Rambo Will Not Be Shown At Odeon Cinemas In The Uk

Rambo1Well this is a strange turn of events. It appears the UK theatre chain Odeon has said no thank you to Rambo and will not be showing the film in theaters as expected. We get wind of this story thanks to the professionals at Variety:

Odeon, the U.K.’s biggest exhib chain, will not show Sony’s new release “Rambo” at its theaters this weekend, citing undisclosed “commercial reasons.” Odeon is tight-lipped on the decision not to play the franchise sequel. “Owing to commercial reasons, Odeon has made the decision not to screen the film ‘Rambo’ across its cinemas in the U.K.,” said a statement. “As the U.K.’s largest cinema chain, Odeon offers its guests a wide range of film genres to appeal to many different audiences. As such the decision not to screen ‘Rambo’ will free up screens to show alternative popular new films such as ‘Jumper,’ ‘Be Kind Rewind’ and ‘Juno’.”

An exhib source told Variety that Odeon’s decision to pull “Rambo” must be “over a disagreement over the terms. But to us, the film rentals rate seems reasonable enough for a release such as ‘Rambo.’ ”

I am not sure what the theatre situation is like in the UK, but I sincerely hope that this disagreement will not hinder people from seeing Rambo. With luck, enough competitive chains will be able to pick up the slack, and everyone who wants to see this orgy of glorious violence will be able to do so. To my friends in the UK – Will this move by Odeon hurt people’s chances to see this film on a small or large scale?

After talking to some theatre management it’s apparent that they make more money selling concessions than they do from showing the movie itself. This can only go on for so long before the theaters start to get pissed. I think this move was intentional, inevitable and I would guess that we may start to see more of the same; followed by bargaining agreements.

Odeon is remaining hush, hush on the issue, but the only reason they would pull a stunt like this (imho) is to fight for a greater revenue share of the films shown in their theatre chain. Sadly it will be the movie fans that are inconvenience most; and it is my hope that this issue gets resolved before it gets worse.

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19 thoughts on “Rambo Will Not Be Shown At Odeon Cinemas In The Uk

  1. Well done Odeon your screwing this up big time you moan all the time about Movie Piracy but then you don’t launch a huge blockbuster. So what are people going to do to watch the big blockbuster if all they have is a Odeon? Well i cannot imagine they are going to travel a hour or more to their next town to watch it when it would be quicker to download a pirate copy then drive to the cinema!

    Only person Odeon is screwing over on this one this themselves thats my opinion anyway!

  2. Having seen this movie in a vastly superior Cineworld cinema, I believe it to be “The greatest War Movie ever committed to film”. That Odeon aren`t showing it is their loss. I urge all cinema goers to boycott Odeon cinemas for showing tripe like “Jumper”, “Resi Evil 4”, “Insert any George Clooney movie” etc. Truly, “Rambo” is unlike any war movie you have ever seen: realism, great screenplay and direction. Mr Stallone has provided us a cinematic gift and should be commended for his work

  3. Frankly if you’re disappointed about not being able to see the new Rambo movie,then I actually feel sorry for you…I thought Doug had better taste than that too…

  4. I think the reason is that theyre being anti-american and anti-war. Ands theyre probably offended by the ultra violence.

    This seems like about politics to me rather than commercial reasons. Doesnt sound like a legitimate excuse. If it was a small movie without much potential I could understand it, but this movie probably would have been #1 or near #1.

  5. A lot of people seem to be thinking they’ve refused to show it because it’s too ‘adult’, but i don’t think that’s the case.

    As Tom said, i think it’s because Sony is charging more than Odeon is willing to spend for it, so they passed. It’s just business. There is an independant cinema near me that isn’t showing it either, and they probably operate on even smaller profit margins than Odeon.

  6. erm perhaps fine if you live in a major city but if you don’t and Odeon is your local then you are kind of screwed. I only have the options of an Odeon or an Empire. Fortunately the latter is playing it.

    Am really curious as to what the actual reasons are to this. I’ve never heard of a drop at the last mo or is this late news.

  7. I didn’t even realise until I looked at the message board on the imdb. I saw the film tonight at an Empire cinema. It annoys me that a chain would ban a film that is at least aimed at an adult market instead of bland rom-coms and videogame adaptations. There are people in England that are over the age of 15 that want to watch movies, we’re called adults and we have more disposable income than the kids you are pandering to.

  8. Odeon the biggest chain in England? Personally I’d have gone with Showcase or Cineworld, myself, but then again I prefer the tiny Commodore Cinema in Aberystwyth for films (One screening a day, £3.50 for a seat, £1.50 for minstrels and a pepsi).

    And to think, cinemas complaining about the terms for films on the same day that the government suggests an investigation into food and drink prices at cinemas. Looks like it’s going to be a happy day for the consumer, then…

  9. Again agreeing with Leon – I didn’t even realise that Odeon was the biggest cinema chain in England, I would have guessed Cineworld. But then again, its been getting terrible reviews over here, I saw it last week (in Romania – with some very bizarre translations in the subtitles)and thought that it was rubbish. Rambo ‘ran’ like a constipated ape for 5 mins and then stood behind a gun for half an hour just shooting.

    Much more interesting is ‘Son of Rambo’

    Still I live in an area where the 3 chains are quite close and big films tend to be split around Vue, Cineworld and Odeon – for example Juno is showing only on one chain, Cloverfield only on another and The bank job is only on another (maybe this is common everywhere – ignore my ignorance!) so maybe it was just decided that only 2 chains would show the movie?

  10. Wonder if this is because Sony see it as a big money film (and are charging as such) but Odeon don’t because of the 18 rating (most R films are rated 15 or 18 over here, with 18 being reserved for more extreme films and being pretty rare nowadays).

    How times have changed if this is the case – not just the greenlighters but even the cinemas fear a proper action film because we’re so used to not getting them anymore :(

  11. Agreeing with Leon, there are ample other alternatives, but it’s still pretty inconvenient & silly. It does narrow it down to maybe 70% of the multiplexes, maybe less … meaning people may have to have the drive to go out of their way to see it. I just saw it & it’s worth the effort!!

    Woman: “What about you?”
    Rambo to the Schoolboy “Give me the Claymore”
    Rambo to the Woman “I’ll be okay” :)

  12. Odeon is a large cinema chain but there are other options out there, such as Vue and Cineworld, if people really want to go and see it.

    Its also possible that people who REALLY want to see it will have already seen it by other means, as its already been out for a month in most places.

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