"IN CINEMAS now," declares the advertising for Sex and the City, but the movie based on the hit TV series will not be playing at many Irish cinemas because of a long-running distribution disagreement.
As a result, the heavily hyped film which opened in Ireland yesterday, will not be released in any cities and towns where the only cinemas are operated by the Ward Anderson group. These include Athlone, Mullingar, Dundalk, Tullamore, Tralee and Killarney. Fashionistas and fans of the series in those areas will have to travel to see the film.
The London-based company, Entertainment Film Distributors, owns the distribution rights to Sex and the Cityin the UK and Ireland.
"Entertainment are refusing to supply us," Paul Ward of the Ward Anderson group said yesterday. "We are sorry that our customers cannot see the film at our cinemas, but there's nothing we can do about it."
Ward Anderson had been the Irish agents for Entertainment Film Distributors for 37 years, he said, but as a result of a disagreement, they have not supplied films to Ward Anderson for the past three years. Mr Ward declined to comment on the disagreement. Entertainment Film Distributors did not respond to an inquiry from The Irish Times.
Sex and the Citywill be released in the US tomorrow. While it is playing at most of the multiplexes in Dublin, it is not showing at Ward Anderson's flagship, the Savoy on O'Connell Street, nor at their complexes in Santry and Dún Laoghaire.
Meanwhile, rival chain UCI was cashing in, announcing an extra 1,000 seats for screenings of the film yesterday. UCI said it was the first time it opened extra seats on the day of a film release.
Ward Anderson operates Ireland's largest cinema chain. Among the other Entertainment releases they have been refused since the disagreement occurred in 2005 have been such high-profile films as Brokeback Mountain, The Golden Compass, A History of Violence, Hairspray, and The Departed, which won the Oscar for best picture last year, along with films by Irish directors, Kirsten Sheridan's August Rushand Terry George's Hotel Rwanda.
Running for two hours and 25 minutes, Sex and the Cityis unusually long by the standards of film spin-offs from TV series. It reunites the regular cast of the series - Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis - and reportedly features over 200 pairs of shoes.
Sex and the City will be reviewed inThe Ticket inThe Irish Times tomorrow.