'Lincoln' a big man on the screen

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

FILE - This undated publicity photo released by DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox shows, Daniel Day-Lewis, center rear, as Abraham Lincoln, in a scene from the film, "Lincoln." (AP Photo/DreamWorks, Twentieth Century Fox, David James, File)

"Lincoln" is marching to more movie theatres.

Disney, which distributed the DreamWorks film, is making additional prints of director Steven Spielberg's historical saga starring Daniel Day-Lewis to meet an unexpected demand that has left some moviegoers in Alaska out in the cold.

"To say that we're encouraged by the results to date or that they've exceeded our expectations is an understatement," said Dave Hollis, head of distribution at the Walt Disney Co. "We're in the midst of making additional prints to accommodate demand and will have them available to our partners in exhibition by mid-December for what we hope will be a great run through the holiday and awards corridor."

Disney said "Lincoln" opened Nov. 9 in 11 theatres and expanded to additional theatres Nov. 16 and 21 in North America. The film, which has earned $83.6 million in the U.S. and Canada so far, has been unavailable at some smaller venues, such as the Gross Alaska theatres in Juneau.

But the extra prints are coming a little too late to fit the movie into the five-screen Glacier Cinemas theatre during the holiday season, said Kenny Solomon-Gross, general manager of the Gross Alaska, which runs two theatres in Juneau and one in Ketchikan, Alaska.

"When we had the room for 'Lincoln,' Disney didn't have a copy for us," Solomon-Gross said Monday.

His film lineup is pretty booked through the end of the year, and he probably can't screen "Lincoln" until after the first of the new year. Yes, the excitement over the film will have dimmed, but then the Academy Awards season will be stirring up, he said. That should kick up the buzz.