I mean… overall I’ve got to say that I strongly dislike whenever you see a creator
giving in to public outcry and changing their artwork because of complainers.
So… if you want to hear what my thoughts are on this Happy Death Day controversy, then
stick around to the end of this video.
Welcome back to DeadTalks, the show where I don’t release the episode a day early
because we don’t want to mess with the YouTube algorithm.
So much of my job is just me trying appease the mighty algorithm so that you people can
actually see my videos.
But Blumhouse is the company who made one of the newer franchises in horror and it’s
called Seven in Heaven.
No, I’m kidding, but you already saw the title, so you know that we’re talking about
Happy Death Day.
2U.
And Happy Death Day 2U is getting a new release date thanks to a tweet that reads:
“My daughter and 16 others were killed on February 14th.
Universal Studios is releasing a move a movie called Happy Death Day 2 U?
I get the pun on Valentines Day, for me it will always be the day my daughter was murdered.
Please reconsider this!!!!”
He is of course referring to the Florida school incident that happened last year.
Universal responded by issuing the following statement.
“When Universal Pictures became aware last week that the one-year anniversary of the
tragic events in Parkland, Florida fell on the Happy Death Day 2U release date, the studio
spoke with victim advocates and immediately began the process of changing the release
date of the film.”
So they moved it up.
To February 13.
So what do I think about this.
Well, if you came here to see me rip them a new one for caving into to societal pressure,
I guess you’re gonna be disappointed, because this move seems more or less fine to me, but
I do have some thoughts about it.
The title is literally Happy Death Day, and this day happens to be the one year anniversary…
it sounds weird saying anniversary, cause usually anniversary is like you’re celebrating
something.
But it is the one year mark of one of the most prolific American tragedies of 2018,
so just the title alone, I think it’s kind of understandable just because it seems to
be such a specific reference.
And moving up the release date doesn’t really hurt anything.
If you were planning on seeing it on the 14th you still can.
If you’re a huge Happy Death Day fan and you already pre-ordered for the 14th, I’m
sure you can still get your ticket changed if you want to.
And it’s not like they changed the content of the movie or worse, cancelled the movie;
the artistic intention isn’t changed by moving up the release date.
Now I know there are some films that actually do have creativity put into the release date,
but it’s not like they’re moving a Star Wars movie off of May the 4th or altering
Don’t Hug Me I’m.Scared from a June 19th release date.
I mean, it’s February 14th, it’s clearly just to try to cash on people going to the
movies for Valentine’s.
Moving the release date by one day seems like a win for everyone.
It appeases those affected by the shooting, it doesn’t really affect the studio and
even kind of makes them look like the good guy, and fans can see it a day early or still
see it on that day if they want.
But there are people voicing their… uhh… voices* about this.
“I’m sorry, this is ridiculous.
Tragedies happen every day.”
But I feel like this is such a specific example because of the title.
If people were to go and start complaining about other horror movies and other release
dates, because x movie has blood and y tragedy has blood, then I would say that we’ve crossed
the line at that point.
But for Happy Death Day, I’d say it’s a good idea to move it.
Now they also announced that they won’t be marketing the movie in that area of Florida,
which is fine, and they won’t be screening it over there either, which kind of reminds
me of how Sony didn’t show Slenderman in parts of Minnesota because of the Slenderman
stabbing that happened over there.
Cancelling the screenings seems a little bit like… maybe unfair to the fans who just
innocently wanted to see the movie and now they’ll have to travel to see it.
I was thinking they should just let the movie play, pull the marketing and it’s not like
anyone would be forced to buy tickets.
But then I think about the classmates going to movies and just seeing that on the marquee.
And it’s not as if people are going to see Happy Death Day up on the marquee and burst
into tears.
It has been a full year.
But I still do understand how it’s kind of a class act for Universal to pull the film
in that area, and it won’t be impossible for the people who really want to see it to
make the drive, so I really don’t think it’s as big of a deal as some people, who
I understand are probably the vocal minority, are making it out to be.
But be sure to let me know your thoughts on this in the comments.
Like I said, hopefully this is a one time thing because it's so specific and it's not
going to snowball into a situation where all horror movies are banned on the day of
every shooting, because the way things are going, there aren’t gonna be a whole lot
of days left.
I'll see you in the next one.