Controversial Thriller ‘The Hunt’ Gets New Release Date After Being Pulled By Universal
Producer Jason Blum and Watchmen writer Damon Lindelof’s The Hunt will see the light of day after all. In a new press release from Universal, a new release date has been set for the satirical thriller — Friday, March 13. Along with the premiere date comes a new poster and trailer, rebranding the movie with a new tagline: “The most talked about movie of the year is one nobody’s seen yet.” Watch the updated trailer here:
The Hunt was originally scheduled for a September 2019 release, but was pulled by Universal following a series of mass shootings in California, Texas, and Ohio. The movie also received harsh criticism from President Donald Trump via Twitter: “Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and Hate! They like to call themselves ‘Elite,’ but they are not Elite... The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos.” However, Blum and Lindelof shared that their true intention behind the film wasn’t to create a political disturbance. “We think that people who see it are going to enjoy it and this may be a way to shine a light on a very serious problem in the country, which is that we’re divided," Lindelof told The Hollywood Reporter. "And we think the movie may actually, ironically, bring people together.”
Blum explained that the film was intended to have intentionally satirical tones, similar to those of Joker and his own successful The Purge franchise. Said Blum: “The audience is smart enough to know that what they’re seeing is a satire and it’s preposterous.” That formula definitely worked for Blumhouse's exceptional 2017 horror film Get Out, which is why Lindelof and co-writer Nick Cuse wanted to work with Blum in the first place.
Universal will open The Hunt on 3,000 screens with a predicted R rating for violence.
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