According to TIME:
Universal Pictures announced Saturday afternoon that it will cancel the release of its violent thriller movie The Hunt, following the prior decision to pause advertising it. This news comes less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump tweeted that film is meant to “inflame and cause chaos.”
Additionally, TIME reports:
Earlier this week, advertisements and commercials for the now-axed horror movie, previously set for release on Sept. 27 from Universal Studios, were pulled by the production studio following mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.
And according to The Hollywood Reporter:
The script for The Hunt features the red-state characters wearing trucker hats and cowboy shirts, with one bragging about owning seven guns because it’s his constitutional right. The blue-state characters — some equally adept with firearms — explain that they picked their targets because they expressed anti-choice positions or used the N-word on Twitter. “War is war,” says one character after shoving a stiletto heel through the eye of a denim-clad hillbilly.
“Employees in different departments were questioning the wisdom of making such a movie in these times,” says one filmmaker with ties to Universal. “In light of the horrific [recent shootings], is this not the most craven, irresponsible, dangerous exploitation?”
That point is countered by a Universal executive, who says the movie “is meant to show what a stupid, crazy world we live in,” adding, “It might even be more powerful now.”
