Distributors consider the growth of box office receipts in cinemas insufficient for the development of cinema chains

Box office receipts at Russian cinemas over the three quarters increased year-on-year by 61%, to 28.1 billion rubles, but still lag significantly behind pre-crisis levels: in 2019, the box office of Russian cinemas was a record in history, amounting to 55.5 billion rubles . Market participants believe that “we can forget about the development of cinema chains,” and even to preserve existing cinemas, state support is needed.

The editor-in-chief of the Film Distributor’s Bulletin, author of the Telegram channel Shamporova, Yulia Shamporova, told Kommersant that total box office receipts at cinemas over the nine months increased by 60.7% year-on-year, to 28.1 billion rubles. According to its data, attendance increased by 51% and amounted to 91 million viewers.

The leader of the box office rating based on the results of the period (data as of October 1, 2023) remains “Cheburashka” by Dmitry Dyachenko, grosses amount to 6.8 billion rubles, attendance – 22.5 million viewers. In second place is “Challenge” by Klim Shipenko (2.1 billion rubles, 6.7 million viewers), in third place is “Avatar: The Way of Water” by James Cameron (1.2 billion rubles, 2.3 million viewers). The top 5 of the rating is completed by “John Wick 4,” which, despite the departure of foreign majors, was released in official Russian distribution, and “Lady Bug and Cat Noir: The Force Awakens.”

The leader among distributors remains Central Partnership (12.7 billion rubles), in second place is Volga (2.4 billion rubles), and the top 3 is completed by Atmosphere of Cinema (2.3 billion rubles), Ms. Shamporova. By the end of 2023, the box office of cinemas will be 35 billion rubles, 26 billion rubles. Of these, Russian films will be brought in, predicted the chairman of the Association of Cinema Owners, Alexey Voronkov, at the October “Media Business” conference of the Vedomosti newspaper. But, the expert noted, for the survival of film distribution, the box office must reach 40 billion, and for the development of film distribution – 50 billion rubles. in year.

The film industry has been in an unstable state for the past three years. In 2020–2021, box office production was seriously affected by restrictions on the operation of theaters and the postponement of premieres due to the pandemic, and last year, amid the Ukrainian crisis, foreign majors left Russia, including Netflix, Universal, Disney, Sony, Warner and other Hollywood studios . After they began to revoke the licenses to distribute their films, the cinema chains’ revenue and attendance fell sharply. Thus, the combined network “Cinema Park” and “Formula Kino” reported a double drop in income from film distribution (see “Kommersant” dated March 18, 2022). Cinema Park and Karo did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

Many other cinemas were forced to either close or rent out premises for special events, including bachelor parties, RBC wrote. An interlocutor at the media market adds that other movie theater owners introduced a mechanism of “pre-show service” (involves viewing pirated copies of foreign blockbusters), which then resulted in a long discussion by the industry about whether it is worth introducing compulsory licensing of foreign content of departed copyright holders in the Russian Federation.

No one knows exactly how content will be delivered for “pre-session service,” notes Yulia Shamporova. According to her, copies of films by departed foreign majors come from Kazakhstan or are released after appearing on the Internet. The growth of cinema chains, she said, “is now out of the question,” and state assistance is required to preserve existing cinemas. We can talk about direct subsidies, tax and rental holidays, Ms. Shamporova believes.

At the same time, some experts associate the trend of falling box office receipts with the general low popularity of cinemas. Most cinema chains and distributors have significantly reduced their outdoor advertising budgets and almost completely switched to the digital segment, says Kommersant’s source in the industry. The general producer of the film company Trigger, Vyacheslav Popov, confirms that the culture of going to cinema chains is poorly developed in Russia: “The Pushkin Map project was supposed to stimulate the development of cinema, but due to corruption schemes (see Kommersant on March 9.— “Kommersant”) not all the money reached its intended destination (to cinemas.— “Kommersant”)”.

Yulia Yurasova