Article from category: Features
No Luxembourg boycott of 'Alice in Wonderland'
You may have heard the protests in various European countries regarding the boycott of Tim Burton's film 'Alice in Wonderland'. The good news is that Luxembourg is not part of this boycott.
Published on 01/03/2010 by Adam Walder | Read 3372 times.
Video: Alice in Wonderland Trailer
After much controversy and protest regarding Tim Burton’s latest film offering “Alice in Wonderland” and the shortened time between cinema showing and DVD release, it has been announced that it will be shown in Luxembourg and not boycotted as is the case in Belgium and Netherlands.
Alice will be showing at both Utopolis and Caramba cinemas and no doubt in other cinemas around the country. No showings timetable has yet been released for Luxembourg, but the avant-premiere is being shown in German at Ciné Belval on 4th March at 18:20.
Are you a tad confused as to what the fuss is all about regarding the release of Alice in Wonderland? The CEO of Utopia Group of cinemas, Nico Simon, sent us a communiqué clearly explaining the Alice situation and the shockwaves it has sent though the entire cinema industry.
DVD sales have seriously declined, and a solution that PICSOU (Walt Disney Studios), has come up with is a shorter time between cinema release and the first sale date of the DVD / BluRay version. PICSOU forget in this sense, that films (especially blockbusters) exist only thanks to cinema and the glamour and marketing that go with it.
It also ignores the overall interests of the entire sector, not only composed of major companies, but many producers and independent producers who depend on a career in the cinema.
It is destroying the trough from which it feeds.
Tim Burton's film is part of the latter. With the announcement that PICSOU studio have decided to leave Burton's latest film, "Alice in Wonderland" just 12 weeks after the cinema release of his production mostly in 3D (even though the 3D technology for DVD/BluRay is far from ready), many operators in Europe have decided to protest by not showing the film unless Disney revises its policy on DVD/BluRay release date.
These operators are not against DVD and other home new media technology. Quite the opposite in fact as they generate additional revenue for producers to make new films for cinema. The cinemas operators, many of whom have made significant investments, including digital projection and show films in unrivalled environments, are worried about reducing the income needed to balance economic incentive for some customers to wait for the video!
It is the cinema release that creates the added value of a film. The day when there will be no cinema, there will be more cinema films. We’ll be left with the likes of “Hannah Montana" and "Jonas Brothers" and other direct-to-DVD films.
The main operators in the Netherlands and Belgium (and in some other countries in Europe) decided to boycott the release of "Alice" if PICSOU does not change its strategy. The Belgian and Dutch part of the group Utopia have decided to participate in this movement.
In Luxembourg, the situation did not provoke the same effect for everyone. The view ofdifferent cinema operators varied and as a result the film will be released in 3D in at Utopolis and other cinemas.
Europe and its single market is not for tomorrow.
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