Rolling stop – Newspaper Kommersant No. 169 (7370) dated 09/14/2022

Against the backdrop of the loss of major Hollywood premieres in Russia, 125 cinemas closed – 6% of their total number in February. Thus, the most pessimistic forecasts about stopping half of the cinemas have not yet come true. The rest close only part of the halls and expect an increase in attendance in October, including due to the release of the movie “Heart of Parma”. But experts emphasize that by the end of the year there will be almost no more ambitious releases.

Kommersant got acquainted with the statistics of the Association of Cinema Owners (AVK) and Comscore on film distribution in Russia. According to them, after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine at the end of February and the subsequent withdrawal of major film studios from the Russian Federation, 125 cinemas in the country stopped working. Their total number decreased as a result by 6%, until 1994.

“It may seem that 6% is not so much, but you need to take into account that these are completely closed cinemas, and not the percentage of non-working halls,” said Roman Isaev, member of AVK, General Director of Comscore in Russia. According to him, the statistics take into account both cinemas that have closed completely and those that can still open. “By October, when “Heart of Parma” (film adaptation by Alexei Ivanov) is released on October 6.— “b”), the number of operating cinemas may increase, but not significantly. It is unlikely that even a quarter of those already closed will be able to open,” says Mr. Isaev.

In June, cinemas that continue to operate began to “freeze” individual halls – permanently or on weekdays (see “Kommersant” of June 30). As Roman Isaev explained, the share of non-working halls peaked in July – 41%. “There are no results of September yet, but the last weekends turned out to be dead: there were no bright novelties, and people, especially in the regions, are saving money after the high costs of preparing children for school,” Mr. Isaev added. According to the Unified Automated Information System (UAIS) of the Cinema Fund, the box office for the weekend of September 8–11 amounted to 200 million rubles, a year earlier on September 9–12 — 429 million rubles.

The united cinema chain Cinema Park and Formula Kino say that only two cinemas in Moscow have been closed since February: “These are isolated cases so far, an extreme measure that is being considered if the cinema generates losses.” A spokesman for the network clarified that some of the halls do not work all week: “We will use them as needed.” The network is counting on an increase in attendance in October, including due to the “Heart of Parma”.

Karo also says that they closed only two cinemas and this was planned “before February.” “Now about 20% of the halls are mothballed, which we will be happy to open when there is more quality content at the box office,” the network added. Promising projects for the near future in Karo are Heart of Parma, Love Story with Alexander Petrov, the comedy Lovers with Pavel Priluchny, the adventure film Liberea: Treasure Hunters, and the cartoon about LOL dolls.

The most pessimistic forecasts that sounded in the spring (in March, AVK talked about the possible closure of up to half of the cinemas by the summer.— “b”), did not come true and probably will not come true, notes Alexander Nechaev, editor-in-chief of the Film Distributor’s Bulletin: “The box office bottom seems to have been passed in July and August, now the recession has stopped, although there is no need to talk about growth.” In his opinion, screenings of pirated versions of Hollywood films helped avoid closures in some cinemas, although without the usual promotion they did not bring large fees.

“The film distribution business has been building up over the years, it is logical that a significant part of the market participants have decided not to close completely yet, but to cut costs,” notes Mr. Nechaev. In his opinion, it is fair to count on the “Heart of Parma”, but so far this is the only release of the fall with a box office potential of more than 500 million rubles. “Further, cinemas will have to wait for the “New Year’s battle”, when ambitious films are planned for release,” he says.

Valeria Lebedeva