During the film breakfast organized by the Bombora publishing house for the release of the audiobook about Will Smith, among other things, they talked about what is happening with the Russian film market. What changes are already noticeable? What awaits us in the foreseeable future? And will Indian films save the box office? We share the thoughts of film critics.
According to film critic Yegor Moskvitin, now many people do not have the feeling that sanctions have somehow affected film screenings in Russia, for one reason only — we release foreign films, the licenses for which have already been paid for.
“For example, there is the A24 film studio, which makes a huge number of the coolest horror films and dramas: Call Me by Your Name, Mayak… Last week they released the film Everything Everywhere and At Once in Russia, because it was paid for. But their next two films, «After Young» and «X», which were not bought by Russia in their entirety (because many distributors operate on a post-paid basis), will no longer be released.
Therefore, according to Yegor Moskvitin, we will face a real “hunger” for films closer to autumn.
What can replace Western films
The State Duma proposes to solve the problem of “movie hunger” by replacing Western films with films from China, India, South Korea and the CIS countries. They are usually shown a little, so, most likely, their popularity in Russia is so low, the deputies suggest. Will this strategy really help our film industry?
The extent to which the Russian audience is attached to Western films, especially to big blockbusters, can be judged by the box office ratings of recent weeks, recalls Yegor Moskvitin. “Last week, the top five highest-grossing films were Uncharted and Death on the Nile, which came out on February 10th. This has never happened before, but now films can stay in the top for three months.”
The film critic is skeptical about the idea of replacing popular European films with Korean and Indian ones.
“The highest-grossing Korean film “Parasite” grossed 110 million rubles in Russia — an unthinkable success for auteur cinema (but in the rest of the world it grossed more than $ 250 million — ed.). And the coolest Indian blockbuster Bahubali, which collected $350 million worldwide, earned only $5 million in Russia, despite the fact that it opened the 2017 IFF in a year.
Even if you change the time of the screenings (to put such films not in the early morning and late evening, as is usually the case — approx. ed.), still two billion, like in Spider-Man: No Way Home, such a film will not «.
What Russian viewers want
“All this brings us to the simple idea that the viewer will not go to some new movie just because the old one has disappeared,” the film critic emphasizes. At least, because we have torrents that still allow you to watch Western films. And also because the Russian audience is selective in their choice.
“The experience of 2020 shows that in the absence of foreign premieres, Russian films do not receive a bonus at the box office if they do not have good word of mouth. For example, in August 2020, cinemas opened in Russia, but there were no blockbusters, and Tenet was planned to be released only in September. The Russian Goalkeeper of the Galaxy was then released — and could not earn anything in a month that is considered the highest grossing for the entire cinema.
What does it say? About how people don’t go to the movies because they have to go to the movies. Now, especially in the face of financial difficulties for many Russians, people will go to the cinema only if they are sure that something good is being shown there. So the forecasts for Russian film distribution and content, unfortunately, are not the most comforting, Egor Moskvitin concludes.