On Monday, Disney informed UK exhibitors that they would be shrinking the theatrical run of “Alice In Wonderland” from 17 weeks to 12 weeks in an effort to maximize revenue from May school holiday while avoiding the dip in theater attendance that will occur once the World Cup starts in June.
Late yesterday, it was revealed that Disney plan to do the same thing on this side of the ocean, cutting the theatrical run from a planned 16 weeks to about 13 weeks. While there are no major school holidays in that space, and the World Cup still a niche sporting event in the United States, the move is seen as Disney trying to maximize their bottom line and start generating revenue from additional sources such as VOD and DVD/BluRay sooner rather than later.
As expected, exhibitors are not happy that one of the spring season’s biggest tentpoles will intentionally be yanked out of theaters early. While studios and cinemas usually split profits at a roughly 55/45 ratio, studios often reward exhibitors with a greater piece of the pie if the film goes for a longer than usual run. With plans to take the picture out of theaters at a pre-determined date, there is some speculation that Disney may make the profit sharing pot a bit more attractive in order to keep exhibitors happy (though some UK cinema owners are saying they may drop the film entirely…..which we think is unlikley).
So, what does this mean? Not much really. In the end, “Alice In Wonderland” will still be hanging around theaters for about 3 months anyway. Anyone who wants to see the film will have more than ample opportunity to do so with exhibitors only losing a few end-of-run weeks that usually aren’t that profitable anyway.The real question in all this is if Disney will truly shrink the window between when the film exits theaters and when it starts appearing on VOD and DVD/Blu. But considering that Disney usually plans their bigger DVD releases around holidays, we would be very surprised to see “Alice In Wonderland” on DVD/Blu before the fall, however, a VOD premiere before then does seem more likely.