A NEW gang film has been banned by a second cinema chain after it sparked a mass brawl. But does history show that such actions only aid the movies in question, proving any publicity is good publicity?
What’s the movie?
Blue Story, is an adaptation of a YouTube series about two young friends who become rival gang members in a street war.
It is based on the real-life experiences of writer and director, Andrew Onwubolu, about gang life in south-east London's Lewisham and Peckham.
What’s been happening?
Police were called to the Vue cinema in Birmingham on Saturday after a mass brawl broke out involving around 100 young people during a screening. Seven police offic-ers were injured after they responded to reports of youths attending the movie with ma-chetes. Five teenagers were arrested, including a 13-year-old girl.
It’s now been banned?
Vue Cinemas said it would no longer show the film and Showcase has followed suit.
Vue said the film opened in 60 of its sites across the UK and Ireland on Friday, “but during the first 24 hours of the film, over 25 significant incidents were reported and es-calated to senior management in 16 separate cinemas”, adding: “This is the biggest number we have ever seen for any film in a such a short time frame.”
Other cinemas are following suit?
The Odeon says it is not withdrawing the movie, but "a number of security measures are in place”.
It’s history repeating?
In 1974, The Exorcist - about a young girl possessed by a demon - had already courted controversy in America where it had supposedly provoked audience members to faint, vomit and suffer heart attacks, but the British film regulator BBFC initially said "that is not a sufficient reason for refusing certification”.
Its release sparked outrage, however, and a raft of local UK authorities banned it, but the BBFC say this "only added to the reputation of the film”.
It remains one of the highest-grossing horror movies in history.
A Clockwork Orange?
Stanley Kubrick's 1971 dystopian crime film, A Clockwork Orange, opened to a barrage of bad press, with public opinion fearful young people may copy the violence of the main character, portrayed by Malcolm McDowell.
In 1973, allegedly concerned about reports of copycat behaviour, and threats made to the safety of himself and his family, Kubrick withdrew the film from circulation in the UK, but it was already a global box office success, fuelled by the controversy surround-ing it.
Last Tango in Paris?
The erotic drama starring Marlon Brando was highly controversial due to a sexually ex-plicit scene and was banned in various locations. But it went on to become director Bernardo Bertolucci’s biggest hit, making more in its 1973 release in America alone than that year's James Bond movie, Live and Let Die.
As for Blue Story?
The director is adamant the movie is “a film about love not violence” and time will tell if the controversy helps or hinders.
MAUREEN SUGDEN
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