While it's been reported that - in the wake of the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting - Warner Bros. is making changes to their upcoming film Gangster Squad, in addition to moving the release date of the movie, it looks like Summit has decided not to make any drastic adjustments to the latest installment to the Step Up franchise, which hits theaters this weekend and apparently includes a scene that involves gas masks.
The upcoming dance-focused movie Step Up: Revolution is set in Miami and centers on a young aspiring dancer and the the professional dancer she meets and falls for. The duo end up banding together with other dancers to use dance as protest art against a business man looking to develop their neighborhood and displace its residents. At some point in the film, there's apparently a choreographed dance routine that has the dancers wearing gas masks. As the Aurora movie theater shooter was reportedly wearing a gas mask when he took the lives of twelve people and injured others, it's understandable that Summit might consider pulling the scene. And according to Variety, they did remove the scene from the film's advertising. But it looks like they've decided not to alter the actual movie, which arrives in theaters tomorrow (Friday, July 27).
"Having taken these steps, Summit will open this inspirational, nonviolent film in theatres nationwide this weekend as originally edited," Summit's statement said, after mentioning the scene being edited out of the advertising.
Summit describes the movie as "an uplifting film that celebrates the redemptive power of dance." And it sounds like the gas masks are props worn by the dancers and not something used in an act of violence. So, leaving the scene in sounds like a reasonable course of action, especially by comparison to the changes that are being made in Gangster Squad, which apparently had a violent scene involving a shooting in a movie theater, and seems to come much closer to the reality of the situation victims of the Aurora shooting endured. Whether or not it's right or fair, or movie fans like that it's happening, it's not hard to understand why they're making changes, and it isn't the first time we've seen this happen after a tragedy.
The situation with Gangster Squad reminds me of what happened with Collateral Damage. The 2002 action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally set to be released in October 2001, but after 9/11, the original trailer was changed, the release date was moved to 2002 and a scene involving a plane hijacking was pulled. Spider-Man is another film that was (mildly) affected by the attacks on the World Trade Center, as its teaser poster was pulled, along with a teaser that had Spider-Man using the twin towers to catch some bank robbers. Though in that case, this was not a scene from the actual movie. Still, it's another example of how real-life events have affected films and their marketing.
