An acid attack following a confrontation during a screening of the movie Straight Outta Compton has left a 27-year-old man with “potentially life-changing” injuries.
The victim had been watching the hip-hop biopic at Cineworld in Crawley, West Sussex.
When he left the cinema, he was approached in the car park and had acid thrown over him.
The victim, from Redhill, Surrey, was taken to East Surrey Hospital for treatment but because of "potentially life-changing injuries" from the corrosive liquid, he was transferred to the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead for specialist care.
A Sussex Police spokesman: "It is thought the incident may have started when the victim and another man, 29, also from Redhill, were watching Straight Outta Compton in the cinema."
Detective Sergeant Laura Diamond, of Crawley CID, said: "This was an isolated but nevertheless nasty and unprovoked assault.”
The movie Straight Outta Compton tells the story of the rise and fall of the hip-hop group NWA from Compton, California.
The suspected assailants are two white men in their late 20s or early 30s. One had dark short hair and beard and was wearing a bag across his shoulder. The other was wearing a white or light grey hoody and jeans. Both were in a dark-coloured Peugeot car. The attack happened between 1am and 1.30am on Sunday.