LIFE ISN’T ALWAYS MAGICAL FOR DISNEY

Yesterday saw the much-anticipated premiere of Tim Burton’s new movie: Alice in Wonderland.

Every premiere comes as a relief for the director after years of hard work but this one in particular could have had a bitter start with Odeon, the largest cinema chain in the UK, threatening to boycott its release in protest against Disney planning to release the DVD just three months after the cinema opening.  Vue and Cineworld followed at first but soon broke the ranks leaving Odeon alone.

Despite being a huge fan of Disney, Burton (and obviously Johnny Depp), I understand how cinemas can be outraged after spending massive costs on digital technology. 

3D equipment now brings a whole new theatre experience and added to the recession, cinema ticket sales have significantly increased.  It’s not hard to imagine though that some people will be more than happy to cut on this spending if the DVD is available soon after the cinema release.  Disney’s argument is all about combating piracy – if an additional month will affect the box-office takings, I doubt that it will have a real effect on illegal downloads.

No details have been given regarding the agreement which was only reached hours before the premiere but we can only imagine more issues arising between studios and cinemas given the millions of pounds linked to 3D technology, the increasing demand for it and the pressure to reduce the time between cinema and DVD releases.

Disney is still trying to impose in the US, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium – more should follow.