Odeon to boycott Alice in Wonderland

February 23, 2010 by | 3 Comments

alice in wonderland trailer ImageIf you’ve been following the Alice in Wonderland/UK cinemas situation over the past few weeks you will know that cinema chains in the UK were threatening to boycott Alice in Wonderland because of Disney’s plan to release the DVD 12 weeks after the theatrical release, instead of the usual 17 weeks window.

Yesterday it was announced that the 2nd largest cinema chain, Vue, would be releasing the film after striking a deal with Disney. However Odeon, the UK’s largest cinema chain, will not be releasing the film in the UK, Irish Republic or Italy. Considering Alice in Wonderland has strong British roots and is well known by all ages the film was expected to make around £40 million ($62 million) in the UK, so it’ll be interesting to see how this boycott will impact its box office return.

Luckily for me there are a number of different cinemas where I live so I won’t have any trouble seeing it, however I’m sure there will be a few poor souls who will have to travel that bit further to see Tim Burton’s wacky take on Wonderland.

Click here to check out Filmonic’s Alice in Wonderland gallery!

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  • tychard

    I may be being somewhat dense here, but why are Odeon so annoyed about Disney wanting to release the film on DVD earlier? Is it because they feel they'll lose money because people won't go to the cinema, they'll just wait to watch it on DVD instead. If that's the case boycotting the film seems to be shooting themselves in the foot surely. Anyone care to enlighten me?

  • http://filmonic.com Liam

    “Studios are trying to find ways to boost sales, and Disney has decided to reduce the DVD release for Alice in Wonderland from 17 weeks to 12. They say that they make 97% of their total box office in the first 8 weeks, so making consumers wait another two months before they can buy the DVD legitimately just presents the pirates with an “exclusive window.”

    The cinema chains on the other hand say that bringing forward the DVD release will reduce the audience appetite to see films on the big screen, which could lead to cinema closures.”

    http://filmonic.com/uk-cinemas-to-boycott-alice…

  • http://www.surfmarketing.co.uk/ Web Design Kent

    Good for Odeon. Disney is being naive if it thinks its move will somehow disuade those intent on illegally downloading or buying it for a quid from Chinese man in the pub.