Warner Bros. has been making swift decisions on “The Dark Knight Rises” due to the recent Colorado shooting. The company cancelled the Paris premiere for the film as well as all media interviews with the cast.
Now, Warner Bros. stated they are pulling television and radio ads for “The Dark Knight Rises.” Two versions of the commercial were cancelled completely. Blurbs for other Warner Bros. or Time Warner fare will replace these spots. The decisive action of pulling ads illustrates how significant of an impact the mass shooting has on the movie that been the cornerstone of Warner Bros.’ summer movie schedule.
It was rumored that Warner Bros. was thinking of pulling the film from theaters entirely, but there are no plans do so. However, security will be amped up at screenings of the movie across the nation.
The studio made the decision to pull the trailer for “Gangster Squad,” which features several armed men opening fire in a movie theater, out of sensitivity for the victims. The trailer has also been taken down from the Internet—the official iTunes trailers page is no longer valid and the studio issued take-down notices for all versions on YouTube. Warner Bros. said “Gangster Squad” did not run before the Aurora showing and massacre. Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, and Josh Brolin star in the film.
Warner Bro. isn’t the first studio to take action following a tragedy. 20th Century Fox changed the name of an upcoming film from “Neighborhood Watch” to “The Watch” following the Trayvon Martin shooting. Kudos to the studios for doing what they can!
