With almost no legal access to popular Western movies, Russian cinemas have been selling tickets to short local movies to disguise the unlicensed screening of major Hollywood movies shown during the same sitting. Depending on the direction of the wind, Moscow turns a blind eye or warns of a crackdown on pre-screening piracy, including one expected anytime now. In parallel, legal streaming platforms are enjoying huge growth as business booms.
With war still raging in Ukraine, writing about the collateral damage to Russia’s cinema industry seems vanishingly unimportant.
When Disney, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Paramount, and Universal left the Russian market, some celebrated their exit as a positive for local cinema. Opportunities for local filmmakers would appear in greater numbers than ever before, some assured, and the entire ecosystem would only thrive without unwanted Western influence.
Having given the cinema and film industries few reasons for optimism in a post-covid and now wartime environment, official advice included increased collaboration with counterparts in ‘friendly’ countries. Full potential could be realized relatively soon; perhaps in as little as five years, but probably not much longer than a decade.