A theatre in New York has pulled the trailer for United 93, the upcoming film about the United Airlines flight that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.
A scene from the upcoming movie ‘United 93,’ which tells the story of United Airlines Flight 93 as it became the fourth hijacked plane on Sept. 11, 2001. A New York movie theatre pulled the trailer promoting the film after patrons complained on the weekend. (Jonathan Olley/Universal Pictures/AP Photo)
The AMC Loews Lincoln Square 12 theatre in Manhattan made the decision last weekend after receiving complaints from patrons, who felt the movie advertisement was too upsetting.
“I don’t think people are ready for this,” Kevin Adjodha, the theatre’s manager, told U.S. media.
Instead of the trailer, other movie theatres have opted to screen a short promotional feature about the making of United 93.
However, Universal Studios, the studio behind the film, said it would continue to screen the trailer in advance of the film’s North American theatrical release date of April 28.
Adam Fogelson, Universal’s president of marketing, told the New York Times that the trailer is only to be shown before movies with an R-rating or “grown-up” PG-13 films.
“If I sanitized the trailer beyond what’s there, am I suggesting that the experience will be less real than what the movie itself is? We as a company feel comfortable that it is a responsible and fair way to show what’s coming,” he told the Times.
“The film is not sanitized or softened, it’s an honest and real look” at what happened on Flight 93, he said.
Last week, the filmmakers announced that 10 per cent of the box office gross from the movie’s first three days in theatres will be donated to an upcoming memorial to the passengers of the flight.
United Airlines Flight 93 crashed as the passengers attempted to seize control of the cockpit from hijackers, who had commandeered the plane as part of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The hijacking has previously been dramatized in the made-for-TV movie Flight 93, which aired on U.S. network A&E in January, and in the documentary The Flight That Fought Back.
Directed by British filmmaker Paul Greengrass, United 93 will premiere on the opening night of the Tribeca Film Festival, which actor Robert DeNiro helped create in 2002 to help Manhattan recover from the Sept. 11 attacks. The festival runs from April 25 through May 7.
United 93 is the first of several films about the Sept. 11 attacks scheduled to hit the big screen this year. Others include the documentary The Saint of 9/11 and the Oliver Stone film World Trade Center.