The Hunt is a 2020 American action horror film[a] directed by Craig Zobel and written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof.
However, as a result of the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings in early August 2019, Universal Pictures decided to delay it.
In a group chat, Athena Stone, Ted, Richard, Miranda, Julius, Peter, Martin, Mike and Liberty discuss an upcoming hunt of "deplorables" at a manor.
Later, on Athena's private jet, a flight attendant talks to Richard but is interrupted by Randy, who staggers out from the cargo hold.
As the hunt begins, eleven captives consisting of Crystal, Don, Gary, "Yoga Pants", "Target", "Dead Sexy", "Staten Island", "Vanilla Nice", "Big Red", "Trucker" and "Bandana Man" wake up in a forest, with gags locked in their mouths.
Staten Island, Target, Vanilla Nice, and Big Red escape the killing field by climbing a barbed wire fence.
Crystal arrives and after purchasing cigarettes, notes that they are too expensive for the region, takes the shotgun from under the counter and kills Julius and Miranda.
[b] At Oliver's intended destination, Crystal kills Richard, Ted, Martin, Peter, Liberty, and injures their tactical consultant Sgt.
Subsequently, the group's participants, whose careers were ruined, decide to make Manorgate a reality and abduct those responsible for spreading the conspiracy theory.
When they confront each other, Crystal claims that Athena has confused her with another woman from the same city in Mississippi, with a differently spelled middle name, Mae.
The two fight and impale one another on the blades of a food processor; Athena dies, but Crystal sees a jackrabbit near the body and regains some strength.
She cauterizes her wound, takes Athena's clothes and bag, and leaves on her jet, talking to the same flight attendant from the start of the film.
In March 2018, Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the film, and set Craig Zobel to direct it, from a script by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof.
[8] In March 2019, Emma Roberts, Justin Hartley, Glenn Howerton, Ike Barinholtz, and Betty Gilpin were announced as being cast in the film.
[18] On August 7, 2019, Universal announced that in the wake of the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings, they would be suspending the film's promotional campaign.
The second screening was held on August 6, 2019, in Los Angeles, in which "audience members were again expressing discomfort with the politics" of it, an issue Universal had not foreseen (although other studios had initially passed on the script for that reason).
[30] The film's trailer received backlash by some in the conservative media for portraying supporters of Donald Trump being hunted by liberals.
[2][3] In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Bloodshot and I Still Believe, and was projected to gross $8–11 million from 3,028 theaters in its opening weekend.
The site's critics consensus read, "The Hunt is successful enough as a darkly humorous action thriller, but it shoots wide of the mark when it aims for timely social satire.