The Hunt is a 2020 American horror thriller film directed by Craig Zobel and written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof. The film stars Betty Gilpin and Hilary Swank. Jason Blum was a producer under his Blumhouse Productions banner, along with Lindelof. The film is about a group of high income progressive people who kidnap working class people with conservative political views to hunt them for sport. Zobel and Lindelof have said that the film is intended as a satire on the profound political divide between the American left and right.

The film was first announced in March 2018, and the cast signed on a year later. Filming took place in New Orleans. The film was originally scheduled for release on September 27, 2019. However, as a result of the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings in early August 2019, Universal Pictures decided to delay it.

The Hunt was released in theaters in the United States on March 13, 2020, by Universal Pictures and received mixed reviews from critics. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the closure of most theaters within a week of the film s release, which resulted in the film underperforming at the box office, grossing only $12 million. Universal made The Hunt available digitally on March 20.

Plot

In a group text, Athena Stone anticipates an upcoming hunt of deplorables at a manor house. A number of elite people are aboard a private jet. A man named Randy emerges from the cargo hold. He is subdued by one of the other male passengers, who stabs him in the neck to stop him from talking about this – to which Richard states that nothing has happened yet. Another hunter, called Ted the Doctor, tries putting Randy to sleep but he then grabs the champagne bottle and starts swinging it around until Athena stabs him through the eye with a stiletto heel, killing him. He is then dragged back into the hold and laid down next to an unconscious woman, called Yoga Pants.

Ten captives including Yoga Pants wake up gagged in a forest. In a clearing, they find a cache of weapons and keys to their gags, but upon retrieving them, Yoga Pants and another captive are shot and killed from a nearby pillbox. Another captive, Dead Sexy, makes a run for it and falls in a trap, a captive called Shane runs and rescues her, stepping on a land mine right after, killing him and mortally wounding Dead Sexy, who is found by another captive called Staten Island, whose gun she steals and uses to kill herself.

Staten Island tries to escape over a barbed wire fence, running into a captive called Target, along with two others named Vanilla Nice and Big Red. Everyone but Target makes it across, who is shot by multiple arrows. The trio leaves Target to die and flee into a filling station, whose owners Miranda Ma and Julius Pop identify their location to be in Arkansas. The trio, each kidnapped from a different part of the United States, realises their situation s similarity to the Manorgate conspiracy theory. Big Red eats a poisoned doughnut, and Ma and Pop reveal themselves to be in league with their captors and kill Staten Island before finishing off Vanilla Nice. They then communicate with the other hunters via radio.

Crystal, one of the captives, arrives and after asking to buy some cigarettes, attacks suddenly, grabbing the shotgun under the counter and shooting Pa, killing him. She states that the price is too high for cigarettes in Arkansas, and kills Ma. She inspects her surroundings and discovers that the license plate of a truck outside is a fake with a real Croatian one beneath. A drone is released to survey the area when the other hunters are unable to contact Ma and Pop via radio. Another captive, a conspiracy theorist and podcaster named Gary, appears and shoots down the drone.

They board a railroad car full of refugees, whom Gary believes to be crisis actors; the train is then raided by Croatian soldiers. Gary tries to convince the soldiers that Manorgate is real when a refugee, revealed to be a hunter named Crisis Mike, admits to Gary that he is indeed one of the hunters but the others are innocent. He reveals the raid was unplanned and offers a head start if Gary cooperates. Gary takes a grenade from Crisis Mike and uses it to kill him. Crystal is then taken to a refugee camp where she meets another captive called Don. Oliver, an envoy from the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb, arrives to take them to the embassy. During the drive, Oliver probes into why they were selected for the hunt. Suspicious, Crystal kicks Oliver out of the car and runs him over. They find Gary s body in the trunk with a box marked bribe money and a map.

