Hundreds of German cinemas refuse to show 'Avengers' film
By Associated Press
Apr 27, 2015 2:51 AM CDT
FILE - In this April 17, 2015 file photo, U.S. director Joss Whedon, second left, poses with U.S. actor Robert Downey Jr., left, South Korean actress Claudia Kim, center, and U.S. actors, Chris Evans, second right, and Mark Ruffalo, during a press conference to promote their latest film "Avengers:...   (Associated Press)

BERLIN (AP) — Several hundred movie theaters in Germany have refused to screen the new "Avengers" film in a dispute over rental fees with Disney.

News agency dpa reported that 686 theaters in 193 mostly small towns refused to show "Avengers: Age of Ultron," which opened on Thursday. It said the dispute was over a decision to raise the rental fee for the movie to 53 percent of ticket sales rather than the 47.7 percent usually charged to small-town theaters.

Karl-Heinz Meier of I.G. Nord, a group representing cinema operators in northern Germany, said it would have been prepared to go as far as a 50 percent fee. He added: "Disney will have to do without 686 screens on which the film otherwise would have been shown."

Meier says moviegoers have expressed understanding.

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