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More than 11,500 people are planning to boycott Summit’s new adaptation of Ender’s Game due to the anti-gay views of the book’s author, Orson Scott Card.
Gay organization Geeks Out is proceeding with its effort to get people to skip the film, despite recent comments from those affiliated with the movie attempting to separate the picture from the author’s controversial opinions.
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The organization’s Skip Ender’s Game petition, which people who plan to boycott the film can sign, had more than 11,500 signatures as of Friday, the same day the film hit U.S. theaters. In addition, Geeks Out has scheduled events in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle and Winter Park, Fla., tonight at which people not interested in seeing the film can meet up to do other things, like watch The Fifth Element.
Since Geeks Out began calling for a boycott in early July, studio Summit Entertainment‘s parent company Lionsgate, director Gavin Hood and star Harrison Ford have all made statements condemning Card’s views on homosexuality in an attempt to insulate the movie from the backlash, but that hasn’t seemed to change Geeks Out’s plans.
Hood told The Advocate in July, “Orson wrote a book about compassion, and empathy, and yet he himself is struggling to see that his position in real life is really at odds with his art.”
STORY: ‘Ender’s Game’ Boycott Planned Over Orson Scott Card’s Anti-Gay Views
Lionsgate meanwhile said in a statement that it does “not agree with the personal views of Orson Scott Card” and said it has long supported the LGBT community, planning a benefit screening of the film.
Card also told Entertainment Weekly that the novel was unrelated to his personal views and “with the recent Supreme Court ruling, the gay marriage issue becomes moot.”
Milk director and LGBT activist Dustin Lance Black also claimed the boycott was a “waste of energy,” since Card has not been involved with the project in decades.
It remains to be seen how an Ender’s Game boycott will affect the film’s performance at the box office, with the movie expected to earn $25 million to $30 million from its North American debut this weekend.
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