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Right-leaning websites expressed a measure of outrage in the summer of 2019 after details appeared to emerge about the content of the forthcoming Universal Pictures film The Hunt. PJ Media reported that The Hunt depicts Trump supporters being hunted for sport by liberals, writing that: The Epoch Times described The Hunt as a movie showing liberals stalking supporters of President Donald Trump, claiming that According to the Hollywood Reporter, the movie’s script features blue-state characters choosing to hunt red-state characters who expressed pro-life positions or were deemed racist. The conservative Blaze website similarly described The Hunt as a horror film about liberal elitists hunting 'deplorables.' Based on two official trailers released by Aug. 8, as well as unconfirmed script details reported by The Hollywood Reporter (THR), The Hunt appears to be a violent horror or thriller movie with a significant measure of social commentary, including contemporary U.S. political references. That would be in keeping with previous Universal Pictures/Blumhouse productions, including The Purge franchise. However, the ideology and political affiliation of the characters who hunt and kill what appear to be working-class people from largely rural areas remains unclear, despite the aforementioned websites' repeated and emphatic descriptions of them as liberal and left-wing elites. Notwithstanding the context of a fictional horror movie, it should be unnecessary to point out that hunting human beings for sport has never been a tenet of Enlightenment liberalism or modern-day American progressivism. Equally, it should be obvious to any mature consumer of culture that a movie that portrays wealthy psychopaths paying to hunt and kill other human beings is not likely to reflect well on the wealthy psychopaths, despite PJ Media's claim that The Hunt actually promotes violence against 'deplorables.' The official Universal Pictures website for the film, which describes it as a new mysterious social thriller, contains the following plot summary: Universal Pictures has also issued two official trailers as of Aug. 8. The first was released on July 12 and took the form of a parody of a promotional video for The Manor, a private hunting experience whereby wealthy customers could pay to hunt human beings. The second, more conventional trailer was released on July 30. Neither trailer offered any insight into, or description of, the political ideology of the characters who run the human-hunting experience, although the second trailer did feature one of the characters (apparently one of those being hunted) delivering the following line: Every year, a bunch of elites kidnap normal folk like us and hunt us for sport. Some of the characters being hunted identified themselves as hailing from Wyoming, Mississippi, and Orlando, Florida. The official synopsis of the film also provided no insight into, or description of, the politics of the hunters, although it, too, described them as a group of elites. However, THR cited several alleged components of the script of The Hunt, which do offer such insights, if they are an accurate reflection of the film's final cut. In an article published on Aug. 6, THR cited unnamed sources in stating that Universal Pictures was re-evaluating their marketing and advertising strategy for the film in light of several mass shootings in the early days of August in the U.S. At least one of those massacres, at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart store, appeared to have been motivated by political ideology. One source allegedly told THR that Universal Pictures had already withdrawn some advertisements from circulation, though other studio sources supposedly said such a proposal was still being discussed. THR also reported that ESPN had withdrawn from circulation a planned advertisement for The Hunt over the weekend of August 3-5. We asked Universal Pictures and ESPN whether they had each decided to withdraw such ads from circulation, but we received no response from either company in time for publication. THR's article described The Hunt in ways that were reflected in subsequent coverage on right-leaning websites, reporting that the film follows a dozen MAGA types who wake up in a clearing and realize they are being stalked for sport by elite liberals. THR claimed to have seen the script for the film, which allegedly once had the title Red State Vs. Blue State, adding: The script for 'The Hunt' features the red-state characters wearing trucker hats and cowboy shirts, with one bragging about owning seven guns because it's his constitutional right. The blue-state characters — some equally adept with firearms — explain that they picked their targets because they expressed anti-choice positions or used the N-word on Twitter. We asked Universal Pictures whether it could confirm the accuracy or authenticity of those elements of the script published by THR, but we did not receive a response in time for publication. It's unclear whether the script allegedly seen by THR was at an early stage of development, or a final draft, or whether those elements that suggest a liberal-conservative enmity between the characters made it into the final cut of the film itself. Without having confirmation of those important details or being able to watch The Hunt, we cannot confirm the accuracy of the claim that the movie features liberal or left-wing characters hunting Trump supporters for sport. As such, we are issuing a rating of Unproven, until and unless such corroborating evidence becomes available. On August 9, however, the studio announced they were canceling the film’s release. As reported by The Associated Press, the film was eventually rescheduled for release on March 13, 2020.
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