At the pillbox, Oliver s intended destination, the hunters – the passengers from the private jet – reveal their contempt for right-wingers and the purpose of the hunt. Don releases a pig into the bunker, and in the ensuing panic the hunters shoot the pig and almost shoot each other. Crystal kills most of the hunters, then wounds tactical consultant Sgt. Dale, who was there to defend the hunters in case of an ambush. Athena calls out to Don via radio, asking if he killed Crystal. Don says he doesn t know Athena and he refuses to disarm, aiming his gun at Crystal, and she kills him. Crystal tortures Sgt. Dale to get Athena s location before she shoots and kills him.

A flashback reveals that Athena s group text was a joke. However, it was leaked on the internet, creating furor over Manorgate . Subsequently, the group text s participants careers were ruined, including Athena, who gets fired by her bosses. They decide to make Manorgate a reality and abduct those responsible for spreading the conspiracy theory. Athena had insisted that Crystal be included in the hunt after seeing a post that specifically targeted her.

Crystal finds Athena, and asks whether Don was part of the hunt. She does not confirm or deny that he was. Crystal insists that Athena has confused her with another woman from the same city, with the same first but a differently spelled middle name. The two fight and impale one another on the blades of a food processor. Athena succumbs to her injuries, but Crystal recovers. She cauterizes her wound with a blowtorch from the kitchen, takes Athena s clothes, a bottle of champagne and Athena s dog, and climbs aboard her jet, explaining to the shocked crew that she has killed their bosses and wants to go home.

Cast

• Betty Gilpin as Crystal May Creasey
• Hilary Swank as Athena Stone
• Wayne Duvall as Don
• Ethan Suplee as Gary
• Ike Barinholtz as Moses Staten Island
• Sturgill Simpson as Vanilla Nice
• Kate Nowlin as Molly Big Red
• Christopher Berry as Boxer Target
• Justin Hartley as Big Game Shane (uncredited)
• Sylvia Grace Crim as Caroline Dead Sexy
• Emma Roberts as Yoga pants
• Walker Babington as Bandana Man
• Jason Kirkpatrick as Randy
• Amy Madigan as Miranda Ma
• Reed Birney as Julius Pop
• Glenn Howerton as Richard
• Teri Wyble as Liberty
• J. C. MacKenzie as Paul
• Macon Blair as Oliver Fauxnvoy
• Usman Ally as Crisis Mike
• Steve Coulter as Ted the Doctor
• Ariel Eliaz as Dino
• Alexander Babara as Bojan
• Dean West as Martin
• Vince Pisani as Peter
• Tadasay Young as Nicole
• Jim Klock as Captain O Hara
• Steve Mokate as Sgt. Dale
• Hannah Alline as Flight Attendant

Production

In March 2018, Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the film, and set Craig Zobel to direct it, from a script by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof. The original title of the script was initially reported as Red State Vs. Blue State, a reference to the red states and blue states. Later, Universal issued a statement denying that the film had ever had it as its working title. The elite hunters reference to their quarry as deplorables is an allusion to the phrase basket of deplorables, used by Hillary Clinton during the 2016 United States presidential election campaign to refer to half of the supporters of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. An early draft of the script depicted working-class conservatives as the film s heroes.

In March 2019, Emma Roberts, Justin Hartley, Glenn Howerton, Ike Barinholtz, and Betty Gilpin were announced as being cast in the film. In April 2019, Amy Madigan, Jim Klock, Charli Slaughter, Steve Mokate, and Dean West were added as well. Hilary Swank s casting was announced in July. Filming began on February 20, 2019, in New Orleans, and was completed on April 5.

Nathan Barr composed the film score, replacing Heather McIntosh. Back Lot Music released the soundtrack.

Release

The Hunt was theatrically released in the United States on March 13, 2020, by Universal Pictures. It was originally scheduled for release on September 27, 2019. It was, for a time, moved back to October 18, 2019, before shifting back to September 27. On August 7, 2019, Universal announced that in the wake of the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings, they would be suspending the film s promotional campaign. Several days later, the film was pulled from the studio s release schedule.

In February 2020, the studio announced that the film would be released on March 13, 2020 (Friday the 13th) in the U.S., with a new trailer, partially in response to the success of the similarly controversial film Joker. Producer Jason Blum stated in an interview that not one frame was changed since the delay and that it was exactly the same movie .

