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Ads Pulled for Gory Universal Thriller 'The Hunt' in Wake of Mass Shootings (THR)

posted 5 years ago by Satan2016 (23351)
10 replies | jump to latest

Can't wait for the critics! Who will be condemned, the low or high raters?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ads-pulled-hunt-wake-mass-shootings-1229829

"Did anyone see what our ratfucker-in-chief just did?" one character asks early in the screenplay for The Hunt, a Universal Pictures thriller set to open Sept. 27. Another responds: "At least The Hunt's coming up. Nothing better than going out to the Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables."

In the aftermath of mass shootings within days of one another that shocked and traumatized the nation, Universal is re-evaluating its strategy for the certain-to-be-controversial satire. The violent, R-rated film from producer Jason Blum's Blumhouse follows a dozen MAGA types who wake up in a clearing and realize they are being stalked for sport by elite liberals.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12299) 5 years ago

There's one small problem with this plot (other than the entire story), most Conservatives (particularly those who live in the South) have guns and know how to use them, whereas Liberals are always screaming for gun control and using the occasional mass-shootings to push their narrative. I find it extremely unlikely that a bunch of cowardly elites who hide behind bodyguards who use guns, would know how to:

- leave the city for the country
- tromp around in the woods where most southerners know the terrain very well from hunting
- be able to know which end of the gun to point
- be able to hit a moving target with no gun training, when most of these soft, loud-mouthed cowards would do as the Storm-poopers do and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn

Chances were, their prey would look at them, laugh, get out their own guns, and shoot them dead immediately.

This entire lame movie is a liberal wet dream and a very disturbing one at that.

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

This entire lame movie is a liberal wet dream and a very disturbing one at that.

Imagine for a moment a movie about hunting liberals.

Or blacks.

Or Jews.

The most disturbing thing is not it's a wet dream. What's even more disturbing is that for some specific groups, it has become widely accepted in western society, and even approved.

[–] UncleRuckis (2550) 5 years ago

"Imagine for a moment a movie about hunting liberals.

Or blacks.

Or Jews."

You mean Surviving The Game, or The Purge, or like 100 other movies with this premise. I think conservatives are reading way too much into the plot of this flick.

Especially considering the ones being hunted are clearly the Protagonist.

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

Those movies are about hunting people.

'People'. Generic. Not 'this group of people'. The Purge would be a completely different movie if the argument was, for example, 'one night every year you can have a walk, break some glasses and kill jews for free'.

Some doors shouldn't be opened.

[–] UncleRuckis (2550) 5 years ago

How are Conservatives a specific group of people, but poor people aren't? The Purge is literally about hunting poor people. Especially the 4th one.

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

That's a different question. Hunting uses to focus in easy preys. That happens in nature, and that happens in human society: you're more likely to be assaulted if you look weak. Poor people in general are weaker when it comes to the hierarchical organization of society.

Don't get me wrong, that's an interesting question, but it's completely different story from targeting a group because of political/religious reasons, which is what I was talking about.

[–] LTUM (975) 5 years ago

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[–] LTUM (975) 5 years ago

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[–] LTUM (975) 5 years ago

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[–] Satan2016 (23351) 5 years ago

THR posted this Aug 6 based on a leaked script. Several conservative sites picked up the story. The original title was "Red State vs. Blue State", which makes the politics pretty clear.

FOX News has a good article with statements of legitimate outrage: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/universal-pictures-the-hunt-killing-deplorables-slammed-beyond-stick-disturbing

Here's some more from THR:

The Hunt stars Betty Gilpin from GLOW and Hilary Swank, representing opposite sides of the political divide. It features guns blazing along with other ultra-violent killings as the elites pick off their prey. The script from Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter revolves around third-rail political themes. (Original title: Red State Vs. Blue State.)

A studio source says that even before the recent attacks, which left 34 dead in El Paso, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; and Gilroy, California, some reshoots were done based on a recent rough cut. Universal and Blumhouse declined to comment.

The Hunt made some executives at Universal skittish back in May 2018, when film chief Donna Langley acquired the script and fast-tracked it at a modest $18 million budget. It is unclear whether there were any other bidders on the property, the sale of which was brokered by CAA, but insiders at several studios told THR at the time that they did not pursue it because of the explosive premise. One executive says he didn't even read the script, noting, "The idea seemed crazy."