Universal and Blumhouse Cancel The Hunt in the Wake of U.S. Mass Shootings
Following a week of mourning and heated debate in the U.S. over recent mass shootings that took place in Dayton, OH and El Paso, TX, some have been quick to place the blame on gun violence in media and entertainment as usual. Now that mounting pressure has caused Universal and Blumhouse to rethink their upcoming release of Craig Zobel, Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof’s thriller The Hunt. The movie, which was scheduled to hit theatres on Sept. 27th, revolves around “a group of globalist elites” who hunt humans for sport. Universal has now issued the following statement:
“While Universal Pictures had already paused the marketing campaign for The Hunt, after thoughtful consideration, the studio has decided to cancel our plans to release the film. 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.”
Back in 2017, MGM delayed their Death Wish remake following a mass shooting in Las Vegas, eventually releasing it six months later than originally planned. It is unclear if The Hunt has been fully cancelled or just delayed, but the latter seems more likely. U.S. president Donald Trump also appeared to indirectly condemn the movie on Twitter, which seems to have been the thing that ultimately caused it to get pulled. With several other violent movies scheduled to be released this fall, one can only wonder if any others will follow suit. Do you think Universal did the right thing or is this potentially setting a dangerous precedent?