Russian cinemas have shown Hollywood films, even as US companies have pulled out of the market because of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.
MOSCOW Major Russian cinema chains have purged pirated films from their screenings, financial newspaper RBK write. Russian distribution companies had threatened to pull legal films from theaters unless the pirated run ended on April 18.
Western production companies withdrew from the Russian market in March 2022 due to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.
For the US film industry, Russia made up only about 5 percent of the international market, but for Russian cinemas, the blow was bad. Numerous theaters have closed their doors. Many theaters have tried to stay afloat by showing Hollywood movies without permission from copyright holders.
Often this has happened as a “pre-screening service”. Officially, a short film with a screening license is shown in the theater. In reality, a Hollywood film is being shown, a copy of which the theater has managed to acquire for use from, for example, Kazakhstan.
Therefore, unknown short films have often been at the top of the audience statistics.
See here how the Barbie movie was viewed in Russia.
According to RBK’s data, last year pirated films generated 20 percent of theater box office revenues.
It can be compared to being a children’s author Eduard Uspensky the successful film Cheburaška based on the popular Muksis character generated 17 percent of the box office revenue.
Distributors want to favor domestic products on public holidays
The Russian authorities have looked at the situation through their fingers for a long time. The attitude towards showing Hollywood films without a license may now be tightening.
The Russian Ministry of Culture has threatened to close theaters showing pirated films.
At the beginning of April, the association of movie theater owners presented a petition that 18.4–12.5. theaters would support Russian films and refrain from showing Hollywood films without permission.
Several distribution companies also sent a letter to theaters demanding the same. They threatened to block the screening of legal films in theaters that defied the requirement.
The period falls on the May holidays, when Russians have long days off, and distribution companies want to release new domestic large-scale productions at that time.
On April 18, for example, a Soviet writer arrived at the theaters Kir Bulytsov fantasy film Sto let tomu vperjod (One Hundred Years Forward) based on the popular children’s science fiction book.
RBK newspaper writes that since April 18, theater chains have not shown pirated films.
A month ago, Dune: Part Two was shown in dozens of theaters in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but on April 18, only one non-chain theater in Moscow announced the screenings. It no longer existed on the pages of the large Sinema Star and Kinomaks chains.
Also missing from the list of the 20 most popular films of the day were “pre-screening service” films and films that do not have an official distributor in Russia.
It is possible that “dark distribution” will decrease in Russia even after this period.