Like most Tarantino fans I was really looking forward to seeing his 8th movie "The Hateful 8" at my local Cineworld cinema.
Work and other commitments have meant that I only got around to trying to book my tickets at the weekend, only to find that the nearest cinema I could watch it is in Colchester. Now I love a Tarantino film but that’s a 40 minute drive for me!
I did a bit of digging and found that 3 large cinema chains in the UK, including Cineworld, will not be showing The Hateful 8 after failing to come to an agreement with the film’s distributor. Gutted!
So I guess I will have to get my Tarantino fix by staring at the 2 posters that we have in stock at iPosters and imagining what the film is like or by watching some of my favourites until the DVD is released. Tonight it will be Inglourious Basterds and maybe Kill Bill 1 & 2 at the weekend.
Pass the Nachos!
Update 27/01/2016
Our local cinema The Regal Theatre Stowmarket is to show the Hatful 8 on Friday 19th, Saturday 20th & Thursday 25th of February. Happy days!
Here the official statement from the UK distributor:
“Cineworld had made us aware that they were very unhappy that The Hateful Eight had been booked into the Odeon Leicester Square for an exclusive 70mm Ultra Panavision presentation, and specifically that they would therefore not be able to play the film at their Picturehouse Central venue.
Due to the special facilities required for the unique 70mm Ultra Panavision presentation we needed the largest theatre and screen possible in the West End and the Odeon Leicester Square was the natural choice. The technical elements and costs involved with this special presentation meant that this would need to be the exclusive West End venue.
The Odeon Leicester Square seats 1680 and Picturehouse Central only seats 344 so clearly this was not a viable alternative. Cineworld had every opportunity to book the film in their other cinemas across the country on the same basis as other exhibitors and declined to do so. This is despite the fact that there is no dispute over the financial terms for this release.
We feel very sorry for Cineworld’s customers and in particular their Unlimited cardholders who will be denied the chance to see the film at a Cineworld cinema using their Unlimited card - a result of this Picturehouse issue relating to a single London West End cinema.
As far as the general release is concerned we will be booking more sites with other exhibitors to compensate for Cineworld’s lack of support for a film that has already been given 5 stars and declared as Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece by The Guardian.
If Cineworld change their mind by tomorrow morning and decide to book the film in the proper way along the lines of the other exhibitors we would be happy for them to do so.”
