The movie has now been pulled from Universal's schedule and will not be released.

In a statement released to media yesterday evening, Universal confirmed that it has cancelled the global release of 'The Hunt'.

The movie was already garnering controversy for its satirical nature, which saw wealthy Americans hunting economically disadvantaged people for sport. Written by Damon Lindeof and Nick Cuse and directed by Craig Zobel, 'The Hunt' was similar in tone to the likes of 'The Purge'.

However, the movie's marketing blitz was postponed following the El Paso / Dayton mass shootings, and when reports of the movie's referencing of Donald Trump and his supporters made news, it snowballed from there. Fox News regularly ran reports on the movie's supposed anti-Trump leanings - even though nobody saw it. Before long, Trump began parroting what he saw on Fox News.

The statement by Universal explained that "after thoughtful consideration, the studio has decided to cancel our plans to release the film."

"We stand by our filmmakers and will continue to distribute films in partnership with bold and visionary creators, like those associated with this satirical social thriller, but we understand that now is not the right time to release this film."

Needless to say, the reaction online to the movie's cancellation wasn't particularly positive for Universal.