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By Neil Hawkins
Senior Staff Writer
Friday, 26 February 2010
First published 18 February 2010
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Update: Following negotiations with Disney, Cineworld, Vue and Odeon have now agreed to show 'Alice in Wonderland'. It is thought that Disney has made significant concessions to protect the theatrical window in the future.
DVD rental subscribers will get Alice in Wonderland sooner after Disney offers a "take it or leave it" deal to cinemas shortening the length of time the movie plays on cinema screens.
Disney is facing down the UK's biggest cinema chains - Odeon, Vue and Cineworld - who are all threatening to boycott the UK release of the film.
The studio aims to cut the length of time the film will be in cinemas from 17 to 12 weeks in order to benefit from lucrative sales and rental revenues for DVD and Blu-ray discs.
The dispute has already seen Odeon and Vue cut all publicity and trailers for the film from their venues.
Good news for DVD Rental
This is good news for DVD rental subscribers whether they can't wait to get their hands on new releases or, after going to the movies, they can't wait to get their hands on a rental copy of the DVD to watch it again.
In the future, movie buffs who love to rent and buy DVDs look set to benefit even further.
Earlier DVD releases
There is a growing feeling amongst many major studios that the length of time between cinema release and DVD release needs to come down to help DVD sales.
Disney in particular has long been aiming to cut the length of time that its movies are in cinemas, most recently attempting the move with animated adventure 'Up' before Christmas.
That time the theatre's threats to pull the 3D blockbuster, 'A Christmas Carol' in retaliation worked, and the studio backed down.
However, this time the studio looks to have strengthened its resolve.
Studio bottom line
By pulling the film from screens earlier studio boss Bob Iger hopes to maximise the company's profits through increased DVD and Blu-ray revenues.
An earlier DVD release also helps to prevent piracy of the movie online.
The Tim Burton blockbuster Alice in Wonderland was filmed via a combination of traditional live acting and 3D capture technology.
Cinemas therefore argue that they provide the best viewing experience, citing the massive recent success of the 3D version of 'Avatar'.
With a cast including Johnny Depp, Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman and Christopher Lee the movie will surely be a hit with British moviegoers and Disney risks losing out on a slice of up to £40 million in revenue if the boycott goes ahead.
Film vs Football?
Despite this, Disney is sticking to its guns claiming that this summer's World Cup will mean less people will visit the cinema to watch movies.
But cinema bosses argue that this is nonsense as it is exactly this type of movie which families will go to see to get away from football matches which dominate TV schedules.
With the vast improvement of home cinema systems there are worries among industry chiefs that the move towards quicker DVD releases will see an increased decline in bums on seats at UK cinemas, especially in smaller towns where cinemas are harder to maintain.
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