What looked like a very promising positive movie has been scrapped. In case you missed it, Apple has canceled the premiere of its only diversity play, an original film called The Banker. The movie starring Samuel L. Jackson was all set to have its time in the limelight at supposed the AFI Fest in LA on Nov. 21st. That never happened because like with all bio-doc movies there was some historical inaccuracy. Namely, about sexual abuse allegations that spanned years. Apple does not want to come anywhere near that can of worms.
We saw how House of Cards fell fast from the good graces of viewers after the Kenvin Spacy allegations. So Apple has decided to hold off. For how long is anyone’s guess. If I were a betting man, I would say indefinitely. They don’t have enough clout to power through that kind of heat not to mention a squeaky clean image to uphold. There were many shows and movies that didn’t make the cut to get on Apple TV+ because Apple had issues with the fictional content. This is real life. Aside from the streaming service, the theatrical release was originally slated for December 6th. That is also canceled as well.
The official word is that Apple is not canceling the movie instead it is just the holding off on releasing it until it can get a microscope on the issue. Apple wants to look under every rock when it comes to such serious allegations before moving forward with a wide theatrical release and launch on Apple TV+.
The filmmakers will review the accusations for historical inaccuracy. They will look into the sexual abuse allegations against the co-producer of the movie, Bernard Garrett Jr. A lawyer for the producer, Romulus Entertainment said that way of handling the sensitive situation is to amend the film to note that it was “based on true events.”
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