Small town sheriffs, sadistic Russian torturers and genocidal child-raping Burmese warlords: John Rambo has taken them all on, grunted a bit and then crushed them single-handed.

But Sylvester Stallone’s avenging icon has finally met his match — in the unlikely guise of Britain’s largest cinema chain.

Odeon shocked the film industry yesterday when it announced that it would not show Rambo, the fourth film about the musclebound Vietnam war veteran, at its theatres this weekend.

The chain cited undisclosed “commercial reasons” for its decision, which has angered Stallone fans, especially those in rural areas where the only local cinema is an Odeon.

Stallone, 61, wrote and directed the film as well as starring in it.

Twenty years have passed since Rambo’s last outing, in which the ultimate symbol of belligerent American interventionism teamed up with the Mujahidin in Afghanistan to lay waste to the Red Army.

Unlike the first two films, First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II, the film was a box office disappointment, grossing $53 million in the US (£27 million) on a production budget of $64 million (£33 million).

Stallone blames perestroika. “Two weeks before the film comes out, Gorbachev comes over and gives Reagan a hug, kisses Nancy on the cheek and now I’m a Red-baiter.”

However, last year Stallone was praised widely for rekindling his other classic character in Rocky Balboa.

Its success made the return of Rambo for one last crazed mission inevitable.

The threadbare plot of the new film finds Rambo, by now living a reclusive life trading poisonous snakes on a riverboat in Thailand, sucked into the little-known civil war between Burma’s Government and the ethnic Karen people.

He intervenes with predictable subtlety and discretion — there are almost 240 deaths in the 90-minute running time.

The Times’s Wendy Ide gave the film one star and said: “Stallone may believe that he can turn back the clock to the golden era of his career, but I’m not convinced that this kind of brutal, bellicose naivety sits so well with audiences any more.”

A senior industry source told The Times last night: “Odeon have taken a view on what the film’s box-office prospects are. I don’t think you are going to see this happening with the next Harry Potter or the new James Bond film. Part of their consideration will be that this film has not got sparkling reviews.”

Odeon refused to discuss details of the negotiations with Sony Pictures. The chain said in a statement last night: “Owing to commercial reasons, Odeon has made the decision not to screen the film Rambo across its cinemas in the UK.

“As the UK’s largest cinema chain, Odeon offers its guests a wide range of film genres to appeal to many different audiences. As such the decision not to screen Rambo will free up screens to show alternative popular new films such as Jumper, Be Kind Rewind and Juno. We are unable to comment further on this issue.” Phil Clapp, chief executive of the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association, said: “Odeon haven’t pulled the film, they have refused to show it. It’s very rare for this to happen with a film of this profile. I understand that Odeon were not happy with the terms the distributors were asking.”

Andrew Turner, Cineworld director of film booking, said: “I can’t remember the last time this happened in the multiplex era.” Bookers had predicted that Rambo would open in the UK to just over £1.8 million but projections have been scaled back to nearer £1.5 million, according to Variety.

However, even without Odeon’s screens it is still likely to claim top spot in the UK box office charts, thanks to Stallone’s enthusiastic promotional work.