Russia | Viewers flocked to Russian movie theaters – Pirated copies of Hollywood films and patriotic entertainment offered

When two out of three customers disappear, what does an entrepreneur do? Does he invent new income models, does he hope for help from the state or does he resort to obscurity?

This is how many movie theaters operate in war-torn Russia.

The country’s cinemas have drifted into a crisis in Russia, even the worst in their history. Many theaters have closed their doors, others are operating at half capacity. Piracy is rampant.

The reason is the war.

Hollywood studios such as Disney, Paramount, Sony and Warner left the country after the Russian invasion in February. At the same time, the attraction nails with which to attract viewers and make a profit started.

in Russia was used to watching Hollywood entertainment like elsewhere. According to the news agency Interfax, there were only 83 million ticket buyers last year, compared to 220 million in 2019.

Now the Russian audience sees Russian films, some foreign productions and remakes.

Recently Vladimir Putin ordered cinemas to show a documentary about the special operation, or war, that Russia is waging in Ukraine. According to the Vesti website, the film probably warns about “neo-Nazis” and “fascist ideology”.

Russian the state of the film is well illustrated by the fact that at the turn of the year a Russian production entered the top ten Cheburashka.

The fairy-tale movie is an example of Russia’s desire to produce high-class movies itself and beat Hollywood. In a short time, it has brought in box office revenues of around three billion rubles, or around 42 million euros.

Suosiota explains that the big-eared Cheburashkan the character is familiar to Russians, a children’s writer Eduard Uspensky a creation that is also known in Finland as the crocodile Gena’s friend Muks.

There is also another reason. There are no competitors.

Cheburashka premiered at the turn of the year. In a patriotic spirit, theaters had been instructed not to Avatar or other Hollywood films should be brought to the premiere at the same time. They wanted the Russian film to be brilliant.

Isn’t it So Hollywood hasn’t left Russia?

Yes it is, but big Hollywood movies like Batman, Top Gun: Maverick and now Avatar: The Way of Wateriahas nevertheless been shown in Russia – but without permission.

James Cameron’s directed by Avatar is currently being shown widely in Russia, among others In the theaters of the Moscow region.

Read more: The new Avatar movie has already collected a billion dollars in box office revenue in two weeks

Due to the war and the closing of the borders, piracy has become an established phenomenon in Russia, but there is no accurate information on its extent.

“Piracy is difficult to accept, but theaters should not be judged for it either,” stated the representative of Russian cinemas Roman Isaev newly.

According to Isaev, piracy has been a lifeline without which Russian theaters would not have survived. According to him, Russian cinemas went “into a gray area forced by the situation”.

Movies unauthorized copies have been presented in Russia under new names. Unlicensed screenings have also been organized in such a way that private individuals rent the hall from the theater. According to press reports, the customer has also been able to buy a ticket to a Russian short film and see it at the same screening Avatar’s.

A Moscow radio channel according to which the dcp digital copies of the films would end up in Russia possibly via Kazakhstan.

HS asked Avatar’s From the Russian screenings from the film company Disney, which is the holder of the film’s rights. The company did not want to comment on the matter.

Paramount, to which HS made the same request, was also silent. Paramount’s films include last year’s, among others Top Gun: Maverickwhich was also shown in Russia.

Hundreds of Western films have been shown in Russia during the war, even with permission. They have often been French, but recently a Swedish Cannes winner came to the big screens in Russia Triangle of Sadness.

The film’s Swedish production company tells HS that the agreement to distribute the film was made already in 2020. “The film has also premiered in Ukraine,” the company is reminded.

By piracy has been at least tacitly accepted by the authorities in Russia. Senator Andrei Kutepov has for example stated, supporting the theaters in his country, that not showing Hollywood films has violated rights of Russians.

The Russian Duma is currently discussing a law that would make pirated screenings of Hollywood films legal so that theaters would have to pay compensation for the screenings to a separate account that the copyright holder can get when returning their operations to Russia. There is no information on the amount of compensation.

At least Cheburashka or pirateAvatar however, does not seem to save all cinemas in Russia. And not other pop art: TV channels, for example, have been asked to perform their reality series in theaters before the TV premierebut with little success.

In the fall, the chairman of the Russian cinema association said that 41 percent of the country’s cinemas would have closed the door. After the turn of the year, there may be more closures.

“If the state does not support, we are about to lose hundreds more theaters”, Roman Isayev, who represents the theaters, has stated.

Russian the Ministry of Culture’s answer to the plight of the theaters is to invest even more in its own film production, often in propagandistic films.

Minister of Culture of Russia Olga Lyubimova announced at the end of December that Russia will need in the future 300 films a year. “There would be 60 of these big films,” Ljubimova stated.

In practice, Russia is therefore closing itself off from the rest of the world with an even more massive entertainment plan. Russia believes that it will make mega-movies itself in the future: a new one, for young people, has already been launched to support the goal training program for screenwriters.

A plan to film a children’s author gives a preview of what’s to come Julia Ivanova a work whose name can be translated as the enchanter’s mysteries.

“It will be our Harry Potter, our Lord of the Rings,” Russian film company has announced.

So a Russian film can receive public funding, it must meet the conditions defined by the Ministry of Culture.

Putin’s administration has already banned, among other things, the presentation of LGBT themes and transsexuality in books and in the media in general, and at the turn of the year the change will also apply to film screening permits.

The ministry’s general instruction is that films receiving public money must “support spiritual and moral Russian values ​​and strengthen them”.

The guidelines of the instructions are detailed in some places.

In the future, Russian films should according to the ministry’s instructions to depict, for example, Russian heroes or personalities and to popularize the heroism of soldiers participating in special operations.

In addition, the films must film the classics of Russian literature, emphasize the work of teachers and encourage engineering professions, show Little Russia, i.e. Ukraine, as a historical part of Russia or tell about Russia as a modern society that offers opportunities.

Similarly, European decadence should be presented.

To the same at the time, it is known in cinemas that the demand for Hollywood entertainment has not disappeared anywhere in Russia.

“The challenges of the future include how to re-educate the audience and move them to watch Russian cinema”, representative of cinemas Roman Isaev stated in December.