In mid-March 2020, movie theaters began to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures. Three days after the film s release, on March 16, 2020, Universal Pictures announced that the film would be available digitally through Premium VOD in the United States and Canada on March 20, before the end of the usual 90-day theatrical run. This was also the case for the studio s other films such as The Invisible Man and Trolls World Tour.

The film was released in three Santikos Entertainment theater locations in San Antonio, Texas on May 1, 2020, after the chain reopened.

Reception

Initial reactions

The Hollywood Reporter wrote that there were a pair of test screenings for the film which garnered negative reactions . The second screening was held on August 6, 2019, in Los Angeles, in which audience members were again expressing discomfort with the politics of it, an issue Universal had not foreseen (although other studios had initially passed on the script for that reason). In a statement to Variety, Universal pushed back on a report that test audiences had been uncomfortable with the film s political slant, and also countered claims that the script had originally had an explicitly political title.

The film s trailer received backlash by some in the conservative media for portraying supporters of Donald Trump being hunted by liberals. Trump also issued a tweet on August 9, 2019, criticizing the film industry while stating, The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos ; although Trump did not specify the name of the film, news outlets said it was most likely a reference to The Hunt. Kyle Smith, writing in the National Review, argued that the film would likely have a right-wing, anti-liberal tone that had been misinterpreted by conservative critics of the film s trailer.

In an interview with The Guardian, director Craig Zobel stated he didn t make the film in order to create controversy.

Box office

The Hunt grossed $5.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $12.4 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Bloodshot and I Still Believe, and was projected to gross $8–11 million from 3,028 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $2.2 million on its first day, including $435,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $5.3 million, finishing fifth. The weekend was also noteworthy for being the lowest combined grossing since October 1998, with all films totaling just $55.3 million, in large part due to societal restrictions and regulations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the closure of many theaters due to COVID-19, the film played almost exclusively at drive-in theaters in the following weeks; it made $279,500 in its 11th weekend and $217,500 in its 12th weekend.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 272 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site s critics consensus read, The Hunt is successful enough as a darkly humorous action thriller, but it shoots wide of the mark when it aims for timely social satire. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews . Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of C+ on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
2021	Critics Choice Super Awards	Best Action Movie	The Hunt	Nominated
		Best Actress in an Action Movie	Betty Gilpin	Won
			Hilary Swank	Nominated
		Best Villain in a Movie	Hilary Swank	Nominated
	HNiD Awards	Best Scream queen	Emma Roberts	Write-in

