Russia without Hollywood
Bollywood instead of Hollywood, Turkish melodramas instead of action films How does the departure of American cinema affect the Russian film business?
The decision of the four most important Hollywood studios – Warner Bros., Disney, Sony Pictures and Paramount – to temporarily suspend the release of their films in the Russian box office, by the end of this spring may seem closed in about half of the cinemas in Russia. Such forecasts are now being published by the management of Mirage Cinema, one of the largest chains of the cinema chain. The cinema chain has already closed one cinema in St. Petersburg, and this is most likely just the beginning. After all, according to various estimates, the share of income of Russian cinemas from the distribution of American films is from 70 to 80 percent of turnover income. According to RBC, only because of the conditions in the Russian box office of the new “Batman” and the next Marvel novelty, the film “Morbius”, cinemas will miss up to 5 million rubles. And if such losses are extremely critical for the Russian film market, then for the American one everything is different, Joshua Furst, professor of history at the University of Mississippi, who studies the culture of Russia and Ukraine.
“I don’t think it was that important for Hollywood studios to support the Russian market,” Furst says. “I think it will be a small loss for them, which will be overshadowed by profits from such large markets as China, Europe and Brazil. The effect of this boycott on the US will be preserved.”
According to the Russian company Nevafilm, about 70 percent was observed in the estimated attendance in Russia. With regard to representatives of the Russian film market, there are already suggestions that Hollywood has films from India, Turkey and Japan. But American experts believe that in the discovery data, Russians will have more interest in domestic cinema.
“Since the beginning of the 2000s, Russian nature has included its own property of cinema, which largely copies the aesthetics of Hollywood,” Furst emphasizes. – Many countries do this, but now [российские] film studios will be particularly oriented towards this principle.”
“I don’t think that the departure of Hollywood majors can be delayed,” says Oleg Sulkin, a film critic for Voice of America. – Russian cinema can partly replace them. In a couple of years, we can increase production and focus on mass, entertaining films.”
Low prices, as well as independent American film studios, which are not yet in a hurry to lead the boycott of Russia, are also unlikely to be responsible for the replacement of Hollywood blockbusters. As representatives of the Russian film company A-One Films, which has been bringing copyright and independent films from Europe and the USA to Russia for many years, explain, due to the economic consequences, releases of foreign new films had to be put on hold indefinitely.
“Firstly, now it will be more difficult to buy films and materials for them due to the jump in the exchange rate, because we buy them either in dollars or in euros,” Vasilisa Shpot, PR manager of A-One Films, expanded. – The price for films at the new rate will be very high. The second problem arises in the fact that many banks with which we cooperated were sued. Accordingly, we will not be able to make payments.”
The prospects for Russia’s permanent participation in international film festivals are also unclear. Berlin and Cannes have already announced that they will not allow participation in Russian official delegations. Only Russian directors will be able to participate in the competitions, new photographs have been discovered, taken without the support of Russian state funds. It has already appeared in the media that the film “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” by Kirill Serebrennikov and the film “The Tale” by Alexander Sokurov, which were filmed without state funding, may be captured in the current program of messages for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
“Majority [российских режиссеров] receive [финансовую] help from the government,” Furst says. – And I think they will continue to receive it, because otherwise, the state may restrict their activities or even ban the screening of their films. This situation will prevent congresses of public opinion from showing their work at international film festivals.”
Observers note that the only thing that can now be said with absolute certainty is the inevitable increase in piracy. With the prospect of American movies in theaters, as well as American streaming platforms from Russia, new Hollywood torrents are opening up for American television.