School shooting affects TV and film screenings

Movie studios and television programmers have postponed or cancelled violent films and TV shows after a shooting left 20 children and six adults dead in a Connecticut elementary school last week.

Viacom Inc.’s Paramount studios delayed the premiere of Jack Reacher, an action-thriller based on the Lee Child novels starring Tom Cruise that was scheduled for Dec. 15, the day after the murders.

Separately, Discovery Communications Inc. cancelled the new season of American Guns, a realitybased serial about a family of gun makers, Fox News reported.

The killings by a single gunman armed with two handguns and a semi-automatic rifle have reignited debates over the need for gun control and violence in Hollywood’s movies. U.S. President Barack Obama said he would “use whatever power this office holds” to prevent further tragedies.

“Due to the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, and out of honour and respect for the families of the victims whose lives were senselessly taken, we are postponing tomorrow’s Pittsburgh premiere of Jack Reacher,” Paramount said in a statement on Dec. 14. “Our hearts go out to all those who lost loved ones.”

CBS Corp.’s Showtime cable channel acknowledged the Connecticut killings — the second-most fatal mass shooting in the U.S. — before recent airings of Dexter, a show about a serial killer, and Homeland, a popular series about domestic terrorism.