HATCHET 2 is pulled from theatres in US & Canada

During Fantastic Fest, I saw Hatchet 2.  I even interviewed Adam Green, Kane Hodder and Danielle Harris – review & interview to be on the site this week.  They were all in good spirits and were generally excited.  Word starting breaking that late Friday night and early Saturday morning that AMC Theatres was pulling the film in Canada due to the fact that they could get fined every minute the film was shown(!).  Then, fans from the States were mentioning that they were being told that the film was pulled from the American theaters as well.  Yesterday, Adam Green tweeted that a press release would be coming out today concerning the matter.  Instead of making duplicate posts yesterday and today, like the majority of sites did, I decided to wait to hear the official word.  The word is beyond the break.From CNN.com:

A spokesperson for AMC confirmed Hatchet II had been pulled from all of the company’s screens, and issued the following written statement: “At AMC theaters, we review all films in all of our theatres every week and then make our business decisions based on their performance.”

This quote from the article – which I suggest you read in full – leads readers to believe that the film was pulled due to underwhelming performance.  Hatchet 2 showed on 68 screens (according to Box Office Mojo) and made on average of $774 per theater.  Yeah, that is kind of weak, but when you consider the film didn’t have a huge campaign, I don’t think it is too bad.  Also, what some reports aren’t saying is that number of theaters carrying the film dropped it as early as Saturday morning.

I feel bad for Green, but he said he won’t dwell on it.  For what it is worth, he did get a unrated horror flick picked up by a major chain and shown in multiple theaters.  Something that hasn’t been done in some time.

Stay tuned to DESTROY THE BRAIN for my interview with Adam Green, Kane Hodder and Danielle Harris at Fantastic Fest as well as a review of Hatchet 2.