10 Films Cinemas Refused To Play (And Why)

6. Beasts Of No Nation

The Hateful Eight Kurt Russell Jennifer Jason Leigh
Netflix

Another victim of the conflict between Netflix and traditional movie theatres, harrowing war drama Beasts of No Nation was boycotted by several large chains including AMC, Regal, and Carmike for the same reason as The Irishman: a short theatrical window.

Netflix's plan for the film was the same as the Scorsese epic: they wanted it to have a quick run in cinemas so that it would be allowed to compete during awards season. However, the boycott relegated the movie to a tiny handful of theatres, something that greatly hurt its exposure, and in the end, it received a grand total of zero Oscar nominations (though Idris Elba did win a SAG award for his performance).

Chains didn't want to give the film any screens because they firmly believe in the model of a three-month theatrical window: that is, a movie comes out in cinemas, then hits home media a minimum of 90 days later. Films that don't adhere to this "rule" will struggle to gain a wide theatrical release on thousands of screens.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.