14 sci-fi movie boycotts (and what turned people into protesters)
As the old saying goes, you can't please all of the people all of the time. And then there are people who seem to want to be upset and who direct their fury at big honking pop-cultural topics and demand that others join in a boycott. Occasionally, these protesters have a point. But sometimes ... well, you'll see with this rundown of offenses and offenders.
Sometimes people call for boycotts for reasons that seem perfectly understandable—the Last Airbender call to action comes to mind, as does the idea that, perhaps, Marvel should've taken better care of the original architects of its success (regardless of what Jack Kirby or Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich's original contracts may have said).
And then there are the other ones, born of misguided fans, perceived slights or just straight-up hate speech.
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STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA BLU-RAY
Who Called For the Boycott? Nerd preservationists
Why Because the only versions available are the altered, post-special-edition versions. And fans want the option to own the unmolested films.
THOR
Who Called For the Boycott? The Council of Conservative Citizens
Why Because the producers cast Idris Elba, a black man, as the traditionally white guardian of Asgardâs Bifrost, Heimdall. And "traditionalists" (read: racists) took umbrage.
THE LAST AIRBENDER
Who Called For the Boycott?Racebending.com
Why The cartoon that M. Night Shyamalanâs film is based on—Nickelodeonâs Avatar: The Last Airbender—was clearly set in an Asian world, with Asian characters. But few members of the filmâs cast were Asian actors.
THE AVENGERS
Who Called For the Boycott? Comics fans and adoptees
Why Many of the filmâs characters were created by Jack Kirby and, while The Avengers paraded past the billion-dollar box office mark, the Kirby estate saw little to none of that windfall ... as Marvel owns those characters outright. Also, members of the adoption community took offense at a line in the film.
HARRY POTTER
Who Called For the Boycott? A wide assortment of religious groups
Why Because of all the witchcraft, natch.
DARK SHADOWS
Who Called For the Boycott? This Facebook group
Why Some people are of the opinion that Tim Burtonâs reboot of the classic vampire soap shouldnât have been a comedy.
THE DA VINCI CODE/ANGELS AND DEMONS
Who Called For the Boycott? The Vatican
Why The Catholic Church tends to not when films contain âslanderous" offenses against Christianity. Or, worse, the Church itself. So the Vatican sent the âboycott" smoke out of the chimney.
STAR TREK
Who Called For the Boycott? Fans of Gene Roddenberryâs vision.
Why Well, there were lots of reasons given, but the most cogent of them found here is that the reboot âdestroys the entire post-Enterprise Star Trek universe" and âdismisses Gene Roddenberry's grand vision of the future as obsolete in the 21st century."
THE GOLDEN COMPASS
Who Called For the Boycott? The Catholic League
Why They felt that the film—and the Philip Pullman novels it was based on—was preaching an anti-God message to children.
GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE
Who Called For the Boycott? Indie comics creator Bob Luedke
Why Marvel had prohibited Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich from selling Ghost Rider prints and art at conventions and sued him for past proceeds. And fans were incensed.
TERMINATOR: SALVATION
Who Called For the Boycott? Nutbars
Why Because it was PG-13. Yep, it wasnât violent enough. Also: Noted liberal Ron Howardâs daughter was in it.
WAR OF THE WORLDS
Who Called For the Boycott? A Concerned Citizen
Why When Tom Cruise went on television to promote this Steven Spielberg remake and started ranting about the evils of psychiatry and the horrors of pharmaceutical drugs, he ticked off more than a few people. According to this petition, 39 of them.
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
Who Called For the Boycott? Latin American voice actors
Why It seems that when the movie was released globally, the actors who had traditionally provided for the Simpsons TV show werenât brought along. And fans of those voices—who were just as attached to those Spanish-language voices as we are to ours—were en fuego
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
Who Called For the Boycott? Boycott Liberalism
Why Apparently, BoycottLiberalism.com doesnât like Richard Donner...who was a creative consultant on the movie. A thin reason to call for a boycott, but it seems like the BoycottLiberalism folks have itchy trigger fingers.
