Skip to main content

The Hunt Is Un-Cancelled & It’s Going Full Troll in Its New Marketing Campaign

Betty Gilpin holds a shotgun in a still from The Hunt.

image: Universal

Last summer, Universal cancelled the release of The Hunta take on “The Most Dangerous Game,” a short story in which rich people hunt others for sport. The twist, according to the first trailer, is that this version appears to feature a liberal elite class hunting red state “deplorables.”

Recommended Videos

According to Universal, they had already “paused” the marketing campaign for the film in August after a series of mass shootings, but it wasn’t long before they announced they were cancelling the release altogether. The decision seemed to be in response to some negative reactions online, spurred by Fox & Friends coverage and a mini-rant from Donald Trump.

Now it looks like Universal has un-cancelled the movie. Even more, they’ve turned the backlash into a marketing campaign. “The most talked-about movie of the year is one no one’s actually seen” reads the poster, which is full of pull quotes from entertainment sites, as well as right-wing outlets like The Daily Mail and Fox News.

The promotional poster for The Hunt features a large pig and pull quotes.

image: Universal

There’s also a new trailer, which focuses less on the actual hunting and more on the conspiracy theory that seems to be behind the hunt.

This new trailer gives the impression that the “fake news” of the hunt has been around much longer than the event itself. Is this confirmation bias-turned-murder rampage? I could be in for that movie.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, a group of elites gathers for the very first time at a remote Manor House to hunt ordinary Americans for sport. But the elites’ master plan is about to be derailed because one of The Hunted, Crystal (Betty Gilpin, GLOW), knows The Hunters’ game better than they do. She turns the tables on the killers, picking them off, one by one, as she makes her way toward the mysterious woman (two-time Oscar® winner Hilary Swank) at the center of it all.”

I don’t know if this movie’s going to be any good. I sure hope it is. But I also just really appreciate them coming back to troll the right-wing media outlets who will rail against “cancel culture” while also seeing no hypocrisy in feigning outrage over a movie trailer.

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

Author
Vivian Kane
Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

Filed Under:

Follow The Mary Sue: