An unfortunate error at a Birmingham multiplex cinema resulted in young children being shown trailers for Quentin Tarantino’s violent Western-style movie Django Unchained, as well as Die Hard 5 and Iron Man 3. The cinema was packed, the Daily Mail reports, with families taking advantage of a special 50p offer, to see the PG animated movie Brave at 11am. What they weren’t expecting to subject their children to was the violence of those three adult-rated movies.

One mother, Melissa Coombs, who had a three year old and a six year old in the screening told the paper “The trailers were for Django Unchained, Die Hard 5 and Iron Man so obviously our children looked horrified… We had to cover their eyes and ears. The Tarantino trailer was blood and guts and death. My kids looked shocked and horrified. As it is such a big screen there was nowhere to hide. A lot of parents took their children out of the room.” Another mother, Lisa Whitmore, was one of those who did take her children out of the cinema screening. She was angry at the cinema staff, saying “It's probably the most violent film on at the cinema now. I don't know how the staff could be so incompetent. Showing them stuff like that can scar children for life. It was not appropriate viewing for my two little girls - who are only six and eight. I had to leave the cinema.”

A spokesperson for the cinema blamed the mishap on a technical error and added “Following the screening, the visitor services manager met concerned parents in the exit foyer to apologise. Immediate action has been taken to strengthen the procedures in place.” 

Children, look away now, here's the Django Unchained trailer...