Theater Owners Reject Post-oscar Screening Of Hurt Locker

Despite winning the Oscar for best film and best director Sunday night, Summit Entertainment officials have had little success trying to persuade movie chains to give it a second chance in their theaters, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Wednesday). The largest chain, Regal Theaters, won't show it at all, the newspaper said. Most cite a policy of not booking movies that have already been released on DVD. In its initial run, The Hurt Locker earned just $14.7 million domestically, the lowest gross for any best-film winner in Oscar history. On the other hand, the film is performing strongly on DVD, selling 780,000 DVDs and electronic downloads. In addition, it has counted 5.4 million rentals. In the U.K., the Press Association wire service reported today that in the first 24 hours after the Oscars, rentals of The Hurt Locker shot up 117 percent on the online DVD rental service Lovefilm.

10/03/2010