This gives new meaning to "presidential veto."
Some of
the country's biggest theater chains are reportedly refusing to screen
Death of a President, the controversial British-made drama that
depicts a fictional assassination of President George W. Bush.
Death of a President sparked controversy when it
premiered last month at the Toronto Film Festival, where it won the
International Critics Prize and scored a U.S. distribution deal with
Newmarket Films.
But according to the Hollywood
Reporter, due to the R-rated film's incendiary subject matter,
Newmarket is facing a tough time finding exhibitors willing to show
Death of a President.
Newmarket plans to unspool the
ersatz documentary on Oct. 27, less than two weeks before the Nov. 7
midterm elections.
"We would not be inclined to program
this film," Mike Campbell, CEO of Regal Entertainment Group, tells the
Reporter. "We feel it is inappropriate to portray the future
assassination of a sitting President, regardless of political
affiliation."
Regal currently ranks the largest theater
chain in the United States. One of its chief rivals, Texas-based
Cinemark USA, is also electing not to screen Death of a President
and is extending that ban to subsidiary chain Century Theaters in
northern California, which Cinemark recently purchased.
"We're not playing it on any of our screens," spokesman Terrell Falk
said. "It's a subject matter we don't wish to play. We decided to pass
on the film."
Set in 2007, after the passage of the
so-called Patriot Act 3, Death of a President plays out like a
typical TV documentary but takes a dramatic turn. Writer-director
Gabriel Range digitally blends archival footage of President Bush with
staged scenes depicting his murder and its aftermath. While the film
briefly imagines an America led by President Cheney, Death of a
President focuses more on the FBI's hunt for Bush's killer and
whether a Syrian-born suspect is really the trigger man.
Newmarket made its name distributing fare other companies found too hot
to handle, most famously Mel Gibson's polarizing The Passion of the
Christ in 2004.
"Yes, it's controversial," Newmarket
co-head Chris Ball says of Death of a President in the
Reporter. "It's quite a compelling political thriller. In many
ways it is sympathetic to George Bush. It talks about a rush to
judgment. In no way is it a call for violence."
Richard
Abramowitz, a Newmarket distribution consultant, notes that he had
booked several hundred screens already, and singled out the Todd Wagner
and Mark Cuban-owned Landmark Theaters, among other smaller chains, as
being particularly receptive to Death of a President.
"We're getting a good reception in a lot of places. No matter how the
tight the screens are, once a film has success, it's always easier to
get more screens," he adds.
No word whether AMC
Entertainment, which acquired Loews Theaters last year to become the
nation's second-largest exhibitor, will screen Death of a
President. The same goes for Boston-based National Amusements, which
says its in "discussions" with Newmarket.
In Theaters 
