Screenings ofHotel Mumbai, a dramatic retelling of the 2008 terror attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, have been suspended from theaters in New Zealand as the country continues to heal from a terror attack of its own.
The film, starring Armie Hammer and Dev Patel, was temporarily pulled from all theaters in the country after amass shooting at a pair of mosquesin Christchurch Friday left 50 people dead.
Hotel Mumbai’s local distributor, Icon Film Distribution, announced the move in a statement to local outletNewsHub.
Kerry Monteen / Bleecker Street
“After consultation with local exhibition partners, the decision was made to suspend the film out of respect for a country in mourning.”
Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
The statement claimed that the film’s advertising had been pulled as soon as news of the attacks broke, but that it was still being screened over the weekend.
NewsHub reports the film came in second at the weekend box office behindCaptain Marvel.
Ambulances parked outside a mosque in central Christchurch, New Zealand.Mark Baker/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Pakistani militants took the Mumbai hotel under siege in 2008 as part of a four-day string of attacks across the city that killed at least 174 people.
On Friday, New Zealand policeannounced on Twitterthat 41 people were killed at the Masjid al Noor mosque, while 7 died at the Linwood Masjid mosque on Linwood Avenue. An additional one person died from their injuries in a hospital.
The country’s prime minister,Jacinda Ardern, hassince vowednever to mention the name of the suspect, a 28-year-old Australian man.
RELATED VIDEO: Survivor of the New Zealand Mass Shooting Shares Horror of His Escape: ‘I Had to Run’
The suspected shooter appears to have circulated a rabidly anti-Muslim and white supremacist manifesto before the attack. Video of at least part of the shootings was also posted on social media.
“That quiet Friday afternoon has become our darkest of days,” Ardern told Parliament in her first address since the tragedy.
The politician called the killer a “terrorist,” “criminal” and “extremist.”
“But he will — when I speak — be nameless,” she continued, “and to others I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them.”
Hotel Mumbaiopens Friday in the U.S.
source: people.com
