angle, I honestly don't think it is one. It's possible that Sony decided to spin the hacking into something profitable, but it's extremely doubtful it was orchestrated by one of their marketing teams. Why? Because for most major theatre chains to pull a film is not just bad publicity on their behalf, it's also bad for profits. The amount of publicity that the film has received up to the point of that information being relayed to the public would have more than made up for any low seat viewings. Realistically, if a film house feels that one of their movies is going to be a bomb, they usually release it as a limited run in select theatres. After testing the waters, they'll then decide on whether to do a full release or simply pull it and send it off to VOD/print/etc. To coerce or plan with theatre chains to publicly state that they're pulling out of showing a film (and losing any potential profits) is something that I can't imagine even the most ravenous marketing team capable of pulling off..
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