Ad Pulled for 'The Hunt' in Wake of Mass Shootings
In the aftermath of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, ads are being pulled for the Universal/Blumhouse thriller "The Hunt"
The movie follows 12 strangers who have been kidnapped to be prey for a gathering of rich people looking to kill. The "prey" decide to fight back and take up arms against the elites, resulting in a bloody battle.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, last weekend, ESPN pulled an ad for "The Hunt" it had previously approved. But AMC ran a spot for the film during the season premiere of "Preacher." The one for ESPN opened with a sound resembling an emergency broadcast signal.
Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse's script is a dark satire that reportedly was originally titled "Red State Vs. Blue State."
THR says the script has a line that has one character ask, "Did anyone see what our ratf---er-in-chief just did? At least The Hunt's coming up. Nothing better than going out to the Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables."
Studio sources tell THR that Universal is evaluating its plans for the movie and it is a "fluid situation." A trailer was released last week.
"The Hunt" is slated in theaters on September 27.