Year	2020
ReleaseDate	2020-03-13
RuntimeMins	90
RuntimeStr	1h 30min
Plot	Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are, or how they got there. They don’t know they’ve been chosen – for a very specific purpose – The Hunt.
Awards	Awards, 1 win & 5 nominations
Directors	Craig Zobel
Writers	Nick Cuse, Damon Lindelof
Stars	Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ike Barinholtz
Produced by	Jason Blum,Nick Cuse,Julie Goldstein,Damon Lindelof,Steven R. Molen,Couper Samuelson,Jennifer Scudder Trent,Jeanette Volturno,Craig Zobel
Music by	Nathan Barr
Cinematography by	Darran Tiernan
Film Editing by	Jane Rizzo
Casting By	Terri Taylor
Production Design by	Matthew Munn
Art Direction by	Gary Hunt,Jason Baldwin Stewart
Set Decoration by	Rachel April,Monique Champagne
Costume Design by	David Tabbert
Makeup Department	Ma Kalaadevi Ananda,Francesca Buccellato,Courtney Callais,Chantal Calmes,Chantelle Calmes,Jason Collins,Cammy Crochet,Renee Daigrepont,Margina Dennis,Wade Hampton,Sarah Hindsgaul,Dee Leveque,April Melerine Maness,Michael McCarty,Donita Miller,Rosemary Monroe,Stacey Perry,Emily Stegeman,Lauren Thomas,Leah Vautrot,Tony Ward,Kaylee Guidroz
Production Management	John H. Brister,Kevin Roberts,Weston Manville,Ben Urquhart
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Harry Beckstead,Sumner Boissiere III,Alicia Dean,Steve Lonano,Lars P. Winther
Art Department	Joshua Anderson,Thomas Anderson,Kenneth April,Kris Butler,Cassie Catalanotto,Antonio Cojoe,Mark Curtis,Gary Cussia,Shane Decote,Floyd Desormeaux,Milton Diener,Russ Doyle,Mike Druhet,Maxie Ducote Jr.,Shane Ducote,David Dunning,Troy Eastin,Alexander Eldimiati,Ryan Falkner,Howard Fannon,Stephen Finders,Noah Fischbach,Jason Frannino,Brian S. Freeman,Jeff Galpin,Tyler Galpin,Torsten Gipperich,Bonnie Goodson,F. Scott Greenfield,Kim Harris,Scott Hatfield,Diane Heard,Lauren Hernard,Cameron Holmes,April Hopkins,Bethany Horning,John W. Jackson,Willo Jean-Baptiste,Aviel Johnson,Brooks Johnson,Kaula Johnson,Sanford Johnson,Camile Kelsey,Lisa Kutyreff,Jolean LaBorde,James Christopher Lane,Barry LeBlanc,Logan Ledford,Johnell Lee,Watson Luke,Ryan MacLachlan,Henry McGee,Dunbar Merrill,Scot Middleton,Alex Mollere,Edgar A. Mollere,Sylvester Morris Jr.,Nathan Mulligan,Max Newman,Rick Nyberg,Nealy Orillion,Rachel Perez,Titus Reynolds,Jess Richmond,William Robertson,George Sanchez,Maria Senger,Alma Silverman,Ember Soberman,Dwight Stanley,Jessica Stumpf,Zac Tate,John Thompson,Perry James Trentacosta,Richard Wolf,Matthew Wright,Ed Burcham,Megan Erwin,Alexis Gomez,Grace Kelsey,Chad Palardy,Paul Tuger
Sound Department	Rodrigo Andrade,Phil Barrie,Jack Bigelow,Robert C. Bigelow,Leslie Bloome,Rich Bologna,Ryan Cole,Ryan Collison,Joanna Fang,Will Files,Dustin Fleetwood,Kevin Froines,Aaron Hasson,Laura Heinzinger,Anita Kalathara,Kirby Leonard,Scott R. Lewis,Brett McInnis,Sean McKinney,Polly McKinnon,Steve Neal,Mark Paterson,Diego Perez,Nick Seaman,Brian Smith,Wolfie Trausch,Rachel Wardell,Mathew Waters,Hunter Berk,Phil Brewster,Kasey Destache,Aidan Dykes,Tom Hambleton,Jeffrey Roy,Matt Perry Thomas
