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Megaplex Theatres' cancellation of a scheduled engagement of the gay romance "Brokeback Mountain" in Sandy is being felt as far away as Australia, where Heath Ledger, one of the movie's stars, called it "immature."

"It's all just really unnecessary," Ledger, in Melbourne for the film's Australian premiere, told Australia's Nine National News. "Personally I don't think the movie is [controversial], but I think maybe the Mormons in Utah do. I think it's hilarious and very immature of a society."

Ledger's comments were the latest in a flurry of reactions, both in Utah and around the world, since the Larry H. Miller-owned theater yanked the movie from its schedule Thursday. Articles about the snub have made international headlines. NBC's Jay Leno and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann joked about it on the air Monday night. An Ohio movie critic wrote that he could "sniff bigotry from approximately 2,000 miles away."

Miller has said nothing publicly about pulling the provocative film from his Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons. Nor has he even acknowledged the decision was his. But attention has focused on him because the announcement of "Brokeback Mountain's" cancellation came less than two hours after Miller was informed of the movie's subject matter Thursday afternoon by a KCPW-FM news reporter. Since then Miller has not returned repeated calls seeking comment.

It's hard to predict the ripple effects, if any, of the theater's decision to pull the film. But a Utah gay-rights organization is encouraging its 2,500 members to shun Miller's businesses.

"Vote with your hard-earned dollars!" wrote Valerie A. Larabee, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Community Center of Utah, in an e-mail to GLBTCC members Monday. "Consider the first of many important steps and avoid the following list of Larry H. Miller holdings in Utah as you look for places to spend."

Larabee stopped short of calling for a boycott of Miller's more than 50 businesses, which include the movie theater chain, a string of car dealerships and the Utah Jazz. But she labeled her e-mail campaign a "Community Call to Action" and urged members to show Miller that "treating queer people as 'controversial' . . . is a poor business move."

"Brokeback Mountain," which opened in Utah Dec. 28, is a critically acclaimed drama about two Wyoming cowboys who maintain a secret romance for two decades. Considered a front-runner for the Academy Awards, it's playing this week at four theaters in Utah.

The Megaplex at Jordan Commons is the only theater in the nation to cancel a run of "Brokeback Mountain," said Jack Foley, head of distribution for Focus Features, which released the film. A theater in Poulsbo, Wash., did not show the film as advertised this week, but that was because of a miscommunication between the buyer and the theater manager, not for reasons of morality, Foley said.

"We were taken by surprise," Foley said of the Jordan Commons episode. Focus received no explanation from Megaplex Theatres for the film's cancellation, he said. Asked whether he might agree to book "Brokeback Mountain" at one of Miller's other theaters, Foley said no.

"You can't do business with people who break their word," he said. Foley added that Focus Features, which distributes art films such as "Brokeback" and the current "Pride and Prejudice," might reconsider whether to book its films into Miller's Megaplex theaters in the future.

Utah talk-show host Doug Wright, who reviews movies for KSL Radio, said that were he in Miller's position he would not have pulled the movie. But he defended Miller's right to book whatever films he chooses. "It's his theater," he said. "His is a movie store. And he's perfectly within his rights to carry what he wants in his store."