Warner Bros. to Change ‘Gangster Squad’ in Wake of Shooting [UPDATED]

It seems like there’s a disturbing trend with upcoming films being too closely related to recent tragedies.  We’ve seen it before when Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man had to be pushed back and re-edited due to 9/11, and more recently with the new Ben Stiller comedy The Watch, which was formerly titled Neighborhood Watch. Now Warner Bros. finds themselves in the same situation with the upcoming Gangster Squad, where there’s a major scene in the film that depicts a mass shooting inside a movie theater. The scene, which can be seen in the trailer, shows a group of gangsters shooting into a crowded theater through the film screen. Warner Bros. has since pulled the trailer from all theaters and YouTube, and is now discussing what should be done with the scene in the film itself.

They will certainly push back the release date, and either shorten and re-edit the scene, or possibly remove it altogether.

Warners has also cancelled recently scheduled test screenings of the film, in order to take it back to the editing room.

Variety has reported today that Warner Bros. told them they were planning on removing the theater shooting completely, and re-shooting portions of the film.