Special Effects by	Dennis Bodenheimer,John C. Bush,Troy Collins Jr.,Elias Duhe Jr.,Paul Ferretti,Matt Harris,Garrett Hernandez,Kurt Hilthon,Zach Jase,Ashley Kopanski,Matt Kutcher,Jeff Moshell,Eric Roberts,Bobby Stenwall,Jay Strong,Josh Bailey,Troy Collins Jr.,Donnie Dean,Santanna Dean,Paul Ferretti,Matthew Brady Harris,Travis Hernandez,Matthew James Kutcher,Taylor Kutcher,Tristan LeSaicherre,Chuck Lucia,Justin Kane Miller,Melissa Stryker,Jeff Warren
Visual Effects by	Andre Bruto,Shaozhuo Cui,Amy Davis,Henrik Fett,Michael Gardiner,John Gibson,Azzard Gordon,Aeryn Gray,Jenné Marie Guerra,Ed Hawkins,Glen Hombrebueno,Shona Kavi,Yong Jin Kim,Mihajlo Kocevski,Matt Kushner,Delphine Laurent,Goran Petrushevski,Egbert Reichel,Juan Antonio Rodriguez,Shae Salmon,Abraham Sanchez,Thaddeus Warren,Chris Wickline,Jeong Won Jang,Noah Sage Amrani,Vivian Assunção-Kesikowski,Sergiu Baiesu,Monica Rodriguez Bautista,Patricia Binga,Lennart Breede,Matthew Broughton,Arturo Camacho,Michael Chan,Ji Cheng,Jennifer Chiang,Christopher Cram,Amber Davy,Hamo Djoboulian,Laura Dochtermann,Pritish Dogra,David Dong,Salina Farkas,Herod Gilani,Goldie Hanger,Amy Henderson,Heather Hughson,Jorge Jimenez,Dana Jurcic,Thilo Kuther,Andrew Lam,Kate T.C. Lin,Barry Liu,Siting Liu,Junzhi Lu,Son T. Ly,Alejandra Marquez,Mitja Müller-Jend,Hai Yen Nguyen,Andrew Osis,Sokratis Parsanos,Tristan Patrick,Rodgers Paul,Michael Prince,Henrique Reginato,Angel Gil Ruiz,Milan Schere,Travis Smith,Prapanch Swamy,Gavin Templer,Marcel Vanderwekken,Dallas Michael Vaughan,Felix Wang,Grace Jingya Wang,Yilin Wang,Matt Welford,Reza Ghulam Yahya,Siyun Yi,Zhuotao Zhang,Kel Zhu
Stunts	Hank Amos,Ted Barba,Joanna Bennett,Nick Benseman,Todd Bloomer,Nicolas Bosc,Nick Brandon,Chelsea Bruland,Chris Bryant,Taran Butler,Cara Marie Chooljian,Matt Cipro,Bruce Concepcion,Caitlin Dechelle,Jacob Dewitt,Arturo Dickey,Jared S. Eddo,Chris J. Fanguy,Jeff Galpin,Tyler Galpin,Casey Hendershot,Richard T. Hoover,Ashley Nicole Hudson,Sarah Irwin,Juliene Joyner,Nito Larioza,Jean Claude Leuyer,Mónica López,Hans Marrero,Heidi Moneymaker,Daniel Munevar,Brooklyn Proctor,Kevin Reid,Met Salih,William Scharpf,Preston Schrag,Jackson Spidell,Taryn Terrell,Amy Lynn Tuttle,Michael Yahn,John Zimmerman,Nick Benseman,Jeff Brockton,Caitlin Dechelle,Luke Hawx,Adam Horwitz,Troy Roker
Camera and Electrical Department	Fernando Albano,James A. Alexander,Bennett Bartley,Adam Beard,Zachary Blosser,Michael Bonnett,Nathan Borck,Chad Brock,Mary McDade Casteel,Scott Caswell,Marc Clancy,Andy Clapp,Kenneth Coblentz,Josh Courtney,Brandon Dauzat,Morgan Davis,Marino DeLeon,Ross Elias,Josh Ermon,Brian Freesh,Hilton Garrett,Reith Wesley Gibson,Matt Guidry,Penelope Helmer,Richard T. Hoover,Kyle Jenkins,Michael D. Kennedy,John Kosch,Scott Labell,Trey Lagan,Pete Lavaty,Daniel LeBlanc,Dustin Logan,Raul J. Marin,Simon Marthinsen,Simon Marthinson,Thaddeus Mitchell,Greg Morris,John S. Moyer,Neftaly Nieves,Neil O Malley,Nino Paternostro,Patti Perret,Sienna Pinderhughes,Cody Pollock,Brian Posslenzny,Craig Rice,Parker Rice,Devin Ricks,Lance Romano,Kevin Slark,Adam Stone,David Tandy,Eduardo Urueña,Eric van der Vynckt,Ramon Vazquez,Sergio Villegas,Daniel Waghorne,Adam Waguespack,Wade Whitley,Charlie Wiggin,Reuben Wilder,Earl Woods,Michael Applebaum,Brian Bruhn,Gonzalo Gonzalez,Michael D. Kennedy,Kevin Lippincott,Kenneth Neil Moore,Nick Ramey
