Hotly anticipated for months, ‘Blue Story’ blazed its way into UK cinemas last week and was immediately met with praise.
However, Rapman‘s gritty flick encountered quite the hurdle when an instance of violence involving youngsters in Birmingham, England was somehow linked to his film and resulted in a ban by leading UK cinema chain Vue. This, despite the teens involved reportedly being on the premises to watch ‘Frozen 2.’
The course of action drew critique on a national scale and saw many call for the film to be reinstated on Vue screens.
Now, after initially standing by their stance, the chain has reversed its decision.
Details below…
A statement issued by the Vue confirmed that the flick – which still managed a #3 debut at the box office – would be returning to their cinemas this weekend.
Here’s what it read:
“Following an ongoing review of security to protect the safety of our staff and customers we hope to be showing the film from this weekend with additional security arrangements in our cinemas to ensure everyone can enjoy the film in comfort and safety.
We were disappointed to have to make the decision to remove Blue Story from our screens earlier this week, a decision to protect our customers and staff following major incidents connected with the film at 16 of our cinemas all across the country.”
It continued:
“We said at the time that this is a fantastic film and one with a very powerful message – that is why we wanted to show this film. We want to do that while ensuring, above all else, the safety of our customers and colleagues. We also understand the powerful reaction to our decision and we have spoken with interested parties, including the film producers, Paramount, our security advisors and most importantly our own operational teams who manage our cinemas on a day-to-day basis.”
The reversal comes after Rapman, who rose to prominence via his web-series ‘Shiro’s Story,’ publicly condemned the ban during an appearance on the BBC Breakfast show.