BRITISH CINEMA CHAIN CONFIRMS WONDERLAND BOYCOTT
TIM BURTON’s new blockbuster ALICE IN WONDERLAND will be given a limited = release in Britain after bosses at the country’s biggest cinema chain vot= ed to ban it from their screens.
Executives at Odeon, which owns 107 cinemas in the U.K. and Ireland, ha= ve decided to boycott Burton’s 3D picture after plans were announced to l= aunch the movie on DVD just three months after it hits theatres.
Odeon chiefs, along with bosses at Vue and Cineworld, had called for th= e film - starring Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway - to be given the standar= d 17-week gap before it was made available for home viewing.
An Odeon spokesperson says, "The negative impact on cinema attendance t= hat such a reduction in the window will have will threaten the continued = existence of many cinemas, especially the smaller and medium-sized cinema= s. (It would) set a new benchmark, leading to a 12-week window becoming r= apidly standard." Company bosses refused to back down and have voted in favour of a ban, = so fans will be unable to watch Alice In Wonderland on Odeon screens in t= he U.K., the Irish Republic and Italy. Executives at Vue and Cineworld ha= ve reportedly agreed a deal with Disney chiefs to show the movie.
The film is also facing a boycott in Holland, with many movie theatre o= wners in the Netherlands refusing to show the picture if the early home r= elease goes ahead.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
