8 films so controversial that they have faced public boycotts

These films have been faced with serious reactions, whether for the way they portray history or which was behind them.


Since the start of Hollywood and The invention of films , there were boycotts of films. In 1906, Women's Christian Temperance Union (Wctu) started Staging boycotts of silent films , saying that they have glorified sex and violence. However, as common as the practice is, reality is that most media boycotts fail, especially in the modern world, because advertising around the boycott of a film generally brings people to see what it is about . This is known today under " The Streisand effect . ""

That Twitter users call fans to flee Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens , Reddit Trolls trying to convince fans of Snub Marvel Captain Marvel or Christian activists refusing to see THE Harry Potter movies Because they "promote witchcraft", these calls seem mainly a lot of sound and fury meaning nothing. However, public indignation sometimes has an effect. After Will Smith slap Chris Rock At the Oscars in 2022, some potential public members refused to see his film Emancipation Then claimed the success of its box office failure. How much the promised leak of the film contributed to Apple TV +'s decision to give only the historic drama a theatrical window of a week before doing so starting in streaming, however, is the assumption of anyone .

What these cries can , if not tank a film is to change the story around him. Read the continuation for eight films that have become the target of the boycotts, why they got angry and how they got out.

Read this then: 7 Oscar -winning films that are offensive according to today's standards .

1
The "Da Vinci Code (2006)

Audrey Tautou, Tom Hanks, and Ian McKellen in The Da Vinci Code
Sony Piches Line

The "Da Vinci Code was a global bestseller for the author Dan Brown When he was picked up for adaptation with Ron Howard arrangement and Tom Hanks lead a starry distribution which also includes Ian McKellen ,, Audrey Tautou ,, Alfred Molina ,, Jean Reno , And Paul Betany . The novel was already controversial , especially among Catholic groups, and the film turned out to be better received. Vatican Mgr Angelo Amato called a boycott above the plot of the thriller - which includes the Catholic church causing a concealment of 2000 years Jesus Christ And Mary Magdalene Marriage and offspring - The caller "slanderous". AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

As with the complaints of the Catholic Church concerning the book, the boycott had little negative impact on the release of the film. The "Da Vinci Code find yourself taking $ 760 million worldwide in box office receipts.

2
ghost hunters (2016)

Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, and Leslie Jones in Ghostbusters
Sony Piches Line

Theaters and streaming services have been filled with remakes of older films and television series that have been more diverse for almost a decade. But none proved to be completely controversial that 2016 ghost hunters , which reinvents the comedy of 1984 with four women ( Kristen Wiig ,, Kate McKinnon ,, Melissa McCarthy , And Leslie Jones ) Team to be the paranormal professionals that you will call. Hardcore male fans of the original film (and its 1989 suite) called for a boycott, Protestant against the concept of A remake to the genre exchange As has offended their sensitivities that women could also fight ghosts.

The openly misogynist demonstration has been taken up by human rights activists and has become the dominant story around the film's release. These activists won the victory when Opening weekend country was just average. However, the film ended up doing $ 229 million worldwide - about $ 70 million less than the original, but more ... than Ghostbusters II And more than 2021 Ghostbusters: after life , which played directly in the desires of the MRA crowd by erasing the entirely of the women of the chronology of the franchise.

3
The last temptation of Christ (1988)

Willem Dafoe in The Last Temptation of Christ
Universal images

Martin Scorsese been Try since the 70s To obtain an adaptation of the 1955 novel The last temptation of Christ of the ground, but it was only the mid -80s, with Taxi driver ,, Furious bull , And Silver color Everything about its curriculum vitae, which the industry has decided to go. Production has been interrupted Just before the start of filming after a writing campaign by the fundamentalists said (without proof) that the version of the film of Jesus Christ would be gay. A few years later, Scorsese returned to the film; Only this time, it was a body of South Protestant ministers calling for a boycott , calling for the representation of Jesus (played by Willem Dafoe ) In the film (which they had not screened) "spun" and "disturbed". Hysteria has reached a tilting point when an integrated Catholic group tried to explode Saint Michel cinema in Paris for showing the film.

Despite this inspiring a terrorist attack, Critics praised the film as one of the great films of the 20th century. Roger Ebert written at the time That it "paid to Christ the compliment to take him seriously and his message" and that he "does not transform him into a garish and emasculated image of a religious postcard". However, it was not a box office smash, taking only $ 8 million worldwide .

