In a move that will annoy anybody with a Cineworld Unlimited Card, Digital Spy has confirmed that Cineworld and Picturehouse cinemas won’t be showing Quentin Tatantino’s The Hateful Eight. In an exclusive statement to Digital Spy, Entertainment Film Distributors have revealed the reason why. Thanks to a 70mm Ultra Panavision screening booked by Odeon Leicester Square, Cineworld are up in arms and don’t have a suitable venue to accommodate the film’s requirements.

“Cineworld had made us aware that they were very unhappy that The Hateful Eight had been booked into the Odeon Leicester Square for an exclusive 70mm Ultra Panavision presentation, and specifically that they would therefore not be able to play the film at their Picturehouse Central venue.

Due to the special facilities required for the unique 70mm Ultra Panavision presentation we needed the largest theatre and screen possible in the West End and the Odeon Leicester Square was the natural choice. The technical elements and costs involved with this special presentation meant that this would need to be the exclusive West End venue.”

The Odeon Leicester Square seats 1680 and Picturehouse Central only seats 344 so clearly this was not a viable alternative. Cineworld had every opportunity to book the film in their other cinemas across the country on the same basis as other exhibitors and declined to do so. This is despite the fact that there is no dispute over the financial terms for this release.”

The spokesperson did add that there was still a chance that the film could see the inside of Cineworld cinemas across the country. “If Cineworld change their mind by tomorrow morning and decide to book the film in the proper way along the lines of the other exhibitors we would be happy for them to do so.”

The Hateful Eight is released in the UK on January 8.