Yahoo news (via) is reporting that two major US cinema chains have refused to screen Death of a President, which attempts to explore the impact of the so-called “War on Terror” from the starting point of an assination of George Bush.

“We would not be inclined to program this film,” Mike Campbell, CEO of Regal Entertainment Group, tells the Hollywood Reporter. “We feel it is inappropriate to portray the future assassination of a sitting President, regardless of political affiliation.”

Regal currently ranks the largest theater chain in the United States. One of its chief rivals, Texas-based Cinemark USA, is also electing not to screen Death of a President and is extending that ban to subsidiary chain Century Theaters in northern California, which Cinemark recently purchased.

“We’re not playing it on any of our screens,” spokesman Terrell Falk said. “It’s a subject matter we don’t wish to play. We decided to pass on the film.”

Death of a President premiered last month at the Toronto Film Festival, where it won the International Critics Prize and a U.S. distribution deal with Newmarket Films.

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