Hollywood Wants No Part of SeaWorld! Scene Pulled From Upcoming Film ‘Paper Towns’

The “Blackfish effect” is at it again! Although the film was released on July 19, 2013, it is still making a huge splash. This movie resulted in long-lasting effects, including celebrity support, a sharp decline in SeaWorld attendance, and even a decrease in SeaWorld stock holders. The movie made a clear impact on the captivity industry within just a year, but has the film lost its heat in the media? Based on recent news … absolutely not!

Not only did the CEO of SeaWorld recently announce that he is stepping down, but we see smaller examples of the movie’s power in other ways. The most recent is the removal of a SeaWorld scene from the upcoming film, Paper Towns.

Based on John Green’s best-selling novel, this movie takes place in Orlando. One of the scenes in the book discusses  the two main characters, Quentin and Margo, breaking into SeaWorld to see the animals. Published in 2008, this book was popular long before Blackfish brought the problems of captivity to light for the general public. Though this part of the book has significance to the story, producers felt that the park’s presence in the film would’ve seemed like a favor to SeaWorld and would be a distraction from the movie.

“Since [John] wrote the book, the documentary [Blackfish] came out. I think it’s a little less playful to go to SeaWorld now,” producer Wyck Godfrey told The Hollywood Reporter.

Instead of visiting the marine park, the characters in the movie will visit the SunTrust building in downtown Orlando. Aside from this one, awesome exception, the movie is said to follow the book closely.

Paper Towns opens June 5, 2015 and is directed by Jake Schreier.

Lead image source: Abi Skipp/Flickr