Cinema says church did not object to ‘50 Shades of Grey’

The owners of a cinema in Buncrana, Co Donegal, have rubbished a press report that the Catholic Church leaned on it not to show 50 Shades of Grey which is due to be released shortly.

A front page article in the Inishowen Independent suggested the cinema, which is leased from a premises owned by the parish in Buncrana, had refused to show the film because of its sexual content.

However, the cinema owners have posted an update on its Facebook page stating that there is a more prosaic reason for not showing what is likely to be the one of the most popular films of the year.

The statement read: "The real reason we aren't showing 50 Shades of Grey is because the distributor didn't give it to us! Unfortunately as a small community-run cinema we don't have the capacity to run 4 shows a day, 7 a days a week! Anything else you hear is made up!"

The hall is leased from Buncrana parish.

Parish priest Fr Francis Bradley said the first he heard about it was in The Inishowen Independent.

“I don’t know the operating of the cinema at all,” he said. “It’s a free world in which people make decisions themselves. The parish would have an interest in what would happen there, but the cinema makes its own decisions.”

However, Fr Bradley said he did not intend to see the film himself.

“It is not something that I would recommend. There is enough violence in the world without people indulging in more violence. If you are asking my recommendations, I’d say no.”

Fifty Shades of Grey goes on release on February 14th.