From The Hurt Locker to Alice in Wonderland: why theyre not coming to a cinema near you

Published: 6:58AM GMT twenty-three February 2010

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The 6 Bafta awards on Sunday for executive Kathryn Bigelow"s The Hurt Locker were richly deserved. This low-budget movie about a US bomb-disposal patrol in Baghdad is one of the majority thrilling, and relevant, drive-in theatre of new years impeccably acted, ideally paced, and shot with a vrit-style edginess that ideally fuses with the theme matter. In short, you are finished to feel square of the squad, and it"s an refreshing experience.

I contend this in box you didn"t conduct to catch Bigelow"s startling movie on the recover here last year because, by positively no error of your own, you competence well not have done. In fact, you"d be forgiven for frequency even carrying listened of this movie until dual days ago. After all, the worldwide sum was around �11 million, that is honestly pathetic.

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The point is, though, that of the 3,607 motion picture screens in the UK, The Hurt Locker non-stop last summer on only 103. Compare Avatar (directed, coincidentally, by Bigelow"s ex-husband James Cameron). This has right away knocked about Cameron"s own Titanic to turn the top grossing movie of all time, receiving some-more than �77 million in the UK alone. But when you take in to comment the actuality that it non-stop at some-more than 500 screens in Britain (not to discuss enjoying a worldwide selling bill reckoned to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars), this feat unexpected starts to see less amazing.

Now, the movie industry is, of course, only that: an industry. It has to have income to stay in existence, and thus needs to emanate drive-in theatre that people wish to see. It is flattering most a since these days that movie audiences are removing younger, and that Hollywood is merely catering to this market. And as for movie distributors in the UK well, aren"t they merely giving audiences What They Want?

Well, no. What British film-goers old and immature are regularly being since is big, dumb, "high-concept" (ie, low-concept) US blockbusters that are marketed and expelled to the rafters, and have to be. Why? Because distributors know that most of these drive-in theatre (with Avatar a probable but by no equates to clear exception) are rubbish, and that the open have taste. Once word of mouth kicks in and allege sheet sales peter out, their movie is probably pressed but tilt sufficient people in for the all-important opening weekend, and that doesn"t have a difference dual hoots.

A serve e.g. of the negligence with that UK film-goers are hold emerged yesterday. Alice in Wonderland the ultimate 3D spectacular from Hollywood idealist executive Tim Burton was due to be expelled this spring. But a brawl in between Disney and motion picture bondage Odeon and Vue equates to that two-fifths of Britain"s cinemas competence never show it.

Disney pronounced it longed for to recover Alice on DVD inside of twelve weeks of the melodramatic recover as against to the common seventeen in sequence to sell some-more DVDs. The Mouse House"s argument, apparently, is that the big-screen ad debate will be fresher in people"s minds, and there will additionally be fewer bandit copies around to eat in to the revenue. Unsurprisingly, the motion picture bondage are not at all happy about this.

While this is a graphic point from The Hurt Locker"s unsound UK release, it additionally reveals the motion picture chains" strong ridicule for the film-going public. Yes, Disney is seeking with standard beadiness at the own bottom line, and an progressing DVD recover competence in truth eat in to the chains" takings. But can the suitable greeting to this be to appropriate what competence infer a hugely grand square of party from underneath their audiences" noses?

A last word about The Hurt Locker. In those cinemas in the UK where it was released, it took a per-screen normal of something in the segment of �2,300. This is a large volume and speaks volumes: when people were since the possibility to see it, they did so, and probably told their friends about it, too. Film distributors in the UK competence do well to give audiences some-more of what they unequivocally wish to see.

Who knows they competence be really agreeably surprised.