On this week’s episode of “The Ben Shapiro Show: Sunday Special,” Daily Wire editor-in-chief sat down with Jason Blum, award-winning film producer behind “Paranormal Activity” and “The Purge,” to talk about his newly released satirical thriller, “The Hunt.”

Described by conservative journalist and filmmaker Phelim McAleer as the “perfect revenge fantasy for MAGA supporters” who feel hated by Hollywood, “The Hunt” features a group of conservative Americans who are trying to survive on a private, left-wing owned hunting reserve — where they’re the targets.

Following immense backlash, including a callout from President Trump himself, Universal Pictures placed the film on hold, and later promised to release it in March 2020. But with the coronavirus pandemic forcing most movie theaters to close unexpectedly, Universal has taken the unprecedented step of releasing “The Hunt,” along with three other movies, for home-viewing early.

During the Sunday Special interview, Blum told Shapiro this move may fundamentally change the movie and theater industry even after the pandemic is over.

“I think it’s not realistic to think all the studios are going to wait four months before they put a movie at home,” Blum told Shapiro. “They just can’t compete, they’re going to have to compete with Amazon and Netflix and Apple in a different way.”

“There’s going to be shifts. The consumer is going to be more used to staying at home,” said Blum. “Something is going to give, there has to be something that’s going to happen post-corona. The movie business will look different after the coronavirus”

In response, Shapiro asked Blum whether he believes a shift in the movie industry and Hollywood business model would also bring about changes in the content of films themselves.

“How does that impact genres like horror? So horror is a genre that almost demands to be seen with other people,” remarked Shapiro. “If you’re streaming a movie and you can just pause it at the scary part and go to the bathroom, that obviously radically changes how you see any of these films.”

“The horror movie experience does require somebody in the back of the theater shouting don’t open that door,” said Shapiro.

“I don’t think theaters are ever going to go away,” said Blum, who remarked that live theaters still play a role in American culture, despite the advancements of television. “The collective experience of going to a theater and taking in a movie, I think that’s going to be around for a long time.”

“I think there’ll be less movies in theaters, there’ll be less of a selection, or I should say, there’ll be many many fewer movies in theaters with the window, and I think there’ll be many many more movies in theaters, but they only last for a week or two,” said Blum.

“For better or for worse, kids are going to want to go collectively to a movie theater to be scared at a horror movie,” said Blum. “The way a scare, a good scare — the way James Wann or Leigh Whannell does a scare — it’s super choreographed. You have to be paying attention all the way up to the scare for the scare to work.”

“Watching a scary movie at home, it’s never going to be scary — or never going to be nearly as scary as it is in the movie theater — because people don’t lose their focus in the theater,” said Blum.

“The Hunt” is currently available for a 48-hour rental through a variety of streaming services, including Prime Video, Apple TV and Google Play. You can watch the full Sunday Special interview with Jason Blum below:

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