10 Times Audiences Were Pissed Off At Film Premieres

When the people don't get what they want.

By Jack Pooley /

Movie premieres are supposed to be glitzy, glamourous events where filmmakers are reunited with their cast and crew to unveil their cinematic vision to a grateful audience. But of course, things don't always go that way.

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No matter how well-intended a movie might be, there's no accounting for the way that an anxious and excitable premiere audience might receive a film.

Mere mediocrity can be met with polite-yet-muted applause, yet in the case of films which divide and polarise, you can always trust the premiere crowds to get the pitchforks out.

Film festivals and world premiere screenings invite the most passionate of all viewers, and so it's little surprise that the responses can range from 20-minute standing ovations to audience members literally swearing at the screen.

Then there are those premieres where something unexpected happens - a technical glitch or perhaps a wider issue surrounding the movie itself - which ensures a major chunk of the assembled audience are none too happy.

Each of these 10 movies became instantly infamous for their troubled premieres, many of which caused negative word-of-mouth to spread like wildfire long before general audiences ever got to see the films for themselves...

10. Darren Aronofsky & Jennifer Lawrence Got Booed Out Of Venice - Mother!

Darren Aronofsky's mother! is unquestionably one of the most controversial and polarising films of the decade, with many praising Jennifer Lawrence's fierce central performance and Aronofsky'd bold vision, while others felt it was a shallow, obvious allegory defined by its low-effort shock value.

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This sentiment was reflected during its world premiere screening at the Venice Film Festival, where mother! was met with a chorus of what Vanity Fair described as "lusty boos," with reportedly just a "smattering of applause," suggesting that those who hated it did so with extreme prejudice.

When interviewed about the fracas the very same day, Aronofsky was at least entirely aware that he'd made a film destined to divide.

He said, "There is always a level of taste regarding films...Mother! is like a rollercoaster ride and not everyone is willing to go on a rollercoaster."

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