Bill Murray Fans Bumming Out Over Oversold TIFF Tickets for ‘St. Vincent’
In an embarrassing gaffe for the Toronto International Film Festival, two world premiere screenings were mistakenly overbooked leaving fans disappointed.
The Star reports that both the September 5 world premiere of the Bill Murray-starrer “St. Vincent” and the world premiere of the crime drama “The Drop” were accidentally oversold.
Theodore Melfi’s feature directorial debut, “St. Vincent” stars Bill Murray as the titular Vincent, a drunken, gambling retiree who gets asked by his single-mom neighbor (Melissa McCarthy) to guard her 12-year-old son (newcomer Jaeden Lieberher).
Directed by Michael Roskam from a script by Dennis Lehane, “The Drop” stars Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and the late James Gandolfini.
The festival blamed the computer system with failing to take the two screenings off sale once the films had sold out.
READ MORE: Bill Murray Enters the Oscar Race with “St. Vincent”
“Unfortunately, a computer error occurred while processing some ticket orders for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Our system failed to take (two) screenings off sale once we had reached capacity at the Princess of Wales theatre. As a result, these screenings were oversold,” said Jennifer Bell, TIFF vice-president of communications and content management, in a statement.
The unlucky ticket buyers were contacted and offered seats at other screenings of the film. An e-mail breaking the bad news on Saturday morning told disappointed fans that there would be “a special event just for you” to make up for the letdown. Ticket buyers can also choose another film or get a refund.
TIFF named September 5 Bill Murray Day and has planned screenings of “Stripes,” “Groundhog Day” and “Ghostbusters” in addition to “St. Vincent.”
