Movie News

First Blood to Odeon after Rambo fails at box office

Wed 27 Feb 8:26 AM

Odeon's decision to snub the latest Rambo film has hurt the Sylvester Stallone action movie at the box office. It could only make third place, taking £1.27 million at the box office - £266,000 less than the number one film Jumper.

Jack Black comedy Be Kind Rewind was at number two after taking £1.38 million - but it was released two days earlier than Rambo. It's claimed that the row between Sony Pictures Releasing and Odeon could have halved Rambo's takings. The cinema chain chose not to show the film because of undisclosed "commercial reasons". The film has been rated 18 due to the extreme violence on show. It's reported that three people are killed per minute on screen during the film.

Screen International's Diana Lodderhouse said, "(The Odeon ban) obviously affected it massively. It would have been number one had they not had this spat with Odeon.

"I would have thought it would have hit £2.5 million to £3 million on another hundred screens. People were really looking forward to it and the cinemas that were showing it were pretty packed."

Stallone's last film Rocky Balboa took £3.6 million at the UK box office in its opening weekend last year.