Odeon and UCI Cinemas, the largest movie theater chain in Europe, said Monday that it will refuse to screen Walt Disney's upcoming Alice in Wonderland in the U.K., Ireland, and Italy. It had previously indicated that it would withdraw the film from its U.K. theaters. The movie chain is battling Disney over the studio's plans to release a DVD of the film four weeks earlier than usual. In a statement, the company said, "The proposed reduction in the window on a high profile 3D title like Alice In Wonderland undermines the investment made [in digital and 3D projection technology] and will inevitably set a new benchmark, leading to a 12 week window becoming rapidly standard in the U.K. for the majority of film titles." (Several bootleg copies of Alice are already circulating online via BitTorrent sites.) Disney said later that it is continuing to have "active conversations" with U.K. theater chains, and several industry analysts predicted that the issue will be resolved, probably in Disney's favor, before the film opens this weekend. However, the London Times observed today that this is "the last day that a compromise can realistically be reached, because cinemas must start allowing customers to make advance bookings for films."

23/02/2010