Pro-life movie Unplanned has been rejected by all of Canada. Domestically, the movie has done much better at the box office than initially anticipated. The movie cost Pure Flix an estimated $6 million to produce and it has brought in over $18 million since hitting theaters at the end of March. Obviously, abortion is big in the news right now, which helped Unplanned do well at the box office. However, despite its stateside success, it will not be playing in any Canadian movie theaters.
Chuck Konzelman, Unplanned‘s co-director and co-writer revealed the rejection news. With that being said, they were able to pull off a free screening earlier this month in Edmonton. 3000 people allegedly watched the movie. Abortion is legal in Canada throughout all stages of pregnancy, which is more than likely why Pure Flix wanted their movie to be shown in the country. However, Cineplex Entertainment and Landmark Cinemas, refused to screen the movie, citing “the content as being the issue rather than a lack of consumer demand,” according to Konzelman.
Unplanned was unable to secure any distribution in Canada at all, despite the free screenings in Edmonton and another in Ottawa. With that being said, the movie has been gaining headlines, which was more than likely the plan all along. With a movie as divisive as Unplanned, any press is good press, even if that means the Canadian government won’t allow your movie to be shown in theaters. Some theaters in the United States declined to show the movie too, which makes the $18 million box office earnings even more impressive.
Unplanned is based on the real events in Abby Johnson’s life. Johnson is a former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, who later changed her mind and became a pro-life activist. As for her reasoning for changing her mind, part of it was seeing an ultrasound-guided abortion of a 13-week old fetus. She says, “Seeing that child fight and struggle for his life against the abortion instrument. There was life in the womb, humanity in the womb.” Unplanned tells her story in often graphic detail. The movie comes at a time when abortion laws are being changed and even outlawed in certain states in an effort to overturn Roe v Wade.
Abby Johnson says she is not surprised that the Canadian government decided to reject Unplanned, which she calls censorship. “I have to wonder what they’re afraid of,” says Johnson. In another reason for leaving her old life behind, Johnson claims the clinic was supposed to “double our abortion quota, the number of abortions we had to sell,” a statement which Planned Parenthood vehemently denies. Whatever the case may be, Unplanned isn’t going anywhere, but it definitely won’t be going to Canada any time soon. The Unplanned Canadian rejection news was first reported by The Epoch Times.
