Cineworld backs off from Alice in Wonderland boycott
Cineworld has broken ranks with the UK's other major exhibitors to announce that it will screen Alice in Wonderland, after all.
But Vue and Odeon are still set to boycott Tim Burton's 3D film, because of a dispute with Disney over the release window.
Disney originally wanted to release the film on DVD 12 weeks after the theatrical opening, rather than the industry standard of 17 weeks. After negotiations with exhibitors in recent days, the studio has agreed to stretch the window to 13 weeks, which was enough to persuade Cineworld to sign up.
Alice in Wonderland comes out in the UK on 5 March. Cineworld, which has a 24% share of UK box office, will play the film on over 150 screens.
"As leaders in 3D, we did not want the public to miss out on such a visual spectacle. As the success of Avatar has shown, there is currently a huge appetite for the 3D experience," said Cineworld's chief executive Steve Wiener.
Disney says it simply wants the flexibility to release certain movies earlier on DVD in some countries. In the case of Alice in Wonderland, it wants to get the film out on DVD before the World Cup.
Cineworld's climbdown shocked other exhibitors in the UK and in other European countries where Disney is also trying to shorten the window for Alice in Wonderland. Cinema owners in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy have declared their intention to boycott the film.
An Odeon spokesperson commented, "As a result of Disney's insistence on reducing at short notice the theatrical window from 17 weeks to 12 weeks on a major 3D title, regrettably with limited availability of 3D screens we have been left with no viable means of scheduling and promoting Alice In Wonderland."
One cinema executive said, "Everybody was completely caught off guard by Cineworld. I've had calls from the Belgians and the Dutch asking what happened, how could they do this?
"We're probably not going to play this movie, and it's really going to hurt us a lot. It would have been one of our biggest movies of the year. Disney talks about wanting flexibility, but if every studio releases two or three films a year this way, that's 70% of our business, and the only thing that's certain is that we're not going to benefit."
Cineworld is a public company, whereas Odeon and Vue are privately owned. That may have made it harder for Cineworld to take a tough line and sacrifice its likely earnings from Alice In Wonderland.
Source: Guardian Online