Quentin Tarantino‘s “The Hateful Eight” hit theaters without a peep from nationwide police unions and their supporters despite threats of a boycott since late October.
Protests over the Weinstein Company release and its outspoken director erupted after Tarantino referred to cops as “murderers” at an anti-police violence rally in New York.
“We’re not giving this guy anymore free publicity. We have nothing to say about it,” New York Patrolman’s Benevolent Association spokesperson Albert O’Leary told TheWrap on Saturday.
Calls to similar unions in Los Angeles, Atlanta and a spokesperson for the National Association of Police Organizations did not immediately return TheWraps’ request for the status of their boycotts. At its peak, the movement also attracted the support of a group representing 16,500 border patrol agents.
Organizers from groups like the National Fraternal Order of Police had maintained they would “surprise” Tarantino and his studio on opening weekend, where the bloody Western has been playing in limited release, projecting in 70mm.
“When I see murders, I do not stand by … I have to call a murder a murder, and I have to call the murderers the murderers,” the “Django Unchained” director told the crowd at the October event in New York’s Washington Square Park, organized by Rise Up October.
“It’s no surprise that someone who makes a living glorifying crime and violence is a cop-hater, too. The police officers that Quentin Tarantino calls ‘murderers’ aren’t living in one of his depraved big-screen fantasies,” NAPO president Patrick Lynch told TheWrap at the time. “They’re risking and sometimes sacrificing their lives to protect communities from real crime and mayhem.”
Tarantino received another holiday gift this weekend — a solid box office performance for his eighth movie. The special roadshow rollout of “Hateful” made $1.9 million in 44 cities.