Disney is reportedly denying requests from repertory movie theaters that want to screen classic 20th Century Fox movies.

Fox Movie and TV Show Properties Headed to Disney 18 IMAGES

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A report in Vulture rounds up multiple theater owners and programmers who have experienced denials and difficulties when it comes to booking older 20th Century Fox films. For example, a horror film festival in Ohio wasn't allowed to play The Omen or The Fly this year and the Transit Drive-In in New York said vintage Fox films can no longer be screened at their theater.Vulture claims one of their sources said Disney will allow non-profit theaters and museums to run older films they own. For example, the Museum of Modern Art in New York will play Steamboat Willie and The Skeleton Dance in the coming weeks. The source also says Disney will take requests from theaters for special screenings, but they have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis with the studio and can easily be denied."Disney officially declined to comment for this piece, but a film distributor with firsthand knowledge of the company’s policy says it is directed at theaters that screen first-run Disney and Fox content alongside older titles," according to Vulture. There are exceptions, such as AMC Theaters hosting screenings of Disney princess movies over the summer.Rachel Fox, the senior programmer for the Rio Theater in Vancouver, wanted to book Alien in August but was refused. The movie has since played on October 14 and there are multiple screenings planned for 20th Century Fox's The Rocky Horror Picture Show . That movie is celebrated all across the world at midnight screenings where guests are encouraged to show up in costume, scream clapbacks at the movie's characters when they say certain quotes, and dance along to the movie. It's a tradition that goes back decades. She quipped that "maybe Disney knows that if they pull Rocky Horror too, there’ll be a full-scale audience revolt.”But, Rachel Fox says Disney considers Rio Theater a first-run venue. The most recent movies that were played in October were the summer blockbusters Yesterday and Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood. She believes that there's more bias to theaters that are more capable of packing houses.She thinks that Disney "makes the distinction of what kind of venue you are... probably, on your box-office return, which really sucks.”Christopher Escobar is the owner of the Plaza in Atlanta, which Vulture says is the last remaining independent theater in the city. Escobar said he's still allowed to show Rocky Horror but fears that losing other Fox titles will result in at least a 10 percent loss in revenue for the year."Why would a distributor make it harder to be in the movie theater business now?” Escobar asks. “In an era when there are a dizzying amount of streaming platforms launching, and there are all these fights happening about availability windows, they should be working to get people to see movies in the best possible way first.”(Disney had not responded to IGN's request for comment at time of publish.)

Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who had plans to drop $15 to see Disney's The Muppet Movie in theaters for its anniversary this summer. The plans fell through, but that little theater in Connecticut sold a lot of seats according to the seating chart.