It’s been reported that UK cinemas (Odeon, Vue & Cineworld) may not show the new Tim Burton flick Alice in Wonderland, due to a disagreement with Disney the distributor behind the film.

Disney want to shorten the time it takes to release a film at the cinema to its DVD release. At present the interval from movie theatre to DVD is 17 weeks, Disney want to shorten this to 12 weeks.

So what does that means for consumers, well we get those films a few weeks quicker. What does that mean for Disney? They get more money in their pockets earlier a few weeks earlier. The cinema chains aren’t liking this idea, they want to keep the current interval between the releases as they feel this will reduce cinema goers appetites to see films at the cinema.

Just so you know these three cinema chains combined represent 95% of the UK’s 3D screens –  that’s an awful lot of cash Disney will be missing out on if Disney flicks don’t make it to the cinema. Disney distributors and the cinema chains are currently in discussions to resolve the situation.

So were you planning on going to see Alice in Wonderland at the cinemas upon its release from March 5th? Some have suggested that if UK cinema goers cannot see Alice on the big screen they may just turn to piracy instead.  Let’s hope they can resolve the situation.