The Wachowski siblings’ new movie “Jupiter Ascending” was shown at this year’s Sundance Film Festival during a special "secret screening." The Channing Tatum- and Mila Kunis-led mass-market movie debuted Tuesday to a crowd of mostly highbrow moviegoers, making it the strangest screening venue for a film of its kind.

Variety originally reported that “Jupiter Ascending” would be this year’s “secret screening,” the title that last year went to the controversial Shia LaBeouf film “Nymphomaniac.” The outlet reported that theatergoers knew they were in for something strange when they were handed 3-D glasses as they arrived at the Egyptian Theater in Park City, Utah.

Although it’s now been seen by an audience ahead of its Feb. 6 release date, its showing at Sundance did not technically count as the film’s premiere. Neither the directors nor the actors were in attendance. Critics were not invited to the screening either.

"Jupiter Ascending," which stars Mila Kunis as an unknowing princess and Channing Tatum as a super-soldier tasked with keeping her safe from an oncoming threat, was a decidedly strange choice given the Sundance Film Festival’s typical crowd. Most who attend the event are fans of the indie movie genre, out to see what low-budget art films will prosper this year. Warner Bros.' choice to debut what originally was meant to be a summer blockbuster in that forum was jarring to many who experienced it.

“The Sundance context is weird. There were so many people in the audience scoffing and sneering. They are forgetting they are watching a movie targeted primarily to teenage boys. I’m sure those 15-year-old boys, and hopefully girls, will like it,” an attendee named Neville Kiser told Variety after admitting he personally enjoyed the film.

Unfortunately for the Andy and Lana Wachowski, who gained fame in the early 2000s with “The Matrix” trilogy, the crowd’s general response to the film wasn’t nearly as generous as Kiser's. Customarily there is applause once a movie’s credits roll at the festival – “Jupiter Ascending” reportedly closed to a deafening silence from the Sundance attendees. Some went as far as to walk out before the movie had finished. Many were quick to take to Twitter to express their distaste with the choice:

Some were struck by the sparse attendance of Sundance visitors, who couldn't even fill the 300-seat theater.

One poked fun at the premiere using a joke from the Oscar-nominated indie-film "The Imitation Game."

Others were upset by the inappropriate setting for debuting a film like this.

As previously reported, the film was pushed from its original premiere date of July 18, 2014, to this February. According to The Wrap, the change was due to the film’s intensive visual effects, which its source claimed would not have been ready in time for a summer release. But the timing of the science fiction film’s release also let it avoid some seriously stiff competition in the summer. Given the film’s poor reception at Sundance, it looks like this might end up working out in its favor.

"Jupiter Ascending" also stars Sean Bean and Eddie Redmayne. It hits theaters everywhere Feb. 6.

RELATED STORIES