Theaters Planning To Join Boycott of Alice In Wonderland 3D??

Sometimes, folks, I can’t shake the feeling that I’M the one going down the rabbit hole the more I hear about Alice In Wonderland 3D.

Just a few days after getting the earth-shaking announcement that theatergoers were looking to lead a boycott against Alice In Wonderland 3D, imagine my stunned surprise to hear that even the theaters were planning to boycott–as in, they WOULDN’T SHOW IT.

And it’s not just SOME theaters either–the numbers are both preposterous and wholly accurate.  The word is that as many as eighty five percent of all theaters in the Netherlands, along with top chains in Italy and the United Kingdom are all planning to refuse to show Alice In Wonderland 3D.

The reason?  The recent word out from Disney that they want theaters to cut the amount of time they show the movie in order to speed up the release to the home video market stands as the biggest reason.  With theater incomes already stretched thin by the continuing poor economy, theaters need every nickel they can lay hands on.  And with releases stretched thin, the time theaters have to actually make money off the films is shrinking along with it. Most theaters don’t actually make much money on the tickets they show in the opening days of a film’s release–that money goes to the studios to pay film rent.

Thus, the theaters are issuing their own ultimatum to studios: stop screwing with our livelihoods or we don’t show your movies any more.

Will this affect the course of the theater industry?  Or will our home theater be the only theater that counts any more?  Good questions both…only time will tell.