4
King Woman (2022)

Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, and Sheila Atim in The Woman King
Sony Piches Line

King Woman is a period film based on the Ostjie, a true warrior unity in all women who protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the midst of the slave trade. Located in 1823, the film Stars Viola Davis as general who forms the next generation of protectors, including Lashana Lynch ,, Sheila Atim , And So Mbedu . However, Black activists have called for a boycott , protesting against that the fictitious history presented was not exact and that history bleached the reality of slavery.

Despite the demonstrations, the film received notes raised by criticism, with The BBC calls it "A popcorn film spanking with a social conscience." He made $ 97 million In a box office, a more than respectable amount for a film based on an original idea that made its debut just like The public returned to theaters Post-Pandemic.

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5
Thunder in the tropics (2008)

Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder
DreamWorks Pictures / Paramount Pictures

Thunder in the tropics is a Hollywood comedy on the disastrous production of a fictitious film on the Vietnam War. It is a parody in a part of war films like Apocalypse now , satire in a part of Hollywood, and searches in a part among the actors of the method which claim that they must "become their character" in order to give a performance. Robert Downey Jr. Plays Kirk Lazarus, a film star who underwent an operation to "modify pigmentation" to play a black character. However, it was not the use of Blackface that caused the controversy that tormented the film at the time, but the use by Kirk of an insult to tell his colleagues actors never to go at full method To play a mental handicapped character. A coalition of disability groups organized a boycott, declaring that the joke came as "ridiculous" of the disabled population.

Some criticisms agreed with those who found Thunder in the tropics racist and capable, with Rogerebert.com Critic Glenn Kenny Later by referring to it as " Fully sufficient and hateful "Despite the complaints, the film did well spectacularly, making $ 195 million and landing Downey Jr. an Oscar appointment for the controversial part.

6
Pocahontas (1995)

Still from Disney's Pocahontas
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Coming to the heels of a series of successful animated musicals - The little Mermaid ,, The beauty and the Beast ,, Alladdin , And The Lion King- Disney adapted the life of Pocahontas With this family film. In this first attempt to diversify its Disney Princess catalog, the studio invents a love story between the indigenous heroine and the English John Smith . (That the manufacture of the latter coincided with the attempted Disney construction A "American History" themed park In Virginia was probably not a coincidence.) At the time, Amerindian leaders called for the public to boycott Pocahontas During the historical inaccuracy of the film and for having transformed his titular character, who was a child of 10 years in reality, into a "symbol of sex".

Protests prevented Disney from Develop this theme park , but complaints concerning Pocahontas I have not dissuaded moviegoers. In theaters, he won $ 346 million, and the song "Colors of the Wind" won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Grammy.

7
Ender's match (2013)

Asa Butterfield and Abigail Breslin in Ender's Game
Lionsgate

The success of HBOs Game Of Thrones Jumstar has a science fiction / fantastic craze in television and films, with Racing studios to adapt novels that had reached "classic" status. This was the case with the 1985 Orson Scott card Ender's match , which has been transformed into a feature film with a future Sex education star Asa Butterfield Like Andrew "Ender" Wiggin. However, the card at the time was better known for its anti-mariage equality position that his work, and LGBTQ + groups have spoken , ask the public not to support a project that would financially benefit someone who had given money to anti-gay causes.

Ender's match I did not do well with criticism either. (He classifies a "fresh" note on rotten tomatoes by the skin of his teeth 62% .) But neither that nor the boycott had much effect on the box office, the film attracting more than $ 125 million. However, this was not enough to move forward with The suite planned .

8
Music (2021)

Maddie Ziegler and Kate Hudson in Music
Vertical entertainment

SIA Perhaps a hitmaker with several Grammy nominations, but his first attempt to join the creation of feature films was a bust. Despite a casting comprising Kate Hudson ,, Leslie Odom Jr. and frequent collaborator Maddie Ziegler , his film 2021 Music did not do much more than to arouse controversy. THE The autistic community has spoken After the first trailer has dropped, a protesting against the cast of Ziegler (which is neurotypical) as holder music, which comes to the custody of his half-sister, which is restoring (Hudson). When the film was released, the backlash continued, with detractors saying that it plays in False and stereotypical representations People with autism spectrum disorders. It also did not help this SIA itself shot defensive tweets to autistic activists.

Music Had several problems beyond the boycott, especially when arriving in theaters in February 2021 before people started to return en masse to the rooms. Even so, the figures are still brutal, with the film barely $ 645,000 in theaters .


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