While we've been posting a lot of horror stories happening at Episode III screenings around the world, spare a thought for a Greek fan who has to wait a whole week to see the movie because of a management decision.

Nick from Crete writes:

I went today to purchase a ticket for RotS in the local cinema here in Heraklion, that would play the movie (Astoria), only to find out that the movie will not be screened this week but the following (not even a midnight screening on Friday or Saturday).

I called the distribution company (ODEON, which distributes all Fox movies and by the way owns this movie theater), and they commented that Astoria had decided to show "Kingdom of Heaven" for a 3rd straight week, since ticket sales were strong. When I asked them whether we could see the movie in another city, they responded that not a single RotS print was sent to the island of Crete (where Heraklion is located) since they didn't have any available copies.

Both excuses are unfounded, since RotS is playing in the other 9 Greek cities that ODEON owns movie theaters (besides in 100+ independent theaters that show the movie throughout the country), some of them with a population less that 50,000, whereas Heraklion has 250,000 (the 3rd biggest city in Greece after Athens and Thessaloniki) and the entire island of Crete 800,000.

Was "Kingdom of Heaven" strong only here? I find that hard to believe. ODEON had prints for small cities but not for Heraklion? I also find that hard to believe.

I know that Star Wars was never a big hit in Greece, but none-the-less, this is not the way to treat movie fans in nearly 1/10 of this country's population.