Anyone looking forward to seeing a bunch of MAGA “deplorables” fight back against blood-thirsty liberal elites will have to wait. After massive uproar on social media against “The Hunt,” Universal Pictures has decided to scrap the film’s release.
“Universal has decided to scrap the release of ‘The Hunt’ — an R-rated satire in which elites hunt ‘deplorables’ for sport — following a series of mass shootings across the country,” reports The Hollywood Reporter (THR).
The move comes after NBC Universal Pictures decided to pull several ads for “The Hunt” from TV following the horrific mass shootings last weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Following that, the controversy over the movie then erupted into a maelstrom when it was revealed that the storyline will focus on elite coastal liberals rounding up Trump supporters to hunt them down like wild animals. Though the plot description sounded grotesque on paper, the trailer indicated something more nuanced by actually depicting the Trump supporters as heroes. Despite that, people argued the movie will simply cause more divisions and will do little for the sake of unity. President Trump even weighed in, arguing that the film would “inflame and cause chaos.”
“Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and Hate!” President Trump tweeted. “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!”
Conservative commentator Mark Steyn simultaneously referred to the film as a “liberal tweetstorm fantasy taken to the next level.”
“I actually approve of making films telling stories about the way we live now — we live in an increasingly fractious 50-50 nation,” said Steyn. “It is actually the liberal Twitterstorm fantasy taken to the next level. On Twitter, they just destroy your career, get you fired, close down your restaurant — but this so-called satire actually wants to take it to the next level … take the cold civil war and make it a hot civil war.”
In a statement issued Saturday, the studio said that the film will be made available at a future time but will be on hold until further notice.
“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,” said the statement. “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.”
A source inside the studio also told THR that the company approached the decision with caution but ultimately felt that shelving it for a while was the right call.
“This was a decision that the studio came to with The Hunt filmmaking team, but ultimately it was about making the right decision, right now,” the source said. “It was a tough call for the company, but studio leadership, led by Donna Langley, all agreed that this film could wait.”