“Unplanned” is a movie about Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood worker turned pro-life activist.
While it was never going to win any Oscars in left-wing Hollywood or appeal to those who aren’t already pro-life, the mainstream media and Hollywood have been seemingly trying to bury the film anyway.
“Unplanned” was given an “R” rating by the Motion Picture Association of America for “some disturbing/bloody images,” according to IMDb. As pro-lifers have pointed out on Twitter, that means that someone under the age of 18 can’t see the movie but can legally obtain an abortion without their parents’ consent in some states. Twelve states and the District of Columbia allow girls under the age of 18 to get an abortion without a parent or family member’s consent or knowledge. In Delaware, girls under 16 need a parent or family member’s permission.
The Twitter account for the film was also briefly suspended on Saturday. Users started to notice the “account suspended” sometime Saturday afternoon. An hour or two later, the account was no longer suspended.
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Twitter to find out why the account was briefly suspended.
“According to Twitter, Unplanned was not suspended on purpose, but rather was linked to another account that had violated Twitter’s rules,” THR wrote. “When one account violates those rules, the system then cracks down on linked accounts to mitigate the risk that the original, banned account would simply move accounts. After reviewing this case a second time, Twitter decided the Unplanned account should not be affected by the other’s suspension and restored it.”
The film’s co-writers and co-directors, Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman, criticized the social media platform in statements to THR.
“It is a sad time we live in when corporations can remove individuals freedom of speech at will. When did we empower these corporations to have such authority? More importantly, why do we empower them to do so?” said Solomon.
“It’s a sad state of affairs when the right to free speech gets shut down with the flick of a switch. The Twitter account for our film, Unplanned, was suspended this morning — without explanation. Whether this was an executive decision by Twitter, or a reaction by Twitter to complaints from those opposed to the pro-life viewpoint, either reason is unacceptable. Fortunately, the uproar in our defense was loud and fast in coming: Our account has since been reinstated. Thanks to all who have rallied to our defense,” added Konzelman.
The film has “overperformed” in box offices, according to Forbes, which says it has as of Friday night earned $2.72 million. That sets it up for a $7.25 million debut weekend, the outlet reported, for a film that cost $6 million to make.
“If that holds up, then it’ll be PureFlix’s second-biggest opening weekend behind the $7.6 million launch of God’s Not Dead 2 three years ago this weekend. That sequel earned $20 million domestic so we could see a similar result for the Abby Johnson biopic. That would be a big win, since most of the faith-based biggies still come from Sony and Lionsgate as opposed to the various small-scale distributors,” Forbes reported.