Most Controversial Film Of The Year | OUT NOW ON DEMAND
Protests, death threats, radical Islamists, stormed cinemas, film cancellations and international news coverage. These words describe the climate of $15 million budget feature film The Lady of Heaven during its UK theatrical release this past June. You would be hard-pressed to find a high-budget cinematic feature film thrown out of major UK cinema chains by the demands of minority radical Islamists - but thats exactly what happened with this origins of Islam historical drama.
After the films theatrical release in the US, Canada, Ireland, Fiji, and Africa, it exploded onto the UK theatrical circuit on the 3rd of June. This sparked numerous protests to erupt across major cinema chains Cineworld, Vue Cinemas and Showcase Cinemas by crowds demanding the film be taken down due to depictions of the Prophet Muhammad and what they deemed a film riddled with blasphemy. Protestors sprouted outside one cinema chain after another, calling for the killing of the films writer. For the first time in cinema history, we witnessed cinema chains capitulate to mob rule, and in domino fashion, the film began to disappear from cinema screens one by one. While tickets were being sold out as customers flocked in droves to whatever screens remained, by mid-June, the film had been pulled from every cinema across the country.
The film saw nationwide news coverage by virtually all legacy and alternative news outlets, including the BBC, Sky News, ITV, LBC, and more. The films producers appeared in live debates head-to-head with protest leaders, making their case for freedom of speech and their right to artistic expression. The general public, as one would expect, opposed the films takedown and demanded cinemas uphold British values and resume the films screening.
With the films unique controversy, being an award-winner at the Cannes 2021 film festival, and setting world records with its initial trailer release, film buffs surely have something to look forward to to this Christmas