Soviet-era trick
This is how Russia circumvents film sanctions
08/10/2023 2:29 p.m
Western film giants have withdrawn from Russia because of the war of aggression against Ukraine. Nevertheless, even US blockbusters like the new “Black Panther” film or “Avatar” can be seen in cinemas. But with the audience’s favorite “Barbie” of all things it’s probably not that easy.
The tills are empty this early afternoon in the cinemas in the famous Moscow shopping center “Evropejski”. It might have something to do with the time – but possibly also with the selection of films that visitors are offered there. Among other things, several Russian productions, a Korean action film and a Chinese thriller are running. Then there is the drama “Jeanne du Barry” by Johnny Depp, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival a few weeks ago, and the British horror film “The Queen Mary”. What’s missing are this summer’s big international hits: “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”.
Because of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, western film giants such as Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Pictures withdrew from the largest country on earth at the beginning of last year. Your films may now – at least officially – no longer be shown on Russian screens.
The sanctions plunged Russia’s cinema industry, which was heavily dependent on Western productions, into a serious crisis. In the first year of the war, 2022, the largest Russian cinema chains suffered billions in losses, and their revenues collapsed by almost half. More than 2,300 of the 5,700 cinemas across the country were closed.
At the remaining locations, more Russian films and recycled international classics were now being shown – and that was not well received by everyone. With a view to the possibility that many new releases can be found quite easily on the Internet, at least after a short time, the daily newspaper “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” asked soberly at the time: “Why should one go to the cinema at all, where either a new Russian premiere is being shown or a 30 year old classic (…) when you can watch “Batman”, “Doctor Strange” and “Fantastic Beasts” at home?”
It will take a while for “Barbie”.
But then, in the first half of this year, the industry recovered a little – and according to observers, this also has something to do with the fact that sanctions loopholes were increasingly being found. It is true that there are cinema chains that consistently no longer show Hollywood films. But many Russian movie theaters are now resorting to a practice that got them through the chaotic 1990s: showing illegal bootleg copies of Western films.
For the implementation they use a legal gray area, which is why in Russian there is also talk of “grey film distribution”. According to research by the “Medusa” portal, the so-called advance screening, which has a long tradition in Russia, has become fashionable again in many regions. The concept behind this is as follows: a Russian short film is in the official program of a cinema operator. Visitors buy tickets – knowing full well that a pirated Western blockbuster will be shown after the mini-clip.
According to the “Medusa” research, the Russian short film “Kommentator” brought in 423 million rubles (almost four million euros) last year – although it can also be watched free of charge on YouTube. After “Kommentator” either the new “Black Panther” film or “Avatar” was shown. With this practice, the operators violate international copyright conventions, but they usually get away with it under Russian law.
But from the point of view of the Russian audience, of all things, the internationally successful film “Barbie” seems to have a new problem. It won’t be flickering across Russian cinema screens until autumn at the earliest, according to an anonymous source for the newspaper Vedomosti.
The background is therefore that some time ago sales and delivery channels for pirated cinema versions were exposed, which is why the black market now has to resort to online versions of films. But they only appear after the international cinema premiere – and depending on how long a film has been making good money at the box office, it can take quite a long time. That means: In the case of a bestseller like “Barbie”, which recently broke the one billion US dollar revenue mark, it should not be expected to be released on streaming platforms anytime soon – and therefore not to enter Russian cinemas either.