By: Russ Burlingame on July 20, 2012
UPDATE: Warner Brothers announced shortly after the original story went live that they would not be cancelling screenings of The Dark Knight Rises this weekend, reports Newsday.
In the wake of the shooting that took place early this morning at a midnight screening of Warner Brothers’ tentpole film The Dark Knight Rises, the studio is reportedly considering cancelling screenings of the film around the country, according to The Wrap.
As ComicBook.com reported earlier today, the Paris premiere of the film has already been cancelled, along with media appearances by the director and cast in France today.
Says The Wrap:
“An executive told TheWrap that Warner was watching the situation and still considering whether to take further measures beyond cancelling the Paris premiere, including cancelling screenings at theater chains.
The executive said they would be making decisions on Friday and throughout the weekend as they conferred within the studio, monitored news reports and spoke to theater chains.”
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Warner has pulled TV ads in support of the film this weekend.
Conservative estimates for the film have it making $175 million this weekend, the biggest opening weekend ever for a non-3D movie and one of the top five of all time. It’s far and away the biggest release of the year thus far for Warner Brothers, and while they do have The Hobbit coming up later in the year, it’s unlikely that the studio could recover from a major blow to The Dark Knight Rises‘ box office.
Warner Brothers didn’t have any official comment for The Wrap or any of the other news outlets who have followed up with them, other than to refer back to an earlier statement of condolence for the victims. We’ll keep you posted as this story develops.
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