TV will be shown in cinemas – Newspaper Kommersant No. 190 (7391) dated 10/13/2022

After serial marathons, television shows began to appear in Russian cinemas, for example, “Pregnant at 16”: cinema networks are trying to fill repertoire posters against the background of the absence of Hollywood premieres. TV channels say that in general they are ready for such experiments, but they will not give out top content until the broadcast premiere because of the risk of losing in the rating. Movie theaters, according to experts, will not be able to compensate for the loss of Western blockbusters with such screenings.

Cinemas are looking for new content that they can show against the backdrop of a lack of new products from major Hollywood studios. The united cinema chain Formula Kino and Cinema Park has entered into an agreement with TV channel Yu, which is part of the Media-1 group of companies, on pre-premiere screenings of the new season of the reality show Pregnant at 16, the companies reported. The agreement includes showings of four episodes in 60 cinemas in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar and other cities, financial terms were not disclosed. Shows began on October 10, it is expected that they will appear on the channel in a week.

The representative of Yu explained to Kommersant that the project is primarily an image project: “But we do not exclude commercial success.” As Kommersant was clarified in Formula Kino and Cinema Park, the network is working with such content for the first time, about 2 thousand tickets were sold in two days of showings and another 500 in pre-sale: “We are generally satisfied. The occupancy is double the average these days. We have an agreement to show four episodes, following which we will discuss further plans.” The network is negotiating with other partners to expand its repertoire and has been cooperating with the Match TV channel for broadcasting football matches for several months.

Karo does not yet show television shows, but they hold serial marathons, a network representative says: “Successful cases were with Game of Thrones and Chicks, for example. There was a precedent for the film adaptation of the series “Manyunya”, which also accumulated a family audience (the series “Manyunya” filmed by Okko in the format of a full-length film, according to the Unified Automated System of the Cinema Fund, collected only 12.2 million rubles in Russia.— “b”)”. Shows of the Chicken Curry Dungeons YouTube format are very popular, Karo clarifies: “The first hall of October for this project is always packed to capacity. We have experience with live broadcasting of Dota computer games, UFC championships, Formula 1 – these events are also in demand.” Pointwise, they are not comparable with blockbuster fees, they admit on the network, but “in synergy they bring good income.”

The interlocutor of Kommersant on one of the TV channels does not believe that television content in cinemas can become a mass phenomenon: “It is, of course, unprofitable to give good content for the premiere (to cinemas.— “b”). It provides ratings, and this is income. But if the content is not the most expected, you can experiment.”

For TV channels, pinpoint screenings on the big screen before going on the air can hardly affect the ratings, Alexander Nechaev, editor of the Film Distributor’s Bulletin, objects, but they provide additional promotion through appearance on posters. Cinemas, in his opinion, can “plug holes” in the repertoire grid in this way: “Producers argue like this: the audience comes to brands, there are no Hollywood brands left, but there are serial ones, so it’s worth trying to bring at least some viewer to them.”

But so far, says Mr. Nechaev, such shows do not cause mass excitement. “Judging by the announced results of “Pregnant at 16”, on average, about 20 people come to one session – at current rates, this is at least some kind of attendance, but the story has no scaling prospects – it is only an event-based point display,” says the expert. At the same time, he believes, against the backdrop of the absence of Hollywood blockbusters from producers of series, films for TV and online cinemas, more full-length versions can be expected, just as it was with Manyunya or with the TV series Kitchen, based on which full-length films of the STS television company and Yellow, Black and White were released.

Valeria Lebedeva