In light of the recent mass shooting tragedies in Texas and Ohio, Universal Studios opted to pull their release of The Hunt. The film was slotted to come out September 27. The plot meant to represent the current political divide of the United States; BBC plainly escribed The Hunt as “a satirical film in which liberals hunt Trump supporters and kill them for sport.”
Universal released the following statement:
“We stand by our filmmakers and will continue to distribute films in partnership with bold and visionary creators, like those associated with this satirical social thriller, but we understand that now is not the right time to release this film.”
There is no word on when they will move the release — if they choose to release it at all.
The movie would have featured Hilary Swank, Betty Gilpin, and Emma Roberts among other recognizable faces. Check out the trailer here:
Lot of folks weighed in on this and reactions on Twitter were a mix. Some are glad to see the movie won’t come out and others don’t think this is necessarily a step in the right direction. See for yourself:
After DT went after The Hunt, I was feeling scared to even go see it in the theater. Universal's decision to pull it, I'd imagine, was in large part to prevent potential acts of violence from erupting over it. And that's the scariest realization. That's where we're at right now.
— John Squires (@FreddyInSpace) August 10, 2019
Lastly re #TheHunt: Universal started pulling ads BEFORE anyone weighed in politically.
Originally “Red State vs Blue State” multiple studios felt it was totally inappropriate.
If it had a SHRED of artistic integrity, Universal wouldn’t be burying it. https://t.co/KhbPeRg7p0
— Grace Randolph (@GraceRandolph) August 12, 2019
So The Hunt is pulled from its US cinema release because people are sensitive to gun violence … yet any adult can still buy a military grade semi-automatic rifle …
While I commend Universal and Blumhouse for their humanity .
This is not the solution.— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 11, 2019
Like The Interview, had it just been left alone, The Hunt probably would have come out, gotten mixed reviews, done so-so box office, and been forgotten in a year.
— Wes (@alifefilmodic) August 10, 2019
Rest easy, America. All of our problems have been solved by Universal canceling the release of #TheHunt. https://t.co/Mjb6aNqRdG
— Collider (@Collider) August 10, 2019
Why Canceling ‘The Hunt’ Was the Right Call (Column) https://t.co/amuiMZffhP
— Variety (@Variety) August 11, 2019
