At first, it was a very nice Lewis Carrol‘s adventure story that we all grew up with. Than, director Tim Burton decided to make kind of magical and imaginative twist on some of the most beloved stories of all time.
So, we got the chance to watch young lady Alice, while she returns to this fairy-tale world, trying to find her true destiny and, by the way, with her childhood friends, end the Red Queen’s reign of terror. Who would miss these adventures of Alice, knowing that the role of Mad Hatter belongs to Johnny Depp?!
So, everything started pretty well. The Walt Disney company had a lot of reasons to be satisfied, but in the same time, theatres were hoping for exactly the same thing, since we all know that normally, movies play in first-run theaters for up to 16 weeks.
But, at one moment Disney decided to cut the gap between the cinema release of Alice In Wonderland and the DVD release from 17 weeks to 12 weeks. And so the trouble between Disney and cinema chains in the UK officially started.
On Monday we heard that the largest cinema chain in UK – Odeon – will have to boycott Burton’s movie, because, as they said: “Odeon/UCI has invested considerable sums of money, especially in UK, over the past 12 months to install digital projection systems in its cinemas. The proposed reduction in the window on a high-profile 3D title like Alice in Wonderland undermines the investment made.”
That sounded like a good explanation, so, as we all guessed, the main problem was, as always, money. So, it was about right time for third side to show up, because the truth is that financial losses would be minimized if UK exhib Vue, the third-largest circuit, plays the film.
Cineworld, the second-largest circuit in UK, has already announced it will carry Alice. Seems like that could be a good solution for Disney, but not for Odeon, huh? And then, Thursday came, and miracle happened!
They finally agreed, and the show is ready! European multiplex chain Odeon and Disney resolved their dispute over the release in UK, Ireland and Italy of Alice in Wonderland.
That sounded like some very well-done commercial for both parts!
There you go. Negotiations were still taking place behind the scenes, resulting in today’s announcement of a compromise.
Show must go on, lucky thing they remembered it! And fans of this wonderland adventure in UK now don’t have any reason to be concern. Go out, and have fun guys!
Where does this 16 week rule come from?
Yeah, who the heck wants to wait 16 weeks for a movie to be released to dvd and blu ray for 17 weeks?. 12 weeks is 100 times better anyways!, because that way we get the dvd and/or blu ray sooner, which is way better!.