Universal has canceled the release of Blumhouse thriller The Hunt amid political controversy and public tragedy, but will it ever see the light of day?
Movie releases are delayed frequently. Many films get shuffled around the release calendar seemingly endlessly due to production or marketing concerns before they finally make their way to theaters. Somewhat rarer but still common, films never make their way to public consumption, be it for financial reasons or a lack of audience interest. Nowadays, it's not uncommon to hear a studio has decided to forego a previously planned cinematic release in favor of putting their new title directly on a streaming service.
However, it's still very rare for a movie's release to be outright canceled. And yet that's exactly what appears to have happened with The Hunt, an R-rated satirical thriller about twelve strangers, referred to as "deplorables" in the trailer, who wake up in a clearing and discover that they are to be hunted as part of a game designed for rich elites. Directed by Craig Zobel, co-written by Damon Lindelof, and produced by Blumhouse Productions, the film’s cast included Betty Gilpin and Hilary Swank. However, while the thriller was set for a September 27 release, now Universal Pictures announced that they have decided to shelve the film. Here's why the movie has been pulled and if you'll ever get to see The Hunt (in theaters or elsewhere).
Universal Pictures Has Cancelled The Release of The Hunt
In a statement, Universal said:
"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. 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."
The Hunt had already garnered headlines for its seemingly politically prescient nature, evoking imagery and rhetoric of Donald Trump and his supporters. Of course, the notion of a story where an elite upper-class hunt the "deplorables" of society is nothing new. It's an idea that's been used in pop culture frequently, from The Most Dangerous Game to Battle Royale to The Hunger Games. What made The Hunt such a hot-button issue was its timing and who got involved in condemning it.
The Hunt Was Cancelled Following the El Paso and Dayton Shootings
On August 4, ten people were killed and 27 others injured in a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio. This attack happened just 13 hours after another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, where 22 people were killed and 24 others injured. The FBI declared this shooting to be an act of domestic terrorism, with the shooter having strong ties to white nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment.
After the shootings, some Republican politicians tried to pin the blame on violent video games. President Trump took aim at Hollywood. In a tweet, while he did not mention The Hunt by name, he clearly alluded to it, saying, "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. In fact, it is often the people that they so strongly oppose that are actually the Elite. The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos. They create their own violence, and then try to blame others. They are the true Racists, and are very bad for our Country!"
This kind of backlash, in large part driven by bad faith criticism, political deflection, and the threat of a President encouraging some form of censorship, has wide-reaching ramifications for art and business as a whole. Universal may have been genuinely concerned about how to market a story like this at a time when the news is dominated by the fallout of dozens of people's deaths at the hands of gunmen; that's an understandable response and their decision to pull the movie was one done with true empathy. It may have also just been a simple way to cut costs on a film that was possibly not going to make a massive amount of money in the first place. However, it feels misguided to pull a film that President Trump used as a distraction to avoid conversations over the demand for increased gun control.
Will The Hunt Ever Be Released?
For all the talk of cancellation, it’s unlikely that The Hunt will end up in some vault in Universal and never to see the light of day. In a streaming age, hiding content like this is both extremely tough and kind of pointless. What this situation is most reminiscent of is the release of The Interview. In 2014, the North Korean government threatened action against the United States if Sony Pictures released the movie, a satire about two journalists tasked with assassinating Kim Jong-un. Sony did delay the film's release, but following a mass hacking of their computer systems, something that North Korean hackers took responsibility for, various major theater chains chose not to release the movie. Eventually, Sony released it digitally and gave it a limited release in selected theaters.
The Hunt will probably be shopped to other distributors or offered to Netflix, who Blumhouse has a pre-existing relationship with. NBCUniversal is also set to launch its own streaming service soon, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to see The Hunt listed as one of their movie exclusives. One way or another, this movie will surely find its way to audiences (and sheer morbid curiosity will lead many to seek it out).
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It should be a major concern to all that any film could be threatened in such a way by a world leader, but what is ultimately so disheartening about The Hunt and its situation is how it repeats old patterns of deflection and wilful ignorance in relation to painful, pertinent political matters. It perpetuates the cycle of bad faith that sees pop culture blamed more for mass shootings than readily available access to guns. There is a debate to be had on how pop culture glamorizes violence and has made it the benchmark of modern blockbusters, but it’s become increasingly difficult to have that conversation without feeding into the viewpoint that movies like The Hunt and video games are the root of all ills rather than the true culprits.