No The Dark Knight Rises Midnight Screenings in the UK

In news that comes extremely unwelcomed in these parts, Odeon Cinemas have confirmed that there will be NO midnight screenings of Chris Nolan's final Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" in the UK. The surprising decision, especially since "The Avengers", the final "Harry Potter" movies, the recent "Twilight"sagas and the huge success of "The Dark Knight" midnight screenings in 2008, has been made by Warner Bros over a paranoid fear of the ending leaking internationally. UKScottCinemas, who initially broke the news, said this;

We've just been informed that there will be no midnight shows of 'The Dark Knight Rises' at the request of Warner. This is because the film is opening as a day-and-date release with the US. The first permitted shows are midnight on Fri 20th July in the US, which because of the time zone makes that about 5am here. We won't be doing 5am shows, but hope to have booking available soon.- UKScottCinemas

Odeon Cinemas then confirmed this; So the earliest screenings for "The Dark Knight Rises" are likely to be around 10 or 11am in the UK on Friday July 20th, unless cinemas decide to open a little earlier that day. I imagine some chains might even decide to open at 5am if there is a demand for it, who knows? As someone who attended a midnight screening for "The Dark Knight" four years ago which I had to pre-order my tickets for over a week in advance and the showing was PACKED to the rafters (and I even got two posters for the privilege of turning up), I'm gutted that I won't be able to see the film this way. In some ways this delay screws UK readers from looking online on that Friday for fear of stumbling across something they shouldn't as they count down the hours at work before they can go see it. But, I will say this... in the UK we got "The Dark Knight" almost a week after our US friend in 2008. The first midnight screenings were on the Wednesday night after the Friday opening in the US... so as much as it sucks there are no midnight screenings, this is way better than having to wait those long extra days to see the film. "The Dark Knight Rises" is due July 20th, 2012.