'Cowardly': Some Hollywood insiders say Universal's decision to scrap the release of 'The Hunt' after Trump's comments sets a bad precedentOn Saturday, Universal announced that it was pulling the September 27 release of its thriller, "The Hunt."
The latest movie from Blumhouse Productions follows 12 strangers who suddenly wake up in a remote location and learn they have been chosen to be hunted in a game by a group of rich elites. It stars "Glow" star Betty Gilpin, Emma Roberts, and Hilary Swank. The movie is directed by Craig Zobel ("Compliance," episodes of HBO's "The Leftovers").
Universal halted the marketing for the movie following the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; and Gilroy, California in early August. Now the studio has taken the movie off its slate entirely, with no indication of when it will be released.
"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," Universal said in a statement that went out on Saturday. "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."
But the motivation to not release the movie is one that has some producers and executives in Hollywood concerned, they told Business Insider.
Many industry insiders believe President Trump was referring to "The Hunt" when he called Hollywood "really terrible" and "racist" on Friday, and later that day tweeted, "the movie coming out is made in order ... to inflame and cause chaos."
"If this is about Dayton and El Paso, I get it," one producer told Business Insider of Universal's decision. "It's hard to market a movie about Americans hunting Americans after such tragedies. And it would simply be as insensitive as it would be ill-advised. However, if Trump's specific Tweets had anything to do with it, f--- that."
This is not the first time Trump has pointed the finger at Hollywood following a mass shooting. In the wake of the Parkland school shooting in 2018, which lead to 17 deaths, the president blamed the amount of violence in video games and movies.
"You see these movies, they're so violent, and yet a kid is able to see the movie," Trump said at the time. "If sex isn't involved, but killing is involved. And maybe they have to put a rating system for that, and you get into a whole very complicated, very big deal."
'Respectful' or 'cowardly'?
Hollywood often delays the release of a movie if it mirrors a national tragedy.
The biggest example was after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Following those events, the release for the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie "Collateral Damage," which featured a terrorist bombing in front of a building in LA, was postponed four months. The release of the Tim Allen comedy "Big Trouble," which involved a nuclear bomb being smuggled onto an airplane, was postponed seven months during the same time period.
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