Cineplex pulls ‘Theri’ movie after theatre evacuations

Cineplex has confirmed it has cancelled all remaining screenings of the movie ‘Theri’ after three separate GTA theatres were evacuated on Friday night.

A noxious odour was detected in Cineplex theatres in Brampton, Mississauga and Scarborough, forcing hundreds of people outside.

“We continue to take precautionary measures,” Cineplex spokesperson Sarah Van Lange told CityNews.

“I can confirm that we did cancel the remaining run of the film ‘Theri’ at our theatres across the GTA.”

Cineplex told CityNews that the pepper spray was released in a single auditorium at each location. However, Van Lange could not say if the theatres that were evacuated were showing ‘Theri’ at the time, citing the ongoing police investigation.

At least one independent theatre, Woodside Cinemas in Scarborough, has also pulled the movie from their lineup.

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Multiple movie theatres evacuated for noxious odour

Pepper spray incidents at two GTA movie theatres may be linked, police say

The Brampton and Mississauga incidents are linked, Peel police said. Toronto Police have not indicated that the Scarborough incident was linked to the others.

David Poopalapillai, spokesperson for the Canadian Tamil Congress said ‘Theri’ is not a controversial movie and it shouldn’t impact Cineplex hosting more Tamil movies.

“We see it as a very isolated incident, a very isolated attack,” he said. “We want law enforcement officials to go after these culprits who had caused this damage, who have caused this incident, and bring them to justice.”

Police said no one was seriously injured because of the incidents, but many were treated on scene by emergency crews. Three people were treated on scene at the Mississauga movie theatre and one person was transported to hospital from the Brampton movie theatre.