The Hateful Eight not to be shown at two major UK cinema chains

With all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the fast-approaching UK release of Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight on January 8, which will be showing in a special 70mm ‘roadshow’ format at select sites, some significant developments have surfaced: the film will not be showing at either major UK cinema chain Cineworld, or smaller chain Curzon. Firstly, Cineworld had this to say on their Twitter page:

@glenfandango Hey Glen, sadly we haven’t been able to come to an agreement with the distributor which means it won’t be shown at Cineworld.

— Cineworld Cinemas (@cineworld) January 4, 2016

They also stated that this was a ‘joint decision between ourselves and the distributor.’ And now Curzon Cinemas have also followed suit:

@curzoncinemas @curzonsheffield wow, set to fail then. Not showing at Cineworld or Curzon!

— Barney Tabasco (@Barney_Tabasco) January 5, 2016

On this occasion, the distributor has chosen to screen the film only in 70mm in the West End and in selected venues nationwide. (2/2)

— Curzon (@CurzonCinemas) January 5, 2016

The roadshow run at the Odeon Leicester Square seems to be the main player here – and it’s not surprising that Tarantino and the Weinsteins are really pushing for the exclusivity of the 70mm performance. However, it isn’t clear why Cineworld (and as a probable result, why Picturehouse – who own Cineworld) aren’t showing the film; could it be they want to continue focusing larger screens on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, to capitalise on that film’s snowballing success? Although The Hateful Eight could perform well at the box office (a lot of people turn out for the name ‘Tarantino’ alone), it still wouldn’t even make a fraction of that movie’s take, sadly.

It seems a shame that a lot of moviegoers are going to have to travel further – and potentially pay more – if they want to see The Hateful Eight when it’s released in the UK this Friday, January 8. Then again, that could be exactly what the filmmakers want.