Odeon to boycott ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Confirmed

BBC have confirmed that Disney have failed to reach an agreement with Odeon - meaning the cinema chain are boycotting screenings of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland altogether, however Vue cinema's are said to be preparing an announcement that they will show the film despite the 12 week DVD release window... Here's the copy of a very quick conversation Peter and myself had over MSN when the news was breaking... Matt says: (19:36:30) alice in wonderland no go at Odeon cinemas Matt says: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8528820.stm P says: crikey P says: that covers a lot of the imax's P says: an awful lot Matt says: yup. its in 3-D too, and they were relying on that gimmick to make money P says: yea P says: in fact P says: the only imax's NOT in odeon are the ones in museums like bradford and science museum P says: i don't see how odeon can win here P says: a) they are going to lose millions of pounds of business b) alienate existing customers when they turn up expecting to see the movie P says: it'll barely be a dent in the profits for disney P says: if it was in america, i would probably be saying different, but the size of the uk market really doesn't give odeon - on their own - any pulling power here Matt says: i think they were worried about setting a precedent and thought Disney would cave in, but when Cineworld and Vue and the others agreed to show it - they were left on their own. Matt says: it needed all chains to boycott it, or least majority P says: yea P says: they are completely out on their own now P says: and themselves will have to cave in

Update: The Times reports that Disney has been able to strike a deal with Cineworld over the same DVD window issue in the U.K, agreeing to release Alice in Wonderland in the U.K. on March 5th as previously planned, but Vue & Odeon have yet to comment.

As the DVD market continues to shrivel in the face of rampant piracy, studios are scrambling to figure out how to maximize their profits from new releases. The logical step would be to acknowledge and anticipate the revenue streams available by embracing high speed streaming internet to deliver films to consumers. Of course, the film industry is as flexible and adjustable as a cracked-out elephant on ice skates, and they basically suffer from the lack of vision that effectively destroyed the music industry. One of the cornerstones of their "plan" to save DVD revenues is to release the DVD of a new feature 90 days after it bows theatrically. In theory, this would allow the DVD to benefit from the millions of dollars used to promote it in theaters, thereby keeping awareness of it sharp in the minds of consumers. We are far from that 90 day window at this point; the typical period of time between theatrical release and DVD release is approximately four months. Theater owners are understandably leery of this concept, since a plan like this would take successful films out of their auditoriums much earlier, cutting revenue for them. Disney is launching a first salvo in this war to alter traditional release methods with their announcement to theater owners that they will be releasing the upcoming Alice In Wonderland (05.03.10) on DVD three months after the release of the film. According to Variety's pay-walled article, three Danish theater chains are planning to boycott he film if such a schedule is enforced by the studio. Disney has made it clear that it will move forward with its plan to get to 90 days after release. It should be interesting to see who yields in this titanic tug of war. Meanwhile, tens of millions of people will continue to watch films for free on the internet two days after they are released theatrically, and nobody will make a dime. When are the studios going to embrace the new technology that threatens to kill them off if they don't?