Blue Story to be rescreened in Vue cinemas including one at Westwood Cross in Thanet
07:43, 28 November 2019
updated: 10:48, 28 November 2019
Vue cinema is planning to resume screenings of gang film Blue Story after banning it following a mass brawl in Birmingham.
The cinema chain, which has a movie theatre in Broadstairs, stopped screening the film after claiming there had been 25 serious incidents in 16 of its cinemas.
But now its chief executive, Tim Richards, said he is looking to "beef up security" and start showing the film again from this weekend.
Mr Richards said: "Right now we are looking at trying to get that movie back onto our screens by the weekend and possibly, if we can, to accelerate that.
"Our plans right now are to look at the timings and look at who's buying the tickets, and we're going to be beefing up security where we've had problems.
"There will be one or two cinemas, like Birmingham, where it will be very difficult to justify screening it again there."
Blue Story is about two friends in rival gangs in south London, written and directed by Rapman.
The plans to rescreen come after Rapman stated he believed their was "no connection between his movie and the fight in Birmingham, which saw mob of youngsters storm the building, some armed with machetes, triggering a huge police response and five arrests.
Vue has said the decision to pull the film from its 91 cinemas was "categorically not" related to race.
In a statement, Vue added: "Following an ongoing review of security to protect the safety of our staff and customers, we hope to be showing the film from this weekend with additional security arrangements in our cinemas to ensure everyone can enjoy the film in comfort and safety."
Another cinema chain, Showcase cinema, which can be found in Bluewater, also decided to reverse its decision to cancel decision of the film.
