Yesterday the L.A. Times reported that theaters owned by Regal Entertainment would be pulling marketing materials for Iron Man 3 from their theaters. Apparently, the reason is that Disney has requested theaters to give them a larger share of Iron Man 3 ticket sales, and some theaters have decided to play with fire and buck at their request. Fans have been commenting recently about the fact that they haven’t been able to pre-order Iron Man 3tickets, so we decided to investigate.
We contacted managers at Regal, as well as Cinemark, and both have stated that they will not be showing Iron Man 3 in their theaters “as of now.”
I’m sure this will all work out and blow over, but that seems just a little bit crazy. On the one hand, we already know that theaters’ percentage of ticket sales are kind of low and that’s why they gouge you on the popcorn and drinks so much. On the other hand, the theaters profits are basically driven by the food and drink so if they don’t play along, and if Disney doesn’t play along, EVERYONE looses.