Animation Department	Gary Hunt
Casting Department	Amelia Chen Miley,Ally Conover,Elizabeth Coulon,Sarah Domeier Lindo,Jason Edwards,Adam Hochfeld,Mary Huber,Blossom Peters,Rae Robinson
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Gillian Austin,Heidi Bayer,Suzanne M.B. Chambliss,Emily DeScenna,Julie Ebel,Kate Farned,Alexa Howard,Shannon Jantz,Aurora Knox,Lee Kyle,Megan McAfee,Marcus Montoya,Renee Ragucci-Shelton,Heather Roebuck,George Roth,Laura Michele Shrewsbury,Susan Thomas,Charles Toney
Editorial Department	Tim Alverson,Timothy Alverson,Chris Armstrong,Arvid Cristina,Doug Delaney,Justin DeLong,Frank Figueroa,Nancy Fuller,Sergio Garcia,Ladd Lanford,Brian Laprocino,Santiago Padilla,Randy Rigg,Drew Sacks,Bob Schneider,Ben Simpkins,Jay Trautman,Chris Van Duyn,Dan Williams,Denise Woodgerd,Terrell Boaz
Location Management	David Brocato,Vinay Chand,John Collins,Clara DeWeese,Ethan Esteb,Rene Fabre,Jeff Flack,Chris Goodson,Fiona Gregory,Dana A. Hanby,Casey B. Johnson,Yvette LaPlace,David Mccarty,David Ross McCarty,John M. McCollam,Ryan Orgeron,Albert Quaid,Lesli Richard,Win Riley,Gerard Sellars,Joe Stange,Yvetta Williams
Music Department	Jeremy Borum,Justin Caine Burnett,Vincent Cirilli,Kevin Crehan,Rossano Galante,Greg Hayes,Penka Kouneva,Jason La Rocca,Erenice Lohan,David Low,Stephen Lukach,Larry Mah,Larry Rench,Jay B. Richardson,Harry Risoleo,Kyle Rodriguez,Dimitri Smith,Junko Tamura,Thanh Tran,Natalie Hayden,Mark Robertson,Louie Schultz
Script and Continuity Department	David Bush
Transportation Department	Joanie Degenhardt,John Can Man Keller,Dashonna Leal,John McLaughlin,Salvador Melancon,James Roberto,Michael Schlumbrecht,Lauren Walter,Robin Rachal
Additional Crew	Wendy Altman-Cohen,Chelsea Bayles,Yvette D. Bennett,David Bojarski,Billy Bowers,Bree Brincat,Marcus Brown,Trish Callais,Joshua Cappannelli,Sean Carville,Frank Castro,Lulu Cheri,Max Cianci,Annabelle Conforti-Amato,Adrienne Connelly,Casey Davis,Ann Kos Edwards,Julien Farges,Jason Frannino,Bouchaib Gadir,Jeff Galpin,Tyler Galpin,Benjamin Garcia,Gabriel Gator Guilbeau,Erica Hamill,Rachel Hardison,Katherine Heroman,Gary Hunt,Trevor Jones,Christopher Klein,Peter Kusiw,Tara Larsen,Hunter McHugh,Luke Melman,Bryan Mitchell,Casey Moore,Sean Patrick Moore,Carlos Morales,Serena Morin,Jeanmarie Murphy-Burke,Mai Nguyen,ThuyVi Nguyen,David Pauli,Edward Poveda,Jayna Puchkoff,Tim Ring,Brian Rubin,Nancy Schmitt,Ashley Segal,Cayman Sinclair,Gabe Smith,Garin Sparks,Robyn Waserman,Sue Young Kim,Omar Adam,Kylie Arceneaux,Silas Borelly,Ali Claire,Hazen S. Finnerty Jr.,Megan Hebert,János Papp,Frederic Perrin,Jeffrey Schlaudecker,Alexis Tippin,Robyn Waserman
Thanks	Laura Hunter,Loren Legendre
Genres	Action, Horror, Thriller
Companies	Blumhouse Productions, Dentsu, Perfect World Pictures
Countries	USA, Japan, China
Languages	English, Arabic
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	6.5
ImDbRatingVotes	112410
MetacriticRating	50
Keywords	hunting humans,gun,satire,human hunted down for sport,pig