"Django Unchained" premiere canceled after Newtown shooting
The premiere of "Django Unchained" has been canceled in the wake of last week's school shooting in Newtown, Conn., the film's studio said Monday.
Quentin Tarantino's violent spaghetti Western was scheduled to have its premiere at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the tragedy in Newtown, CT and in this time of national mourning we have decided to forgo our scheduled event. However, we will be holding a private screening for the cast and crew and their friends and families," a spokesperson for The Weinstein Company said in a statement.
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"Django Unchained" stars Jamie Foxx as a freed slave-turned-bounty hunter out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner. The cast also includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson.
The film, which earned five Golden Globe nominations last week, will arrive in theaters on Christmas Day.
The premiere isn't the only event to be canceled or postponed following Friday's shooting rampage in Connecticut, in which a gunman killed 27 people, including 20 children, before killing himself.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center postponed a screening of the Tom Cruise film "Jack Reacher" that was scheduled for Monday out of respect for the families of the Newtown victims, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Paramount Pictures also postponed the film's Pittsburgh premiere, which had been planned for Saturday, a day after the shooting took place, THR added. The event will now take place Wednesday, but Paramount said in a statement that there will be no red carpet "during this time of mourning."
"The filmmakers and Tom Cruise convey their heartfelt sadness and their deep condolences to the families during this time," the statement continued.
The Los Angeles Times also reports that 20th Century Fox went ahead with its screening of the Billy Crystal/Bette Midler comedy "Parental Guidance" over the weekend, but cancelled the press line beforehand and the party afterward.
This is not the first time a film studio has called off promotional events in the aftermath of a shooting. Warner Bros. canceled premieres of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Paris, Mexico City and Tokyo after a gunman opened fire in a movie theater showing the film in Aurora, Colo., in July.