The Fire Every Time...

Will a temperamental, performatively reactionary president create offline consequences for online controversies and thus preemptively cower Hollywood into acting contrary to its financial interest?

However absurd on its face, the notion of Sony trying to theatrically release The Interview in December 2014 amid public threats—allegedly from folks within or sympathetic to the North Korean government—put both the distributing studio and the major theater chains in an unprecedented conundrum. Was it a bluff or an early example of mainstream trolling? Probably both, and the extent to which the media treated stolen company emails like “tee-hee, tisk-tisk, point and laugh” gossip items paved the way for similar treatment after the hacking and leaking of the DNC’s emails in 2016.

Once Carmike blinked first, publicly announcing that it would not play the picture, it became a legal liability for other major chains like AMC, Cinemark, and Regal to proceed with the film’s conventional theatrical release. And once the majors pulled back, Sony had no option but to “give in to terrorism.” It instead allowed any willing theater that wanted to play the Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy alongside a concurrent VOD availability.

In late 2019, it somewhat made sense when Universal (temporarily) shelved Blumhouse’s The Hunt. The macabre action-comedy, about liberal elites hunting stereotypical alt-right Americans in a Most Dangerous Game scenario, had been tagged as politically irresponsible by folks who hadn’t seen the film and didn’t know or care that the picture was mocking holier-than-thou blue-state attitudes. Also, amid a couple of high-profile mass shootings (because… America), the film’s running-and-gunning marketing imagery was declared part of the problem. 

Sacrificing programmers to protect the tentpoles.

There were concerns about both challenges related to marketing the R-rated thriller and the potential for political consequences from a performatively retaliatory president. Throw in the possibility, however unlikely, of actual violence around the release, alongside theaters potentially wincing at the last minute only after a costly theatrical marketing campaign. So, despite the film’s initial placement between Rambo: Last Blood and Joker, The Hunt had to go.

In both circumstances, there was fear of A) violent retaliation and B) sensationalist melodrama impacting the commercial fortunes of higher-profile “event films.” The Interview was frankly merely an okay $44 million comedy that would have, at best, earned around $100 million worldwide. The Hunt was a three-star programmer—that in a less heightened time would have been “just a movie”—which might have matched Ma’s $61 million cume. 

However, the comparatively micro flicks jeopardized the macro fortunes of the respective studio and the overall exhibition industry. In late 2014, would concerns about safely seeing a movie over the holiday have kneecapped The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies? In the fall of 2019, could adverse reactions to The Hunt have kneecapped Joker or Frozen II? I mention these key examples because they may provide a preview of what to expect, at least in terms of the mainstream entertainment industry, during Donald Trump’s second presidential administration.