SALT LAKE CITY — Remember “The Hunt” movie? Remember how it went viral for a week because President Donald Trump tweeted about it and because it became the subject of political discourse?
Well, apparently some of the political unrest about the film might not have been truth in the first place.
“The Hunt” centered around a group of wealthy people, who have too much money to care what they do, who hunt a group of blue-collar workers for sport. Yeah. But, as I wrote about a number of times, the film ignited controversy after there were concerns that the film referred to the blue-collar characters as “deplorables,” which could be seen as a reference to Trump voters.
And it didn’t help matters since reports suggested that the original title for “The Hunt” was “Red State vs. Blue State” — a clear reference to the two sides of the political aisle.
Well, it turns out that may not have been the case.
Buried in a recent Variety report on the film, a Universal spokesperson said that “Red State vs. Blue State” was never the title.
“While some outlets have indicated that test screenings for ‘The Hunt’ resulted in negative audience feedback; in fact, the film was very well-received and tallied one of the highest test scores for an original Blumhouse film,” the Universal spokesperson said, according to Variety. “Additionally, no audience members in attendance at the test screening expressed discomfort with any political discussion in the film. While reports also say ‘The Hunt’ was formerly titled ‘Red State vs. Blue State,’ that was never the working title for the film at any point throughout the development process, nor appeared on any status reports under that name.”
All of that said, “The Hunt” was also pulled from marketing and promotion since its trailers aired in the immediate aftermath of shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Universal considered it bad form to air the trailers and the film given the recent slew of violence, per Slate.
“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 film won’t be released this fall, according to the Deseret News. There are no alternative plans for a release date.