LOS ANGELES – Citing the mourning and emotional distress resulting from the Connecticut school massacre, the Weinstein Company late Monday canceled a premiere for its violent film “Django Unchained.”

The movie, directed by Quentin Tarantino and scheduled for release on Christmas Day, was to be unveiled in Los Angeles on Tuesday night with the usual red carpet splash. Instead, Weinstein will hold a private screening for industry insiders and the cast, which includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., and in this time of national mourning we have decided to forgo our scheduled event,” a Weinstein Company spokesperson said in a statement.

The Weinstein Company has been advertising the film, a spaghetti western, with a poster featuring guns and a blood spatter. Over the weekend, Mr. Tarantino, who is known for making highly violent films, defended the gore in “Django Unchained,” which is about a freed slave trying to save his wife from a vicious plantation owner.

At least two other major movie promotional events have been canceled in the aftermath of the Connecticut shootings, which took place last Friday. Paramount scrapped plans for a premiere last Saturday of “Jack Reacher” in Pittsburgh, and on Monday the Film Society of Lincoln Center postponed a special fund-raising event featuring that film’s star, Tom Cruise. Also, 20th Century Fox halted a Los Angeles premiere over the weekend for “Parental Guidance,” a comedy.

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/premiere-of-violent-tarantino-film-is-canceled-because-of-school-massacre/?partner=rss&emc=rss