10 Films Cinemas Refused To Play (And Why)

5. Roma

Roma Poster
Netflix

Another excellent film that most people couldn't see in a theatre purely because it was also released on Netflix, awards season juggernaut Roma was turned down by AMC and Regal in the U.S. for - once again - having a short theatrical window.

While the movie did play on a couple of screens in order to secure its eligibility for the Academy Awards (and unlike Beasts of No Nation, Roma was a big hit with Oscar voters, taking home a handful of statues), it failed to secure a wide roll-out.

While that must have been disappointing for the filmmakers, Roma did at least tell us that great movies can still shine no matter where they're released, whether it's on a streaming platform, or on cinema screens around the world.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!