The UK's controversial easyCinema venture - which will sell tickets for as low as £0.20 and have no concessions stand or box office - has secured four titles from Pathe for the opening of its first cinema in Milton Keynes on May 23.

But the company is now planning to meet with the UK's anti-competition body the Office of Fair Trading to discuss the difficulties it has experienced in securing films from the major studio distributors in the UK.

"They won't talk business," James Rothnie, easyGroup's director of corporate affairs told Screendaily. "All of the major distributors are refusing to talk money. It's just stonewalling. They won't make us an offer: we keep contacting them to specify films and to make offers of cash in advance. We're not looking for handouts - we're ready to pay the market rate, just not on a shared revenue basis."

Part of easyGroup, the UK-based no frills company owned by colourful Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyCinema is proposing to pay distributors a flat fee up front for each print, per week, rather than the revenue sharing model that currently exists between UK exhibitors and distributors.

Tickets for certain shows will be as low as £0.20 if booked online early, with prices rising nearer market level at showtime.

The four films supplied by Pathe are Bulletproof Monk, Evelyn, The Heart Of Me and L'Homme Du Train, none of which are day-and-date releases. For the first seven days, every seat for all shows at easyCinema's 10-screen site in Milton Keynes will be on sale at www.easycinema.com for just £0.20.

"The situation with the top six UK distributors representing more than 90% of the market is still in a deadlock," Stelios Haji-Ioannou said in a statement. "I have instructed my lawyers to discuss this issue with the Office of Fair Trading."

The distributors contacted offered no comment, or did not return calls at press time.