Complete chaos in Russian cinemas: Hollywood left and piracy returned, as did war films about the Red Army and the Nazis

After Hollywood studios leave, Russian cinemas watch local war movies as well as pirated copies of Western hits.

Russian Since the invasion of Ukraine, many sectors of society in Russia have been transformed. One of those in complete chaos is the country’s film: ticket sales have plummeted and piracy has raised its head. Instead of Hollywood hits, warlike Russian films defeating the Nazis are popular.

Chaos the root cause is, of course, war, and sanctions.

Even at the beginning of the year, Russia was one of the most watched films Spider-Manin, Kings Menin and Sing 2:n like Hollywood products like in many other countries. Hollywood foreign ticket revenue Russia’s share has been five percent.

Big American film companies like Paramount, Sony and Warner pulled their films out of Russia at the start of the war. This is how the Russian film audience missed, among other things The Batman. Netflix also announced that it has closed its streaming service in Russia.

The latest statistics according to the country’s most watched movies are now made in Russia. The most watched is a war movie Pervy Oscarwhere the Red Army is defending Moscow from the Nazis, documentaries are recording a victorious battle with their cameras and also Hitler pictures are burned.

Eventually, the Nazis will be defeated – and the documentary about the victory will win an Oscar.

Still image from the trailer for the Russian film Pervyi Oskar (First Oscar).

The popularity is partly explained by the fact that Russia is preparing for the so-called Victory Day, which will be celebrated on May 9 to commemorate the end of World War II. To celebrate the war, another war story is coming to the theaters this week, Wings over Berlinwhere Soviet planes fly in 1941 to bomb Berlin.

The Bomber movie can also be expected to rise to the top of the statistics. Now the Russian Children’s Film is the second in the audience statistics Finnik. For years, Russia has invested heavily in patriotic films, which are used to make large sums of money.

Read more: “The film has become a tool for mind-altering in Russia,” says Ville Haapasalo.

All American productions have not disappeared from Russian cinemas. Third in ticket sales statistics is an American feature film, for example Uncharted and fourth, the superhero mix Everything Everywhere All at Once.

However, in the absence of big Hollywood hits, viewership numbers are really far from normal. Ticket sales have plummeted in half during March. The plunge is expected to continue violently.

Russian the cinema owners’ association issued a grim statement on Wednesday that ticket sales would fall by as much as 80 per cent a year ago in the coming months. And in 2021, there was still a corona pandemic, which was already dropping the popularity of going to the movies everywhere.

The Russian Association of Cinema Owners estimates in its crisis statementthat without state bailouts, at least one in two of Russia’s more than 2,000 cinemas would have to close in the summer because there’s just no interesting programming.

The association recalls that in the current circumstances, Russian filmmakers would face an exceptional opportunity to succeed, as there is now no competition of any kind. A sudden gap cannot be filled quickly, the union recalls.

The union has already urged its members to make replacement premieres elsewhere, such as in Korea and India, and to screen old Soviet-era films.

At the same time Russian cinema has found itself internationally aloof, as state – driven productions are not desired to be performed at Western festivals. On Thursday, a Russian site Vedomosti said a proposal that foreign distributors could pay for Russian films in rubles.

In tribulation Russia has introduced unorthodox approaches. The Batman has been an early film hit in the world, but in Russia it has been difficult, but not impossible, to see a superhero story. Screenings of the latest American hits have begun without permits.

There have been piracy shows in several cities, including Moscow and Yekaterinburg. Tickets in Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow The Batmaniin cost 250 rubles, or a few euros, and in the theaters of the city of Chita in Siberia, you can also watch the Disney animation Red. In Mahachkala, Dagestan is presented in the theater Netflix movie without permission Don’t Look Up.

It is unclear whether the theaters themselves host the performances or whether they rent halls to outsiders. At least one The Batmanin the show, according to an outside organizer, was political comment For the outing of Hollywood studios from Russia.

 

The Batman film is spreading in Russia as pirated screenings.

 

The Batman film is spreading in Russia as pirated screenings.

There is no comprehensive information on the number of pirates and their extent, but according to E1 media in Yekaterinburg, at least one The Batmanin the pirate show was half crowded although the quality of the film’s unofficial dubbing was criticized.

Anonymous chatters on the same site amazing the return of piracy to Russia. Piracy shows are not a completely new thing in Russia, as in the 1990s, foreign films were shown on vhs tapes in so-called video salons.

At the same time at a time when cinemas are in chaos, films have found their way to the front lines of the front, both on the Russian and Ukrainian sides. Not only do the films depict the war, but the films also influence the war.

Russian forces are at war Vladimir Putin but the world and spirit of Russian films are also involved in war rhetoric. In particular, it has been highlighted Brat- eli He saysseries of movies. They controlled Alexei Balabanovwhich depicted Russianness in his films.

Popular from the catalog of popular culture and gangster movies He saysfilms, the first of which was completed in 1997 and the second in 2000, follow Danila Bagrov, a veteran of the Chechen war. In Brat 2 traveling to America to teach the West, and also the Ukrainians, how the Russians are real tough in the world. We are Russian and the truth is on our side, belongs Bratthe idea of ​​movies.

It has been argued that Brat 2 would be one of Vladimir Putin’s favorite films, as he has quoted remarks from the film.

 

Sergei Bodrov and Konstantin Murzenko in the film Brat 2.

 

Sergei Bodrov and Konstantin Murzenko in the film Brat 2.

Also On the Ukrainian side, cinematic propaganda messages have been seen in recent weeks, and now not only the president Volodymyr Zelenskyin skilled video appearances.

A Hollywood film made 38 years ago has been attached to Ukrainian propaganda in recent days Red Dawn eli Red danger. John Milius The film was banned in Finland for foreign policy reasons, ie in 1984.

In the story of the film, the Soviet Union has invaded the United States, and a number of Americans are resisting. The resistance group uses the name Wolverines, or Ahmat.

In the war in Ukraine The Wolverines text has now been taken spray as a victory sign on destroyed armored vehicles.

By Editor

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