Cruise Film’s Tokyo Premiere Nixed

TOKYO – The planned world premiere in Tokyo of Steven Spielberg’s new film “War of the Worlds” has been canceled because of concerns about providing security for Tom Cruise and other stars and preventing bootleg recording of the film, its distributor said Saturday.

The film, a new take on H.G. Well’s Martian invasion classic, was set to debut at Tokyo’s Budokan arena on June 13, more than two weeks before its June 29 global release.

“To our regret, we have decided to cancel the showing because of safety concerns,” distributor UIP said in a statement posted on its Web site.

It cited a lack of measures to protect film stars during their appearances before fans and to prevent people from illegally recording the film during its showing.

About 7,000 viewers had won seats for the premiere as prizes, according to Japanese newspapers Asahi and Mainichi. UIP said it was considering a substitute gift for those winners.