Hollywood is apparently still stronger than Russian nationalism: the US action film “Uncharted” starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg continues to attract most film fans to Russian cinemas. The film, which was released on February 10th, i.e. before the attack on Ukraine, generated sales of 52.1 million rubles, the equivalent of around 450,000 euros, last weekend. reported the industry. Far behind in second place due to a lack of competition: The local sports drama “Mr. Knockout” by Artem Mikhalkov (46) about the Soviet boxer legend Valeri Popenchenko (1937 – 1975). In third place is a Russian romantic comedy titled “I Want to Get Married”.
Mosfilm spread terror
The prospects for Russian moviegoers are beyond bleak, no wonder they’re clinging to the last few Hollywood adventures on offer. Experts are expecting a drop in attendance of up to eighty percent: the in-house productions, which previously accounted for around twenty percent of the total offer, can hardly close the gap in the offer in the short term, and also “Bollywood” musicalswhich are increasingly being considered by cinema operators due to a lack of alternatives, are unlikely to develop much traction.
The Mosfilm probably spread more terror with her well-intentioned announcement that she is once again offering for exploitation twelve historical feature films which have “won the love of the public” over the past few decades, including all the masterpieces by Andrei Tarkovsky (1932 – 1986) such as “Solaris” in her archives (1972) and Stalker (1979).
Expert: “Cinema technology will soon give out”
Alexander Golubchikov from the Salo marketing agency also pointed out that the cinema technology will probably not last much longer: “We don’t have our own production of projection lamps, we don’t have any components, all cinemas are equipped exclusively with western equipment. The following applies to both sound and projection equipment: if replacement is necessary We don’t have any stocks. Cinemas are equipped with projectors from Philips or Osram. They wear out quickly in everyday life. Literally in a month it will be impossible to go to the cinema because the screen will remain dark. And even if they now turn down the volume to prolong the life of the sound system, what’s left of the fun?”
Because there is hardly any replenishment of the streaming services due to the boycott of the big players and existing offers have been withdrawn, some Russian providers are already afraid of having to resort to films from Korea, India, China, Japan, Brazil and Mexico.
Oscars are canceled for Russia
The Moscow Film Festival MIFF has been postponed from the originally planned date of late April to the second half of the year. The official statement reads: “Many of the foreign filmmakers cannot come to Moscow in the current situation, nor send their films (in cases where these films exist only on celluloid or other older storage media), and in some cases missing the approval of the producers for the participation of films in the festival.”
In all probability, there will be no TV broadcast of the Oscars in Russia. According to the advance notice, the service that has been taking care of it so far will be suspended this year. Nothing was said about the reasons, but the Disney company, which has the worldwide rights, is likely to have refused its approval. Anton Dyakov, who is nominated for an award for his animated short film “Ballet Boxer,” was denied an entry visa for the United States. His work could be a parable on Russia and Ukraine: It’s about an athletic, extremely strong pugilist and a graceful dancer, whose abilities prove to be of equal importance.
Quality paper is becoming scarce
Music fans are now being advised to get all new content the old-fashioned way, offline on CDs or vinyl, as many Western musicians have since withdrawn their songs for distribution on streaming services in Russia.
According to the business daily Kommersant, there is also an increasingly noticeable shortage of coated paper for magazines and books with color illustrations in Russia, as the largest European manufacturers have stopped supplying them. At the same time, according to experts, the quality of Russian paper cannot be compared with the products of Western competitors. In addition, current levels of domestic production are not able to meet demand. Some book publishers rely on Chinese suppliers. The industry fears rising prices and production costs.
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