Trouble in Wonderland

The Odeon chain has refused to screen the new Johnny Depp-Anne Hathaway film, Alice in Wonderland, at its cinemas in the UK, Ireland and Italy, because the studio wants to reduce the film's cinema-only window from 17 weeks to 12 weeks. The Disney Studio wants to release the film on DVD in May, and the cinema chain says this would set a precedent. Disney says that in some cases, the window is too long and there is increased piracy between the time films stop screening at cinemas and are available on DVD. This showdown between a cinema chain and a distributor is not the first, nor will it be the last -- and it has ramifications beyond Europe and beyond the film industry. In this rapidly moving world, many consumers want to dictate how, when and where they see a TV program or movie, or listen to music or some other broadcast. Quite simply, the people who produce a work want to make as much money as they can, and increasingly they will take the product directly to the market that will allow them to do that.