Watching the commercials for Confessions of a Shopaholic, it seems like a horrible time to release a movie that focuses on a woman spending a ton of money on name brands, when so many people are concerned about the economy and businesses are shutting down.

Are there other examples of movies being delayed or just have really bad timing due to the state of current events? The only other one that comes to mind was a movie with Tim Allen that was delayed around 9/11 because it involved a bomb (or something)

I remember that Big Trouble got bumped after 9/11 and was dumped into theaters with almost no promotion because of the plot to blow up a commercial airliner.

Shame too, I thought it was hilarious.

'The China Syndrome' - a forgettable Hollywood 'preach' movie that would have quickly found the dust bin and been forgotten, except just after its release 3 Mile Island happened.

The film then got massive coverage as a legitimate story and the rest is history.

This is kind of the inverse of your OT, but it's the best example of this stuff.

More on the OT, the crap movie about a sniper 'Phone Booth' with Colin Farrel was suddenly yanked from it's release when the DC Sniper case blew up to be the biggest story in the world.

The original teaser was pulled for Spider-Man and some nonsense about "We noo yawkers stick together!" was added in after 9/11.

V for Vendetta?

I don't know if it was delayed but there was that whole London bombings thing.

Collateral Damage was also delayed by 9/11

Yeah wasn't a trailer or teaser pulled due to Spider-man making a giant web between the WTC buildings and leaving a Helicopter stuck in it?

First one that came to mind.

Trespass was originally called "The Looters" and (I think) it was set to show prior to the L.A. Riots. It got pushed to Christmas.

That would be an inverse as the 7/7 Bombings happened after the release of V for Vendetta.

Red Dawn had a scene cut involving a McDonalds with Soviet tanks outside and soldiers inside when there was a shooting in Southern California at a McDonalds. Men In Black II had a scene of a UFO coming out of the WTC cut and Spider-Man also had a scene cut with the bank robbery and a spun web between the WTC.

It definitely was a shame that Big Trouble didn't get much advertising when it was finally released, that movie is simply awesome.

Just before Psycho was to have it's prime time premiere on one of the major networks that guy murdered all those student nurses in Chicago and it was pulled from the schedule.

I'm happy to see all the love for Big Trouble. Here I thought I was the only one who liked it...

Didn't Donnie Darko get swept aside due to 9/11 because of the scenes involving an airplane crashing?

Space Camp was delayed back in 1986 following the Challenger explosion

Somewhat related, A Clockwork Orange was withdrawn completely from England after some copycat crimes. I think the self-imposed ban lasted for almost 30 years.

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Wasn't there a Jackie Chan movie planned in which he was going to be a window washer on the WTC who fights terrorists that then had to be canceled after the events of Sept 11, 2001?

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Yeah....

If I recall--and perhaps I'm off on this--one of the many delays for Gangs of New York was also in relation to the September 11 attacks. In fairness, though, it had already been delayed for quite a while by that point.

There is also a myth that The Manchurian Candidate was retroactively yanked from TV broadcast in response to President Kennedy's assassination. That was bunk, but the myth is still believed by many today.

It was actually in the planning stages and he was rumored to be at the top of one of the towers that day, but something came up and he wasn't. Either way, nothing was delayed, it just was never made, like a whole lot of movies.

Oh yeah, the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie with a title that he could not pronounce. It was delayed because he played a firefighter whose family was killed by terrorists. It was planned for an Oct 2001 release, but was delayed until Winter 2002.

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Here is an article with several films that were delayed due to events:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/20.../31/benaffleck

If only there had been a tragedy involving mall cops, or some guy named Paul Blart.

I can't remember if they were pulled or delayed, but two films that definitely had their exposure cut down were BODY PARTS in 1991 because of the revelation of Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes, and IDLE HANDS in 1999 as it coincided with the Columbine shootings.

Slim Pickens' quip "A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff" in Dr. Strangelove was dubbed as "Vegas" after Kennedy was assassinated.

Wasnt Fight Club delayed from Summer to October because of Columbine as well.?

What did fight Club have in it that would relate to Columbine???

I'm not trying to be mean but that's really kind of a stupid reason not to release a movie. I don't really see how that would be disrespectful to anyone.



A lot of very interesting stories in here. On the flip side remember how movies about terrorists getting what they deserve got a bit bump in popularity after 9/11?

Not a movie but Twister has a lot of bad luck. A tornado hit a theater that was screening Twister at the time. During filming several tornadoes touched down near where they were filming. And in Orlando they delayed the opening of Twister the ride because right before it was set to open central FL was struck with one of the worst storms in recent history and several people died from tornadoes. Creepy.