Well, it would seem that Odeon aren’t as ‘Fanatical about Film’ as their logo might suggest and that it is indeed more about the bottom line as they’ve decided not to show one of the biggest movies of the year to make a point!

There were rumours a couple of weeks ago that big chain cinemas will be boycotting Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. This will be a major set back for the movie that has an all star cast which includes Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska Matt Lucas, Alan Rickman, and a whole host of other British stars.

Unfortunately the rumours were true as today, the UK’s biggest cinema chain, Odeon have confirmed that they will be boycotting the movie to “set a new benchmark”. The reason for the boycott is that usually, films are in the cinema and then, 18 weeks later, are released onto DVD giving them more time to sell tickets in the cinemas. Disney announced that there would only be a 12 week window between the release of the movie in the cinema until it was out on DVD. As you can see in this image to the right that Jon took, Supermarket chain Morrisons is already advertising the sale of the DVD and Blu ray and the movie isn’t even out in the cinema!

The BBC have said that Cineworld have reached a deal with Disney to show the movie so now we have to see if Vue follow Odeon’s example and decide to boycott it also. If they do, you’ll struggle to see the movie in a 3d cinema as combined, they control 95% of 3d screens. This is sad news for us, the consumer.

You can hear us discussing this on the latest HeyUGuys Mouth Off Podcast here.

As a sideline, Alice in Wonderland Royal World Premiere is on Thursday and HeyUGuys will be there bringing you all the info from the red carpet. You’ll also be able to watch the red carpet footage live on HeyUGuys as it will be streamed.

***Update – 17:47 GMT***

The BBC website has just been updated to announce that Vue are set to reach a deal with Disney to show Alice in Wonderland with details to be released shortly.